General Article Why anxiety is good for our memory

Topic Selected: Anxiety Book Volume: 351
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By Tom Bawden

‘Anxiety can help people to remember things – although there is an optimal level of anxiety that is going to benefit your memory’.
– Myra Fernandes

It may make us chew our nails or keep us awake at night, but anxiety does at least have the benefit of helping us to remember things we might otherwise forget, a study finds.

Being a bit worried makes us more alert – and so more likely to register and remember the sights and events we encounter, according to Canadian researchers.

But it is more than that. There is something about the negative thinking that arises from anxiety that helps to etch memories into our minds more deeply than if we regard something in a more neutral manner, they found – although it is unclear why.

‘Anxiety can help people to remember things – although there is an optimal level of anxiety that is going to benefit your memory,’ said Professor Myra Fernandes, of the University of Waterloo, Ontario.

‘People with high anxiety need to be careful. High le...

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