WASHINGTON - How many people have gotten home after a blindingly stressful day and realize they've forgotten some important event or errand? Well, now at least there's a scientific explanation for the oversight. Stress makes you forgetful.
People going on stage or taking an exam or finding themselves in similarly tough situations already knew this, of course.
But a team of researchers has found how it happens, a discovery that they say could point the way to better treatments for such illnesses as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Stressful situations in which the individual has no control were found to activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C, which impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the executive-decision part of the brain, says Dr. Amy F. T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School.
The findings were reported Thursday in the journal Science
Full story:
http://www.comcast.net/News/HEALTHWELLNESS...1985539062.html
People going on stage or taking an exam or finding themselves in similarly tough situations already knew this, of course.
But a team of researchers has found how it happens, a discovery that they say could point the way to better treatments for such illnesses as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Stressful situations in which the individual has no control were found to activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C, which impairs the short-term memory and other functions in the prefrontal cortex, the executive-decision part of the brain, says Dr. Amy F. T. Arnsten of Yale Medical School.
The findings were reported Thursday in the journal Science
Full story:
http://www.comcast.net/News/HEALTHWELLNESS...1985539062.html
