Students that start medical school are people spend next years of their lives preparing themselves to understand the composition, anatomy and physiology of the human body both in a healthy and pathologic state, so that they can later apply this knowledge to treat their patients. Being a medical student has been described as an exhausting process in which the students suffer: differences in their sleep hours, stress levels, emotional frustration, pressure and even depression. This research has been made to identify, in a select group of students that attend the University of Costa Rica and are coursing their fourth semester of their carrer, the cognitive deterioration that this lifestyle may present and how this affects the quality, learning capacity and results they may obtain. Using the Complex figure of Rey-Osterrieth and the MoCA test (Montreal Cognitive Assesment) the population was evaluated in two different opportunities in which the stress and exhaustment levels have been clearly different. The obtained data has prooved a clear deterioration in their performance and cognitive capacities

Stress; cognitive capacities; Complex figure of Rey-Osterrieth; MoCA Test