Stress and Hippocampus Neurogenesis/ Rehabilitation

[thomas_seay]

Ok, I am not looking to have an Oprah moment here but am wanting opinions.  I had a very stressful childhood.  I won't go into details.  However, I suspect that over the years there was damage/reduction in the Hippocampus.  That's my working hypothesis, even though I have only empirical reasons for believing that: poor sleep and a diminution in memory function (this used to be my strong suit).  I also tend to respond very poorly to stress.  Assuming for the moment that my hypothesis is correct, what are ways to improve/restore hippocampal health?  I found this study on nicotine to be interesting:

http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/content/7/1/31
"Although many components of tobacco smoke are harmful to the brain, and cardiorespiratory systems, nicotine has been found to be useful for the improvement of cognitive functions including working memory and executive function. Furthermore, it has been found to be neuroprotective [35]. It has been widely reported that acute exposure to nicotine improves vigilance, selective attention, memory, and executive function in human and animals. The activation of the cholinergic system and subsequent downstream effects on neurotransmitter release including dopamine and serotonin are responsible for this"

[aelephant]

Have you heard of the ACE study?

There's a whole video series about this here (although it focuses more on damage to the prefrontal cortex):

fdrurl.com/bib

[JeremyG]

Has your doctor ever prescribed or tried to treat your health problems? Or have you looked at other parts of your life to see if they are causing these problems? I think you would have to look at your whole life to determine if the stress during your childhood was the cause or if it was something else like your diet, your exercise regime, the air that you breathe, the stress in your daily life, and more. There are lots of factors in one's life that could cause the problems that you state.