Stress, Anxiety, Hormones Linked to Mental Decline

A 2012 study, brought to our attention by noted endocrinologist Dr. Joel Ehrenkranz, entitled The ageing cortical synapse: hallmarks and implications for cognitive decline (by John H. Morrison & Mark G. Baxter) offers new and thought-provoking insights into how and why cognition declines with age.

The breakthrough idea is that the deterioration can be related to stress, anxiety and hormonal changes, and as such, cognitive impairment should be treated

as a systemic problem, rather than a localized condition of the prefrontal cortex, for example.

To quote the paper itself: “The data on the effects of stress and sex steroids on the ageing brain and cognition… make it clear that the brain cannot be viewed in isolation with respect to the neurobiological basis of cognitive decline. Given the impact of menopause on women’s health, as well as the requirements to maintain optimal executive function in the face of stressful conditions, future work should target the nature of these interactions with an eye towards interventions that might be behavioural as well as pharmaceutical. “

The research was conducted in monkeys and rodents, but the implications for human cognition are significant.

You can read the article at http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v13/n4/full/nrn3200.html

Here’s the point: it seems that almost daily, science uncovers more ways that stress can harms us… everything from damaging the heart to compromising immunity to encouraging weight gain and altering metabolism… and now (it seems) to speeding our cognitive decline.

There just seems to be no end to the negative, long-tail effects of stress, anxiety and excess cortisol.

The link between stress and mental decline needs a lot more research… but for aging boomers, in particular, finding ways to reduce stress and normalize cortisol seems like a very prudent thing to do.

Meditation, massage therapy, supplementation to normalize cortisol (p-serine is a good place to start), and any number of relaxation techniques will help reduce stress and anxiety and that’s always, always a good thing.

NOTE: The use of formulations like Sanyx (http://MySanyx.com) to lower stress-induced cortisol can be a solid first step in mitigating the negative effects of stress and anxiety.