Short-Term Memory Loss "Solutions?"

[Still Hunter]

Periodontal disease ( Gum Disease) is one of the leading causes, especially in over 60 individuals. Clean teeth and healthy gums are essential to good memory.

 

[Silver Wings]

I’ve got an answer, but you’re probably not going to like it. Most folks recoil at the thought of lifestyle/diet change, but that’s what has to happen if you really want to see results. If it was a simple matter of taking a pill or supplement everyone would be doing it and no one would forget what they went into the garage for.
6 years ago I started researching diet options for dealing with lifelong gut issues, to include colon cancer at age 40. For many years doctors told me I couldn’t improve my gut due to damage done by surgery, chemo and radiation. Unfortunately I took them at their word for too long. After tweaking minor things here and there and trying many different supplements I basically got nowhere. Then I started reading about the low carb diets…LCHF, Keto, Paleo, Carnivore, ect… I adopted the LCHF diet and it changed my life. Dramatically improved gut function within a few weeks, which of course was my goal. This was accomplished by eliminating all the inflammation in the gut caused by eating too much processed crap, even though I would have told you at that time I had a “fairly clean” diet.
While researching I learned that there would be other benefits as well…achey joints would improve, weight loss of course and IMPROVED COGNITIVE FUNCTION. As I read these claims the skeptic in me called BS. There is no way giving up bread, pasta and chips is going to do all that. To my surprise it all happened and happened quickly…within a month or so.
I’m 63 and I feel better than I did in my 30s. I can hunt hard and long. I have zero aches and pains when I get up in the morning and I don’t walk out to the garage and then have to go in circles wondering what I came out for!
I would urge anyone interested in improving their overall health to look into this way eating. If you really want to know if it’s worth the change I would suggest doing a personal experiment. Go all in on the change for a minimum of 30 days, 60 would be better. Do not cheat, make it a legit experiment. At the end of that time you’ll have the data to determine whether or not diet change is going to be worth it to you.
Good luck whatever you do.

 

[Woitey]

My paternal grandfather had dementia, Dad had it too, and so did his twin. I had what you are speaking about in my 40s. Spoke with the Doctor about it, as I thought it was early-onset dementia. He told me that kind of thing is normal. You've got too many things on your mind. He said that if you went shopping and parked your car at the mall and couldn't find it for awhile, that isn't dementia. He told me finding your car and not knowing how to get home after living at the same address all your life is. So after that example I no longer worried about the normal aging process. I'm 65 now and while I'm no Mensa candidate, I think as long as you are mentally engaged in your surroundings you'll be fine.

 

[TheGDog]

My thought on that particular issue is that... at this new stage of life (54yo) myself.... we just have a crap-ton more simultaneous concurrent thought-streams, and things to remember running at any one time.

Hence the reason for Calendar apps, etc.

And it's like... you've only got soo much "RAM" it can hold all these concurrent processes in. So my theory is that it does better at holding onto thoughts we mentally flag as having more importance/urgency.

So therefore... you get the thought in your head of go get this simple thing in this other room... and even whilst walking to that other room, you're still probably processing on one of those other bigger background threads of execution that you've mentally marked as more important... so that minor little tasks of go pick u "blah" from the other room, end up getting dropped because they've not be marked as big-time important. Just a theory.

Usually if I go into a room and forget the task, I'll just pause and go back thru the events I was doing just prior, and can always end up re-recalling why I was headed in here.

 

[Bubblehide]

As mentioned previously, there is a solid link between oral health and alzheimers. However, maintaining mental acuity is highly linked to socialization.