If you have a senior or any that needs extra assistance living at your place, you must have noticed their habit of forgetting things. You must learn how to differentiate between normal aging memory loss and dementia- which is a much serious issue.
Having misplaced important things like your wallet, car keys, or suddenly forgetting a particular name or phone number is common. At a younger age, you won’t pay much heed to such issues. However, when you start to grow old, you should start worrying about these lapses.
For instance, you might be discussing a certain movie with a friend and you suddenly blanked on the name of the main character, or you’re unable to recall the name of a certain street. Sometimes, you’d pick up your phone and find yourself wondering what you had to do with it. Having difficulties in recalling a memory is very frustrating, but you shouldn’t always be worried about it. Memory lapses that grow with age are considered normal, and they aren’t the same as dementia.
As you get old, your body goes through a lot of changes – your muscles and bones get weaker. Similarly, your cognitive functions also start to diminish. This is why it usually takes you longer to recall a particular memory, and you’re not as quick as you were at a younger age. Some people start worrying too much and they start thinking these lapses are caused by some major brain disease. Mostly, the information you’re trying to recall will pop back up if you give yourself some time. Therefore, it’s certain that changes in your cognitive abilities will happen as you age, and major memory loss isn’t a part of this change. This is why you need to know how to notice normal aging memory lapses and identify the symptoms of a major brain problem.
Your brain can make fresh brain cells at every age, therefore a great memory loss wouldn’t happen to a normal person who has aged. The main thing you need to understand is that your brain will start weakening if you don’t give it the necessary exercises and diet, just as you need to do with muscles and bones. Everything you do – what you eat, the work you do, your habits, and all activities you carry out daily, have a significant impact on your mental health. You can always enhance your mental capabilities regardless of your age. Moreover, a lot of your brain functions aren’t affected as you age, for instance:
Typically, aging memory loss happens due to these 3 causes:
Knowing how to identify the normal memory lapses is important so that you know when to pay a visit to the doctor. Following are some of the common occasional memory lapses that you should deem as normal:
Occasional memory lapses will not disable you, unlike dementia. Memory loss that comes with growing age does not significantly influence your daily routine. However, dementia is a constant problem that causes a decline in several cognitive abilities like your memory, the ability to speak, language, your judgment, and creative thinking.
When memory losses and glitches in your brain start getting too intense that they start distorting your daily routine activities, causing problems for your family; this is when you’re going through a serious mental problem like dementia or Alzheimer’s.
If you have found similar symptoms in your old aged parents or any senior living at your place, take them to the doctor immediately. In case, the situation is worse, you should take them to your nearby home care specialist. You can find many dementia or home care specialist in Alzheimer’s. My Nurse Family was rated #1 home care company in Arlington that looks after the seniors and provides them the best care they deserve.
For more senior insights, head back to the My Nurse Family blog.