How many times have you been having a conversation with someone and half way through you forgot what you were talking about to begin with? How many times have you just read something and had no recollection of it? If you answered “lots of times,” or “all the time” then you may have experienced memory loss due to anxiety.
People with anxiety disorders generally experience short-term memory loss rather than long-term memory loss, meaning that you’ll still be able to remember significant events that you’ve experienced throughout your life.
Memory loss happens when there is an excessive elevation in cortisol levels over an extended period of time. Normally, cortisol helps kick-start our fight or flight response which can be a good thing for us, but for those of us who are constantly in states of high anxiety, the elevated levels of cortisol can impair our ability to recall or retrieve memories.
Not only that, but since individuals with anxiety also tend to have, not just one train of thought, but multiple trains of thought, it’s easy for some memories to get lost along the way. With so many thoughts bouncing around all at once it’s no surprise that a few things might slip our mind.
Poor sleep patterns and habits can also attribute to memory loss. Getting enough sleep is an essential part of forming memories. While we sleep the brain can consolidate any information we’ve gained throughout the day and then store it in our brain as memories.
Memory loss due to anxiety is common, yet it frequently goes unnoticed because we face more prominent and easily recognizable symptoms of anxiety.
We May Forget:
- Directions
- Pieces of information you just read
- Important deadlines
- Daily tasks
- Conversations that just took place
- Social events and/or birthdays
How to Combat Memory Loss
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To help us contend with short-term memory loss, there are few things we can do.
Use a notebook or planner to schedule events, birthdays, deadlines, or daily tasks. Write down directions as they’re given so we have a hard copy to reference. Take notes, and lots of them, whenever possible.
Try mental exercises. Websites like Lumosity (available for download on the Apple and Google app store) offers free and premium brain games that train your brain and help improve memory. Doing puzzles such as crosswords and sudoku (my fave), have been found to help improve memory health as well.
Get a good night’s sleep and let your brain store those memories! Implement a sleep schedule to help you establish a routine that ensures you’ll hit your full eight hours. Turn off your electronic devices if you can, but if not, try playing relaxing music or meditations.
I am constantly telling my friends and co-workers I suffer from the “Dory Syndrome” because I’m always forgetting information that was just relayed to me or losing my train of thought mid-sentence. At first I said this as a joke, but then I realized that this was happening pretty regularly and has been for quite some time.
I never thought about my “Dory Syndrome” as being a completely real and valid thing until recently. Because of the frequency in which this was happening, I decided to do a little bit of research and I found that this is a common, yet less obvious symptom of anxiety.
The more I look back on conversations or interactions I’ve had, the more I can see the moments where the memory loss occurred. There are a few instances where I was asked a question by a member of management, and even though I knew I knew the answer, I couldn’t find it or verbalize it- the answer was no longer in my brain but floating around somewhere in the stratosphere.
Now that I’m more aware of this memory loss and how often it occurs, I rely a lot more on writing things down. I have a giant desk calendar at work where I jot anything and everything down. I have a billion-and-one notes saved on my phone. I have alarms set to go off for events and bills that I scheduled in my calendar on my phone as well. I also have quite the collection of sudoku puzzle books and a sudoku puzzle app!
If you find that you are experiencing the “Dory Syndrome,” or short-term memory loss, your anxiety could be the cause.
You can combat this by ensuring that you record things like events, birthdays, payments, etc. in a planner or notebook, by trying your hand at some brain games or puzzles, and by getting better sleep.
Remember, as always, you are not alone!
With love and support, Molly
