2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
Plus one reason to worry less about trifles.
According to the study Circulating cortisol and cognitive and structural brain measures, published in the journal Neurology, people with high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, experience a decrease in brain volume and a decrease in the ability to remember. But it's too early to say that the brain shrinks only under the influence of stress.
Now we can say for sure that A is related to B, but the nature of this connection is not yet clear.
Sudha Seshadri Professor of Neurology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and lead author of the study
Cortisol is a hormone produced by the body in response to a number of different factors, such as sudden psychological stress or chronic inflammation. And this is not the first time that scientists have linked it to changes in the brain. Another study on Stress Effects on Neuronal Structure: Hippocampus, Amygdala, and Prefrontal Cortex found a relationship between elevated cortisol levels and shrinking memory areas in the brain. Although a decrease in brain regions does not necessarily mean that brain cells are dying, it can nevertheless indicate neurological or cognitive impairment.
In the latest study, a team of scientists led by Seshadri and Justin Echouffo-Tcheugui, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied the brains of more than 2,000 healthy people. To find them, scientists turned to another large-scale study, the Framingham Heart Study, in which three generations have been involved since 1948.
The researchers took blood samples from subjects to measure their cortisol levels and tested their memory, logic, and attention. They also tried to identify differences in the volume of the brain and, in particular, the white matter, which is responsible for the transmission of electrical and chemical impulses.
The participants were divided into three groups: low, medium, and high cortisol levels.
The researchers found that people in the third group tended to have reduced memory ability and more distracted attention, as well as smaller brains - especially women.
Participants with elevated cortisol levels also showed signs of white matter damage, which the study authors thought could cause these differences in memory and attention with the rest of the groups.
Nonetheless, Bruce McEwen, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York who was not involved in the study, warns us not to jump to the conclusion that stress is to blame since cortisol levels are to blame.
Exciting unexpected events can actually cause our glands to produce cortisol. But its production can also be due to other factors, for example, the body's attempts to suppress inflammation. Therefore, chronic inflammation can also lead to increased cortisol levels. Seshadri also acknowledges that a number of factors can cause the reduction in brain volume.
The study of why some people have higher cortisol levels than others, and what else might affect their brains, will continue.
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