Is this forgetfulness normal?

Many people over the age of 50 (and maybe even younger) experience mild forgetfulness.
Although these are a wake-up call to pay attention to your brain and memory, if the forgetfulness includes:
• Forgetting parts of an experience
• Forgetting where you park the car
• Forgetting events from the distant past
• Forgetting a person’s name, but remembering it later
Then, your memory loss is mild and would be regarded in the ‘normal’ range. It’s worrying though and, in the view of Dr. Allison Lamont, the Memory Doctor, “it’s time to take stock of your lifestyle and memory habits. Memory can be enhanced at this stage.”

When Should I Be Worried?

When you should be worried though, is when your memory loss is affecting your daily living. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive condition that damages areas of the brain involved in memory, intelligence, judgement, language, and behaviour. MRI scans are now able to determine what is happening in an Alzheimer’s but, prior to this, doctors have ways of identifying when the memory loss has become more serious.

When Should I Check With My Doctor?

It’s time to check with your doctor, if you, or someone close to you, is:

• Forgetting something you have just done, or an event you have just attended
• Forgetting how to do things that you’ve done many times before, like driving a car or telling the time
• Repeating phrases or stories in the same conversation
• Forgetting ever having known a particular person
• Frequently becoming confused, or seeming ‘far away’
• Having trouble making choices or handling money
• Noticing that forgetting like this has become more frequent over the past six months.

Never accept memory loss as normal – in mild cases, you can do something about it today – check out Seven Second Memory for a memory program that works.
In serious cases, then the sooner you have an accurate diagnosis, the sooner you can take the necessary steps.

For further information, read Nine Secrets of a Sharp Brain After 55 and Keep that Boomer Brain Growing

Never forget again!

Most people want to know how to improve their brain. Trouble is, most want improvement without actually having to do anything! And they want it NOW.

Well, there are some quick fixes that you can do today – and there are hints about some ways of doing things that will give you longer term improvement. No-one has to accept forgetfulness as a way of life, particularly if you are entering your 50’s and 60’s.

Scientists have now shown that building up a `cognitive reserve’ will give you a buffer against memory loss of the minor kind and may even delay the onset of actual memory diseases like Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

So, here’s the plan:

1. Believe that you have a good memory that can and will improve. Too many people let themselves off the hook by saying things like, ‘I’m no good with names’, “I’m having a senior moment’. And they leave it at that. Don’t let that be you. Persist until you remember whatever it was. Be determined and positive and be pleased with yourself when you succeed. Keep motivated and don’t say negative things about your memory.

2. Keep challenging your brain. Like any muscle in the body, regularly “exercising” the brain keeps it growing. New nerve connections develop and they improve your chance of remembering. Complex tasks such as learning a newcomputer program, language or musical instrument—keep your brain active and improve its physiological functioning. Your brain can regrow!

3. Regular aerobic exercise of at least 20 minutes a day improves your circulation throughout the body, including in the brain, and can help ward off the memory loss that comes with aging. Exercise also makes you more alert and relaxed, so your mental processing will be more effective.

4. Reducing any serious stress you are experiencing will improve your memory. I know it is easier said than done but stretching, relaxation exercises and any form of meditation will allow for more effective thinking processes. While chronic stress does not physically damage the brain, it can make focus, observation and remembering much more difficult.

5. A healthy diet will support your healthy brain, and a well-nourished brain functions much more efficiently. Include in your diet, foods containing antioxidants, like broccoli, blueberries, green tea, spinach, and red berries as well as Omega-3 fatty acids. Your brain also needs Thiamine, Vitamin E, Niacin and Vitamin B-6. Grazing, eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day instead of 3 large meals, also seems to improve mental functioning (including memory) by counteracting dips in blood sugar, which may negatively affect the brain. Supplements often purport to improve memory but only ginkgo biloba and phosphatidylserine have shown improvements in clinical trials.

6. Consciously practise your skills of observation. Notice details. Ask questions. Express an interest and actively attempt to learn something new. I have been the world’s worst at noticing details but I am making a conscious effort to overcome this tendency because I have found the more precise attention I pay, the better I remember.

7. Give yourself at least seven seconds of processing to form a memory. Memories are very transitory in the short-term, and distractions can make you quickly forget something as simple as a phone number. Focus on what you want to remember without distractions, all the while noticing details, repeating or connecting the new information.

8. Use all of your senses when forming these connections. Create for yourself vivid, memorable images because you remember information more easily if you can visualize it. Some people imagine quite bizarre happenings to connect ideas – it is up to you!

9. Repetition is memory’s friend. The more times you hear, see, or think about something, the more likely you are to remember it. When you want to remember a phone number, url or your colleague’s birthday, repeat it, either out loud or silently. Try writing it down; recite it again in ten minutes and half an hour later.

10. Categorizing individual things, often called chunking, will help you remember seemingly random items on a list. Practice with your shopping list.

11. Get organized. Have a designated place for items that you frequently need, such as keys and wallet. Use an electronic organizer or daily planner to keep track of appointments, due dates for bills, and other tasks. Improved organization reduces distraction and improves concentration.

12. Getting a good night’s sleep – a minimum of seven hours a night – may improve your short-term memory and long-term relational memory, according to recent studies conducted at the Harvard Medical School.

14. Find out about different skills and techniques for remembering. Mnemonics, memory structures and graphic organizers will visibly improve your memory. Seven Second Memory Plus Six Other Powerful Memory Techniques: Rewire your brain for a youthful mind. will start you on your improving your brain. Try it now.

Confident and independent lifestyles.

Until the financial crisis these past years, there had never been a better time in history to be 60. Boomers as a generation are more wealthy, living more interesting lives and have more years ahead of them to look forward to than ever before. Among the Americans who celebrated their 60th in that year were our two most recent presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton as well as other well-known celebrities like Cher, Donald Trump, Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton.

There were 78.2 million boomers in the US in 2005 and since then, 7918 people turn 60 each day – that’s 330 each hour!

And lots of you will be called James or Mary, because they were the most popular names in 1946. As I said, we are the generation that has worked hard, studied hard and made wealth for our companies and families.

So we should all be on top of the world, right?

Yes, so long as you can still remember all that way back!

The sad thing is that more and more boomers are beginning to suffer memory loss and the devastating side effects that arise from that. On an average, boomer annual health care spending will be around $3899 at 60 and rising each year. It’s estimated that there will be 57.8 million boomers living in 2030, aged between 66 and 84. What will you be doing? Will you be living active, fulfilled and interesting lives? Or will you be living in one of the 5000+ continuing care retirement facilities.

Ending up in care is currently one of the worst fears of baby boomers, who abhor the idea of losing their independence and not being able to manage their own lives.

Without an active and alert memory, though, this will be the reality for a growing percentage of boomers. So the time to do something for your memory is now, while you still have it!

The media is full of advertisements for anti-aging serums, anti-wrinkle potions, hair loss formulae and medications to keep you young.

In reality, it is your active mind and body that determines the youthfulness of your future.

Your memory is your life – so take steps now to build memory resilience. Research shows that the brain, when stimulated, can grow in capacity and effectiveness.

Without stimulation, is loses size, density and forgetfulness takes over.

Look up Seven Second Memory for an excellent introduction for steps you can be taking for your brain’s future, now.

For more free help and personal advice on keeping that boomer brain growing and improving your memory, please visit the Brain and Memory Foundation.

Shocking headline UK, 2008

I don’t know about you but I had not given a nanosecond’s thought to dementia – in fact, I wasn’t even certain what dementia was, exactly. Something to do with being demented or crazy, maybe …..

So I wasn’t exactly ready for being told that some of the odd things my Mom was doing were actually the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease, a kind of dementia.

Like she was thinking it was night time and putting herself to bed in the afternoon. Or forgetting that she had just had lunch and wondering when lunch would be ready …. that sort of thing. What’s really scary, though, is that I’ve caught myself out being a bit forgetful as well and I’m just a baby-boomer. So, being anxious to make sure that I wasn’t on a fast-track to dementia, myself, I’ve done some research.

I was very relieved to find a report In ‘Critical Care Nurse”, 2004:24, which told me about four main ways you can delay, or even better, avoid dementia altogether.

These were written up for critical care nurses – but I reckon they are pretty important for you to know, too.

All of the following were seen to be of of vital importance to avoid or delay dementia:

1. Establishing and maintaining a BMI within the healthy range (19 to 25) – this is Body Mass Index and you can calculate it. A weight loss program was recommended for anyone with BMIs at both the obese (>30) and overweight (>25) levels.
2. Reducing elevated cholesterol and blood pressure levels to normal ranges
3. Regular and frequent eating of green, leafy and cruciferous vegetables known to be associated with decreased incidence of dementia
4. Regular and frequent participation in activities that are socially, intellectually, and physically engaging

So, all you Fellow Boomers:

* when it comes to eating vegetables, green it;

* when it comes to participating in activities, move it; and

* when it comes to carrying excess body weight, lose it.

For further information, read Nine Secrets of a Sharp Brain After 55 and Keep that Boomer Brain Growing