Researchers:

With stress, a little bit goes a long way, UCI researchers report.

A new study has found that short-term stress has more of an impact than earlier thought.

It has been understood by scientists that long-term stress affects brain cell communication in the areas of learning and memory, but UCI researchers have found that short-term stress — lasting only a few hours — can have the same effect.

Researchers discovered the selective molecules called corticotropin-releasing hormones disrupted how the brain collects memories. They found that stress caused the hormones to release.

Rat and mice subjects showed the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, was affected by the corticotropin-releasing hormones causing damage to brain synapses, or connectors.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

— Daniel Tedford