Is Stress Harming Your Memory? How to Cope With Daily Triggers
causing you stress and how the situation can be remedied. Dealing with a work-related confrontation can be hard, but having that difficult conversation and resolving the problem can ultimately lead to less long-term stress and improve your mental health. Another thing you can do to reduce stress is avoid multitasking. Taking on multiple projects or doing too much in too little time can leave you feeling overworked. Plus, studies have found that multitasking is not effective. You cannot deliver the same results when your attention is scattered as you can when you are focused on one thing. To make matters worse, multitasking takes a major toll on memory and cognition, according to a study from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If stress is impairing your memory, judgment, or cognition, take the above steps to reduce it. If you find your memory and cognition aren’t improving, consider speaking with a mental health professional to discuss your best next steps. Mental health and stress management are important, and the more we do to improve these areas of our lives, the healthier and happier we will be.
Stress can cause more than just a bad mood and low energy. Over time, mental exhaustion from stress can lead to forgetfulness and reduced cognition. This can hamper your ability to do your job and enjoy life. Though stress is unavoidable, there are steps you can take to mitigate some of the negative effects
of mental exhaustion, including forgetfulness. First, consider the source of your stress. These days, a common stressor is social media. If your feeds are full of bad news and negativity, shut them down. Many researchers suggest that spending less time on the internet leads to better health. Several studies have found that constant internet use, including time spent on social media, is negatively impacting our memories. Research from
Harvard, Oxford, King’s College London, and Western Sydney University all confirm this: Too much internet use is a bad thing. Of course, it can be easier to delete a social media app than it is to eliminate other types of stressors. Coping with a stressful coworker, for example, can be difficult. You have to figure out why they’re
NEWCOVID-19 SCAMS TOWATCH OUT FOR
scams” — posing as a family member or friend of victims in an effort to trick them out of their money. The grandparent scam is a common version of the imposter scam. The grandparent gets a phone call from their grandchild who is in serious trouble and needs cash wired to them in a hurry. The only problem is that none of it is true. The “grandchild” is really a scammer and no one is in trouble. The scammer uses fear to get the grandparent to wire the money. In light of COVID-19, scammers posing as relatives or friends tell the victim they are sick and need money for treatment or that they lost their job and need help making ends meet. Another common scam is the “vaccine scam.” The fraudster calls up their would-be victim and tells them about a COVID-19 vaccine. All the victim has to do is send the caller some money and the vaccine is all theirs. The victim sends the money and … nothing. The scammer walks away with the money and moves to their next target. Like with any scam, the best way to protect yourself is to be skeptical. If you receive a strange phone call, email, or text, hang up or delete the message. Never let them talk and never let them use fear against you. If you aren’t sure if a phone call is legitimate, hang up and call your relative back on a known phone number to verify. And finally, remember, you will never get a phone call from a government agency, like the IRS, out of the blue.
This year has a boon for scammers and fraudsters. Since early spring, they’ve been working to take advantage of individuals, families, and businesses impacted by COVID-19. Over the summer, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released some of their preliminary findings about these scams. In spring alone, the FTC received over 144,000 complaints from consumers and businesses
reporting suspicious contact related to COVID-19 or the
CARES Act, which helped provide relief to millions through the Economic Impact Payment (the $1,200 check from the IRS) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As part of their findings, the FTC revealed that COVID-19 scams have cost victims upwards of $93 million. That number is expected to rise as we close out the third quarter of 2020. To get that money, scammers have employed many of their tried-and-true methods, including robocalls and phishing scams. They’ve also used “imposter
2 • CampbellWealth.com
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