Posts Tagged ‘Maintaining memory’

Brain Training: Strategies For Senior Moments

Posted on July 23rd, 2013 by karen

Don't Forget!

by Myra Marcus, Ph.D

Have you ever walked into another room to get something and by the time you get there you’ve forgotten what you wanted to get? Or spent a half hour trying to find your keys only to discover them still in the front door lock where they’ve sat since the last time you came into the house? You may be having what is fondly known as a “senior moment” — those brief lapses in memory that make you think you’re on the verge of full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.

Not to worry, though. In most cases, momentary forgetfulness is just a function of normal age-related issues like sleep deprivation, stress, medication side effects, even changes in brain physiology. Many times what we think is a memory problem is merely the result of not having paid close attention to our actions or surroundings. Information needs to be imprinted on the brain in order to be retrievable — if you’re not paying attention, the information never gets properly input.

As we age the brain changes — it shrinks and slows down. This means that the speed at which information can be retrieved on demand slows down as well. How many of you find that, in conversation, you sometimes need to substitute a word for the one you really want but can’t seem to remember? The word usually comes to you after the conversation has moved on or ended altogether. It’s of no use at that point but there’s still a sense of relief that it came to you at all.

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