Reed 3 1:2 by Jen   Of course, you do.  The problem is not the domain of older people. 100% of us have got it. 

   My three-year old grandson got upset recently because he forgot where he put one of his toy trucks. My thirty-year old grand nephew forgot where he parked his car twice on a recent vacation. A forty-year old doctor/golf partner friend often forgets where he put his locker room key.

   In none of these cases does anyone suggest these people have "memory problems."

   But, when I briefly forgot where I had parked my car at a wedding recently a friend in his forties quickly said, "Senior moment, Erie?"

   It is time for younger people to quit tagging older people with the "Senior Moment" thing every time a name is forgotten. And time for we seniors to default to that excuse & thus contribute to our own anxieties about dementia. 

   Have you considered how many names, dates & other information flood the memory bank of the average seventy-year-old? 

   Obviously, none of this is to make light of the genuine problem of Alzheimers. Clearly, if I forgot the names of my own children I would need to see a doctor. 

   In the meantime, take comfort in the fact that occasionally forgetting names & misplacing keys does not indicate a disease process. It means you are human.

-Erie Chapman 

Photograph: "Reed" by Jennifer Chapman

5 responses to “Days 151-155 Got Short Term Memory Loss?”

  1. Liz Wessel Avatar
    Liz Wessel

    I appreciate the point you make, Erie and I do find myself more forgetful, especially since the COVID pandemic hit. I partly attribute this to heightened anxiety because when under stress one thinks less clearly, and we have expereinced prolonged stress. I find that being distracted is a culpert as well and so I recognize the need to practice mindfulness and to be rpesent in the moment.
    I have been reading about ways to decrease ones risk of Alzheimers, staying active and getting enough sleep are key. Th
    ey say being sedentary is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes per day! Yikes!
    Thanks for offering some perspective on this subject 🙂

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  2. Terry Chapman Avatar
    Terry Chapman

    How miraculous our brain which writes these comments so easily at age 80?! No car keys in refrigerator yet but the right word takes a little longer than before! Am grateful so many fond memories sustain the gradual diminishing of my mental faculties!

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  3. erie chapman Avatar
    erie chapman

    Terrific comment, Terry. Yes. You are lucky and I would share the same observations. Takes longer to call up the right info. Our brains was designed to handle, say, 10,000,000 bits of information. Now it is trying cope with twice that and can’t quite do it.

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  4. erie chapman Avatar
    erie chapman

    Thank you, Liz. My hope was to ease your worries, not add to them. Yes, we’re starting to be forgetful. Part of it may be age. BUT, the other part is what I describe. We have got zillions of things in our memory bank and retrieving them gets tougher. Wonder how a 21 year old would do recalling things if they had as much info stored as do we??

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  5. Liz Wessel Avatar
    Liz Wessel

    Yes, great point and our minds filters out much of the non essentials… P.S. sweet picture of your grandson.

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