The brain truly is an awe-inspiring thing, like the article by Robert Sapolsky said. It does so much for us, the obvious and conscious things like moving and thinking your way through a math problem and the endless amount of things we do not usually think about. Like how the brain tells our body to breathe when we are asleep or releases hormones when we are scared. It is an awesome creation, but like the article shows, it can be someone's enemy too. I cannot imagine how it would feel to be in combat, much less have to relive it over and over, once back home and safe. This article reminds me of a video I watched about PTSD. It showed a man who had been in a car accident, and though he ended up surviving without much physical damage, he got PTSD. When he heard loud noises or saw bright lights, his heart rate would skyrocket and he would start sweating. It was crazy watching the physical reaction his brain said was necessary to keep him safe, when really there was no danger.
I find it very interesting that the hippocampus may actually shrink due to PTSD and also that they have just recently noticed this connection. Another interesting point is the fact that they do not know whether the hippocampus atrophies after the traumatic experience, or if the patient already had a small hippocampus. Whatever the findings on this end up being could help a lot of people and prevent many from getting PTSD. The article brought up the idea that if a small hippocampus actually does coincide with PTSD that it should be included in the testing before shipping someone off to battle. Is that a legitimate reason to not allow someone to fight for his or her country? Would it be an automatic no, or up to the individual's discretion? Another point that the article mentioned was the fact that stress can help or hinder memory, depending on when the stress sets in. This information can definitely be useful for exam time.
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