It’s a common experience: you walk into a room and forget why you entered, or you struggle to recall a name that’s on the tip of your tongue. While occasional forgetfulness is normal, persistent memory lapses can be concerning.
For individuals dealing with anxiety, these moments might feel more frequent, leading to a pressing question: Can anxiety actually cause memory problems? The answer, supported by scientific research, is a definitive yes.
The connection between a person’s emotional state and cognitive function is profound. Anxiety is not just a feeling of unease; it triggers a cascade of physiological responses that directly impact the brain’s ability to form, store, and retrieve memories.
Raphael Wald, Psy.D., a neuropsychologist with Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, part of Baptist Health, explains this occurrence in a Baptist Health Instagram reel. “Have you noticed that when you’re anxious, your brain does not work the way that you want it to? It might be harder for you to focus,” he explains. “That’s not just in your head. There is a real physiological reason for it.”
That’s not just an issue in the short term. When people have long-term mental health struggles, it can in fact increase their risk for dementia.”
The Science Behind Anxiety and Memory
To understand how anxiety affects memory, it’s helpful to look at the brain’s “fight-or-flight” response. When you perceive a threat, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These chemicals are designed to prepare you for immediate danger by increasing heart rate, sharpening senses, and redirecting energy to essential functions.
However, this survival mechanism comes at a cognitive cost. The parts of the brain responsible for higher-level thinking, such as the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, are particularly sensitive to stress hormones.
Prefrontal Cortex: This area is crucial for working memory—the brain’s temporary notepad used for tasks like problem-solving and decision-making. High levels of cortisol can impair its function, making it difficult to hold onto new information or concentrate on complex tasks.
Hippocampus: This sea-horse shaped structure is central to forming new long-term memories. Chronic stress can damage cells in the hippocampus and even reduce its size, hindering its ability to consolidate short-term memories into lasting ones.
When the brain is preoccupied with a perceived threat, its resources are diverted away from everyday cognitive tasks, including memory encoding.
How Anxiety Disrupts Short-Term Memory
The most immediate impact of anxiety is on short-term and working memory. When you are anxious, your mind is often filled with intrusive, worrying thoughts. This internal noise acts as a distraction, consuming the cognitive resources needed to pay attention to the present moment.
Dr. Wald elaborates on this effect: “When your brain is distracted by worry and anxiety, it can be difficult to focus on those things that you want to pay more attention to.” This explains why you might struggle to remember a conversation you just had or information you just read, he adds. Your brain was not unable to store the information; it was simply too preoccupied to encode it properly in the first place.
This can create a frustrating cycle. You feel anxious, which makes you forgetful. The forgetfulness then becomes another source of anxiety, as you worry about your mental sharpness, which in turn worsens your ability to focus and remember.
Long-Term Anxiety and Its Link to Dementia
While short-term memory lapses are disruptive, the consequences of chronic, long-term anxiety are even more serious. Prolonged exposure to stress hormones can lead to lasting changes in brain structure and function, potentially increasing the risk of cognitive decline later in life.
Research has begun to uncover a troubling connection between persistent anxiety and an elevated risk for developing dementia. Dementia is an umbrella term for a decline in cognitive function—including memory, language, and problem-solving — that is severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form.
The constant strain that anxiety places on the brain’s resources can wear it down over time.
“That’s not just an issue in the short term. When people have long-term mental health struggles, it can in fact increase their risk for dementia,” Dr. Wald explains. This suggests that the cumulative effect of years of mental distress can leave the brain more vulnerable to the neurodegenerative processes that cause dementia.
This happens through several pathways. Chronic inflammation, a common byproduct of long-term stress, is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, the damage to the hippocampus caused by persistently high cortisol levels weakens the brain’s memory center, making it more susceptible to age-related decline.
“Your brain can only handle so much difficulty and so much thrown at it from a mental health standpoint,” Dr. Wald said. “And over time, that can wear your brain down and make it more susceptible to developing dementia.”
Taking Action to Protect Your Cognitive Health
The link between anxiety and memory problems is clear, but it is not a life sentence. The brain has a remarkable capacity for resilience, and taking steps to manage anxiety can help protect and even improve your cognitive function.
Effective strategies for managing anxiety include:
Mindfulness and Meditation: These practices train your brain to focus on the present, reducing the mental chatter that interferes with memory.
Physical Exercise: Regular activity is a powerful way to reduce stress hormones and promote the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus.
Adequate Sleep: Sleep is essential for memory consolidation. Prioritizing 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night can significantly improve both mood and memory.
Professional Support: Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) are highly effective for treating anxiety. A mental health professional can provide tools and strategies to manage anxious thoughts and behaviors.
Recognizing that anxiety has real, physiological effects on the brain is the first step toward addressing its impact on your memory. Dr. Wald adds that by proactively managing stress and seeking support from a healthcare provider, you can reduce its cognitive toll, improve your focus, and protect your long-term brain health.