Saturday, February 4, 2012

I cant remember where I put the keys

Health Tip: There's a difference between mild memory lapse and serious memory problems. One way to know if your memory problem needs more attention is whether it is interfering with your everyday tasks or if the people in your life are concerned by it.

None of us can age without memory lapses. It is a given part of life and a very natural part of aging. It may take longer to learn new things, remember certain words, find our keys,  or find our glasses. These changes are often signs of mild forgetfulness, not serious memory problems. But, how do we know if this memory loss is natural and normal " cognitive decline" or if its turning into more serious.

An important distinction of serious mermory loss is that people start to forget where they are, lost in familar places, and start asking the same questions over and over again. This is a sign of a disease process and not normal memory loss. A great tool that is used regularly to determine how a person's memory is doing can be found at  : http://www.oocities.org/travelnair/mini-mentalStateExamination.pdf

Getting older without losing our memory as we go would be unusual. Memory loss is as natural as wrinkles when it comes to aging. It is just a matter of realizing when it needs to followup for more serious concerns. Being confident of our own health, and recognizing what is natural and what may not be, is the key to being informed in our healthcare.

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