So there I was, sitting in the courtyard of a lovely little restaurant, enjoying the late summer sun, and the last mouthful of heavenly Chardonnay, when I heard my husband calling my name from the counter, where he was paying the bill.

Something in his voice didn’t sound quite right so I went up to join him, and in a hushed but panicky voice he said,

“Darling, I can’t remember the pin number for my card”.

He was clearly horrified, and concerned, I quickly whipped out my card, making some joke to the maitre de that my husband would go to any lengths to get me to pay.

The whole way home he was totally flummoxed, as five minutes into the drive, he remembered the darned number.  “Must be my Alzheimer’s”, he said, attempting to laugh it off.  “But I was so embarrassed, no, mortified, I truly could not remember that number, and I’ve been using the same one for years”, he continued, at least 3 times before we got home.

Has this ever happened to you Where you’ve thought, “Oh, not another senior moment”, or convinced yourself you were losing your edge because you forgot about a meeting or worse still forgot someone’s name – someone you’ve known for years?

The storing of human memories is a highly dynamic system which is interwoven with your emotions, how you view things and your actions.  Your ability to create store and recall new memories when you need them allows you to learn and interact with other people.

Remember the days when you knew everyone’s name instantly? And recognized faces without a problem? In those days, you never seemed to have to struggle for clues – you just knew. You were probably about 14!

Actually, until (like my husband) you find your heart pounding because you can’t remember your pin number in a restaurant, or searching frantically for a name you really know quite well, you’ve taken the skill of recognition for granted. But it is actually a very complex process and it isn’t until your memory has let you down, that you begin to realize this.

To remember a number or recognize someone, you have to bring together, quite unconsciously, an amazing range of stored memories. These include, for example, the numbers you have rehearsed into your memory, along with the cues you have attached to them. Or facts about someone  (same school/married Sally/three daughters/drives a Lexus), the relationship the person has with you (I know him/played football on the same team) and episodic memories (we visited a bar last time we were in town) and then, finally comes the person’s name. At the same time you may have an emotional response to the person (I don’t get on with him, really).

Forget Me Not

If there is a malfunction in the remembering process, it could be because you are distracted by other thoughts, stress or maybe it really was just one too many glasses of wine with that lunch! Or it could be, if the person is only slightly known to you, that you did not encode the information well enough into your memory.

It takes seven seconds of concentration to create a memory trace in the long term memory.

Once new information comes into the short term memory, it goes straight to the brain’s processing plant (hippocampus) and moves along to the long-term storage department.  Paying attention is like shining a light on what needs to be remembered – focusing on the information creates the all-important pathway to memory.

Try these tips for remembering your pin number:

• Pay attention to the number and recite out loud  it as you ‘see’ it in your mind’s eye.
• Focus on the numbers and think of a zany association e.g. 7393 – I’ll be 73 in 11 years time and I hope to be 93 before I forget that number again! Or, it’s 73 steps to the mail box and 93 to the store.
• Try to take time a few minutes after memorizing the number and visualize it on your card.recall it again in an hour, a day and a week.

You’ll find lots more tips like these in the great new book by Allison Lamont PhD and Gillian Eadie, Seven Second Memory. And if you are ready to start our free six-day Brain Tune course, sign up now.

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

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

Contrary to media buzz that urges us to multi-task every day, the human brain can focus on only one thing at a time. That focus might only be for a nanosecond, but so-called multi-tasking is a rapid shifting of focus from one thing to another of everything we are trying to do at once. So you can see that it is virtually impossible to pay quality attention to them all.

How to stop losing your car!

Your brain quickly ‘forgets’ anything that you have not committed to long-term memory so, if you put down your keys or wallet – or even park your car – on autopilot, without thinking, then your memory will let you down. To remember where things are, you need to focus on the item, concentrate on where they are being placed. You need to create a ‘memory trace’. There are ways to help your memory, though. Try these.

Tips for remembering where things are:

Losing your car can be a major hassle.

• Look for the closest parking spot, even if it takes a few extra turns.
• Keep track of the number and level of your parking spot. Jot this down.
• Look out for landmarks like stores, large signs or trees.
• Use your mobile to photograph your parking spot, with an identifier in the frame.
• Pressing your remote locking device will give you a welcoming flash of your lights, if all else fails!

Your wallet is basically your entire life wrapped in one place.

• Designate a dish as your official wallet holder, and use it for things you use daily (watch, keys).
• Keep this dish (or simply your wallet) on a table you’ll see it on your way out.
• Or, put your wallet in your jacket or handbag; then you’ll know it’s with you when you leave. Make sure to check for it when you change jackets or handbag.

To keep track of your keys:

• Leave them on a hook next to the door.
• Attach a paging or remote locator device to your keychain.
• Most men have a cup or bowl for spare change; use this to store your keys. (See previous tip.)
• Giving a trusted friend or family member a spare might save your sanity in an emergency.

To avoid losing your mobile phone:

• Designate one convenient place for it in your home, and always keep it there. By your charger is good.
• Avoid silent and vibrate modes if possible — calling your own number can help find the phone.
• Take a pic of a page that reads: This phone is owned by (your name) Please phone (number) or email (address). Lock the image into your memory card so that it is never erased. It will work for honest people!

Losing phone numbers & e-mail addresses is like losing your world:

• Store contact information directly into your phone.
• Have an iphone or blackberry to store numbers and addresses the moment you receive them. Back up this data on your PC, regularly.
• Keep a physical address book in addition to your mobile devices or create one on your computer. Ask for business cards and keep them in a card-holder.

Take steps to make sure you don’t lose your PC files:

• Keep a well-labelled database (Excel spreadsheet is good) and make sure to always back up important files.
• Create shortcuts on your desktop to your most important files to avoid spending loads of time looking for them.
• Take care with the files you choose to download from the internet. Some dubious sites are sprinkled with spyware, which can disrupt your computer’s functioning. These can cause you to reinstall your operating system, and lose your files in the process.
• Invest in an anti-surge filter to safeguard your PC against power outages.

Losing work documents will not enhance your reputation or image.

• Back up all of your work. Ensure your network backups are happening each day and/or use PDF’s, zipped files, DVD’s or even photocopies.
• An alphabetical or date-based database is useful, either electronic or hard copy.

Keeping track of receipts will save time for reimbursements, tax claims or refunds.

• Develop and maintain a filing system, from the smallest purchases (coffee shop receipts) to the most extravagant (trips, cars, etc.). Doing this gets you in the habit of filing away all those loose bits of paper.
• Make copies of your most expensive purchases, like plasma TVs, computers, electronics or appliances. Sometime they’ll need servicing.
• Keep your receipts in a specific desk drawer, labelled, or with the rest of your other accounts.

Make sure you don’t lose your family pet!

• Make sure Fido or Samantha has a collar and a tag. Micro-chipping is also an excellent idea.
• Keep a close eye on your pets, especially around open doors and windows.

Items on your shopping list

• Use your mobile to photograph your recipe or shopping list – have it with you in the store.
• Practice one of the memory techniques from Seven Second Memory. With just a few minutes concentration and practice you’ll give yourself a lifelong technique that will ensure you never forget an item in the store again.

For further information on your memory and how it works, go to How to Remember 101 as well as What Actually IS Your Memory

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.

No! I completely forgot!

After 45 minutes I couldn’t stand it any longer and I sent her a text. Next minute the cossack tune blared from my mobile, and it was her. She’d forgotten all about meeting me. She’s sorry, can’t think what happened, how could she forget, so on and so on ….

That’s a baby boomer in action. To be honest, I’ve forgotten some things, too, of late. And my memory specialist sister, Dr. Allison Lamont, tells me that there’s a heap of reasons why it might be happening, not many of them good news!

People call memory loss by many names: forgetfulness, amnesia, impaired memory, loss of memory, mild cognitive impairment but basically it refers to any forgetting that is out of the ordinary. And it seems that boomers have growing worries about it because it’s not fun to miss appointments, forget birthdays or to take medication. That could even be dangerous.

There are heaps of causes of memory loss, getting older being one of them. But boomers can push back against forgetting with training so that’s a comfort for me and my friend. More significant memory loss occurs, though, when diseases are involved.

There’s a whole list of those and I’ll put some of the most common of them for you at the end of this article. You’ll need to visit a doctor to be sure if you are worried that your memory loss is more serious than just standing me up for lunch.

The doctor will ask you all kinds of questions to help understand what kind of memory loss it is. Can you remember recent events (is there impaired short-term memory) Can you remember events from further in the past (that’s about your long-term memory)? Have you just forgotten what happened before or after a specific experience (amnesia)? Do you make up stuff to cover gaps in memory?

The doc will also want to know about whether your moods affect your concentration and whether the memory loss has been getting worse over years, weeks or months. It’s also important to know if it’s there all the time or only now and then. Knowing if you’ve had a head injury in the recent past, surgery needing anaesthetic, seizures or an emotionally traumatic event will be taken into consideration.

You probably know that alcohol and illegal/illicit drugs are bad news for memory, so you’d better be honest with the doc about that.

Other symptoms might have something to do with your memory loss so knowing if you have been confused or disoriented, whether you can eat, dress, and generally look after yourself will be on the check list of questions. Of course, they’ll do all the normal things you would expect, like blood tests looking for low vitamin B12 or thyroid disease, CT scan or MRI of the head, cognitive or psychometric tests, an EEG or even a lumbar puncture.

So, memory loss shouldn’t be taken lightly, particularly if you have other worrying symptoms.

For most boomers, though, actively challenging and training your perfectly normal brain will overcome memory loss and, in fact, in Seven Second Memory Plus Six Other Powerful Memory Techniques: Rewire your Brain for a Youthful Mind, you will find out how easy it is to remember as well as you did in your youth – maybe even better.

Common Causes of More Serious Memory Loss

Alcoholism
Alzheimer’s disease
Brain damage due to disease or injury
Brain growths (caused by tumors or infection)
Brain infections such as Lyme disease or syphilis
Depression or emotional trauma
Drugs such as barbiturates or benzodiazepines
Encephalitis of any type (herpes, West Nile, Eastern Equine)
General anesthetics such as halothane, isoflurane, and fentanyl
Head trauma or injury
Hysteria, often accompanied by confusion
Illness that results in the loss of nerve cells
Nutritional problems (vitamin deficiencies such as low vitamin B12)
Seizures
Stroke
Temporal lobe brain surgery

For further information, go to Memory Questions: True or False and Avoid or Delay Dementia Later in Life and improving your memory, please visit the Brain and Memory Foundation.

Get these right and you won’t forget important dates again!

You mightn’t realize it, but your brain is designed to forget – that’s right, to forget!

No, it’s not a misprint – your brain is working hard all day forgetting things so that you are not having a brain overload malfunction.
Imagine what it would be like if your memory remembered every detail of every moment of your day. It would be like a camera clicking every nanosecond.

Your clever brain filters out everything it thinks you don’t need.

So you have to give your brain clear signals about the things you want to remember.
How do you do that?
Well, it’s a big topic to cover here (full story in Seven Second Memory) but grab these 4 easy ways to help you remember:

1. Focus on what you need to remember.

Don’t expect to listen or look for a second or so and expect to remember. You need to concentrate for seven seconds if you want to remember something later. Try it, it will seem a long time but, if you spend this time repeating, connecting or visualizing the data, you will remember it.

2. Use ONE diary.

Put everything in there so that you are not looking through several places each time you want to check something.

3. Get your surroundings organized.

Establish places for all of the items that you regularly lose, and use them! Hooks for your keys, drawer for your wallet, mobile, glasses and diary – all need a defined place where you put them. Concentrate while you place them there!

4. Give your brain some help!

To remember appointments ahead of time (using your prospective memory) give your brain as many ‘hooks’ as you can. In your mind , embed the details of the appointment in as many ways as you can. I’m meeting the accountant on Thursday at 9.30 am. What is his/her name? Where will I park the car? Which floor of the building is it on? What do I need to take? What questions will I ask? Where will I go once I have left that appointment at 10.30? Use as many senses as you can – visualize the clock, building and face of the accountant, ‘hear’ the questions you will ask, ‘feel’ the papers you will need to take, and so on. Are you already thinking that you haven’t a spare seven seconds to do this?? Well, think of how many minutes you waste trying to remember the time, day, location and name if you haven’t committed them to memory. It’s a no-brainer!

Forgetfulness can ruin your confidence and your life.

When you forget something important, you feel all at sea and your confidence can take a serious hit.

But this does not have to be the story of your life. Taking a few easy actions can quickly provide certainty in your memory, every day.

For many more tips and fuller explanations of how you can regain your youthful memory, get Seven Second Memory Plus Six Other Powerful Memory Techniques. Rewire Your Brain For a Youthful Mind. Dr. Allison Lamont, PhD & Gillian M. Eadie, 2009.

You’ll be glad you did!