A high level of cortisol, indicating a high level of stress, is associated with lower brain volume.⁠ Chronic stress can deliver a damaging blow to a person’s health. It can harm the cardiovascular system, breathing, the liver, digestion, the nervous system, and many other aspects of well-being.⁠ A study, published in 2018 in the journal Neurology, shows that the brain may also suffer when the primary stress hormone, cortisol, rises too high in the body’s system.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ “We show that even among young and middle-aged adults at an average age of 48 years, highest cortisol levels in the top 30 percent were associated with smaller total brain volumes, changes in the brain white matter, and poorer performance on some memory and thinking tasks,” says Sudha Seshadri, MD, study author and director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio.⁠ ⁠ Dr. Seshadri emphasizes that the investigation does ...