Valentine’s day is a great occasion to celebrate love. But if you’re scrambling at the last minute to buy flowers or finalize dinner reservations, the holiday can also be an incredible source of stress. And chronic stress, as neuroendocrinologist Bruce McEwen of New York’s Rockefeller University said at a meeting on Friday at the City University of New York, can put a lot of wear and tear on the brain.

In research published last month in the journal Cerebral Cortex, McEwen and his colleagues showed in mice that continual stress may alter cannaboid signaling mechanisms which regulate emotion by changing brain architecture.

Yet these changes are reversible. According to McEwen, exercise and a good diet work wonders to reduce this stress on our brains. And for people who suffer from chronic anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy may help to reverse these effects on the brain, too.

A little bit of pressure, however may help boost people’s memories according to another recent study in mice from the Rockefeller team. So that same stress might help you remember to book that table-for-two a month in advance next year.

Image: Subramanian Kabilan, Flickr