Memory Care Tips & Tricks For Those Above 40 to Avoid Memory Loss
Not every kind of forgetfulness is termed as memory loss. So, there is nothing to panic about if you forget a family member’s birthday, which you used to remember each year judiciously. Or if you forgot the car keys at home today and many such small incidents. There will be a modest decline in memory with ageing; these changes are mostly age-appropriate and do not affect your day-to-day lifestyle. But how do you judge if it is becoming a bigger problem? Let’s find out!
When to Worry About Memory Loss?
The term dementia is characterised by numerous symptoms like impairment in judgement, reasoning, language, memory and other thinking abilities. It develops eventually and worsens with time, affecting the person’s abilities to socialise, work and maintain relationships.
Generally, this differentiation in lifestyle is a sign of dementia. Other early symptoms include:
- Tending to forget common words while communicating
- Repetitively asking the same questions
- Mixing up words like saying Sun when you meant the moon
- Taking time to complete known tasks
- Keeping things in inappropriate places, like keeping the car keys in the kitchen cabinet
- Repeatedly getting lost while driving or walking.
- Apparent mood or behavioural changes for no reason.
Diseases responsible for crucial memory problems, damaging the brain and eventually resulting in dementia:
- Alzheimer’s
- Frontotemporal dementia
- Vascular dementia
- Lewy body dementia
- Mixed dementia
- Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE)
The pathology of each of these conditions is different. There are possible solutions to these problems as well.
Causes of Reversible Memory Loss
Most of the conditions mentioned above are treatable if they are reported on time and the real cause of the issue is diagnosed. Some reasons include medication, minor head injury, emotional disorders like stress or depression, alcoholism, hypothyroidism, sleep apnea, brain diseases and vitamin B12 deficiency.
Now that you have a fair idea about memory and the criticality of memory loss, we shall move on to how to take memory care and how to improve memory for older adults.
Tips for Memory Care Assisted Living
Here we present to you some in-home memory care tips that will help you keep your memory intact for years:
1. Physical Exercise
Exercising is an essential thing everyone should do, and you should take at least 45 minutes a day to exercise. It keeps your mind fresh, relieves anxiety, and helps keep your mind, body and soul healthy.
2. Eat Balanced Diet
Apart from exercising, you should eat a balanced diet. Your diet should include nuts, berries and fish to boost your brain functioning, and these three food items keep you active and alert.
3. Mind Exercises
To improve your memory try doing brain exercises. Some examples are: folding clothes with closed eyes, some activities involving your non-dominant hand, meditation, try solving crossword puzzles, joining jigsaw puzzles, socialising, learning new skills, listening to music, learning a new language, dancing, engaging in sports and learning a musical instrument etc. You can also play memory games like memory card games, chess, checkers, sudoku and video games.
4. Read Books
Reading helps you in ways you can’t imagine, deviating your mind from real-life problems for a while. You have intelligent topics to discuss in your friend circle if you are a reader, and it increases your concentration and intelligence, improves memory and reduces stress.
5. Do Some Creative Activities
It is hard to teach hobbies after a certain age. But if you want to keep your mind healthy, indulge in hobbies like colouring, gardening, dancing, painting, knitting, woodworking etc.
6. Command A New Skill Or Language
Your brain functions a lot when you try to learn something new. This way it will be busy and curious too.
7. Take A Fish Oil Supplement
Consuming Fish oil supplements and, in fact, fish can help reduce inflammation, relieve anxiety and stress, and slow the memory decline.
8. Try To Be Mindful
Try and practise being in the current situation. Do not dwell in the past or future, and it creates tension.
9. Consume Alcohol In Moderation
Studies suggest that too much alcohol impacts the brain and causes memory issues, creating a neurotoxic impact on the brain.
10. Take A Break
Your brain gets tired, just like your body, and it needs timely rest. When life gets too much to handle, go on a vacation. Maintain a good sleep cycle. And take frequent breaks throughout the day.
Conclusion
A good state of mind is essential for maintaining a normal lifestyle. If you ignore the things that cause you a lot of anxiety or stress, you’ll be free from any mental issues. Don’t let anything affect your mind. Also, we hope that our tips for keeping a good memory will help you a lot in keeping your mind, soul and body active and healthy!
FAQs
Which food is good for memory?
A balanced diet is advised for a good memory. Consume sugar in moderation. Some specific food items that boost human memory are fatty fish, blueberries, coffee, broccoli, turmeric, dark chocolate, nuts, pumpkin seeds, eggs, oranges, and green tea.
What are the 4 types of memory?
There are four types of memory, namely:
- Short term memory
- Long term memory
- Working memory
- Sensory memory
What are the stages of memory?
Any information first gets into the sensory memory. Next, it gets into short-term memory and lastly to long-term memory. All information does not move through all three stages, and the maximum is forgotten in between.
Where is memory stored in the brain?
Memory gets stored in the hippocampus region of the brain’s temporal lobe. Information is indexed here to be accessed later.
What are the three basic functions of memory?
Just like a computer, our memory also performs three basic functions. These are encoding, storing and information retrieval.
