Ageing and Memory

Researchers claim that poor memory may have nothing to do with age and that if this is a problem for older people it may be because of poor health, fear of failure or lack of motivation. Even so, for many of us it can be a problem. Calling it a ‘senior’ moment is a nice camouflage. For me it’s been around for a while and doesn’t get any better. Names, places, bits of personal history and connections between the past and the present just won’t come out of the store to the shop-front of the mind. Embarrassing to us, it can be the same for others as they see us struggling to remember something or try not to prompt us with the word which eludes us but is clear to them.

There are over 50M. references to age and memory on Google – so it is an issue! Apparently there are three sorts of memory. There’s sensory memory – smells, sights, sounds and when this memory is limited by age, the other memory banks may be affected. Then there’s short-term memory which is generally unaffected by age, although older people may need to manage new information– by rehearsing and reminding. Thirdly, long-term memory, There are different opinions about whether age-associated memory problems are centred in encoding, storage or retrieval.

There’s plenty of advice on the net for people with memory loss, like making notes of things that need to be remembered (and not forgetting where you have put them?) The suggestion is also made that minimising anxiety, fatigue and stress helps to sustain memory. General health – our familiar theme – is advocated as a way of keeping mentally fit. Here are some of them –

*If you need glasses and a hearing aid – get them.
*Keep medication to a minimum
*Eat a well balanced diet
*Keep mentally alert, doing things that require the use of memory
*Maintain a clearly defined home environment
*Think backwards as you trace your movements in search of something lost
*Don’t drink too much alcohol
*If you are suffering from depression, see your doctor or counsellor

Memory loss, then is everyone’s problem though it may become acute as we get older. The strange thing is that whilst it’s a general problem for some older people, for others it seems hardly to exist. In his ninety first year, a friend of our’s is only now beginning to show signs of forgetfulness. Lucky man!

Bryan