The Dreaded Baby Boomer “Senior Moment” - Is It Memory Loss or a Mental Glitch?
I have often said that once a guy or gal turns 50 or so, he/she is taking pills for everything from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, and baldness to urinating too much or not enough (and a myriad of other not so pleasant problems). It seems like there is a pill for everything…except perhaps for remembering to take all the pills!
Remember how you use to make fun of older folks’ absent-mindedness? Like the time your elderly neighbor locked herself out of the house for the third time one month? Or the day your dad’s friend Frank took the Dart train home because he forgot that he had driven to work in downtown Dallas that morning (this is not as bad as it appears - Frank usually took Dart to and from work)? And how about the time your mom put liquid Joy dish washing soap into the dishwasher soap dispenser instead of Cascade? Now that I am in my 50s, these ’senior moments’ aren’t so funny anymore…except maybe for the Joy in the dishwasher. I still chuckle at the visual image of my mother with a mop in her hands, knee deep in the soap suds that flowed so freely out of the dishwasher during that wash cycle!
Like most baby boomers, I have noticed some physical changes in the last few years. Some of the changes sort of crept up on me, while others seem to have appeared virtually overnight (although these I probably just did not notice until they became obvious). The most distressing of these changes is the frequency of the dreaded ’senior moment’. I realize that my aging brain cannot function like it did thirty years ago…but I am NOT enjoying having to make lists of things I could once remember effortlessly; and I am tired of the seemingly ever present thought, ‘it is on the tip of my tongue’.
Of all the usual signs of aging, the scariest are those that affect the mind. I will define a senior moment as a lapse of memory, logic, or mental function which is atypical or unusual. In other words, ’senior moment’ is an unscientific term for a variety of mental glitches…the most common of which is the temporary inability to recall a name, a phone number, or what you were about to do. Ever gone into a room to get something and forgotten what you went in there to get? Welcome to the ’senior moment’!
Part of the normal aging process is a general slowing of cognitive function - in other words, it becomes harder to pay attention and process information. Mental clarity wanes.This usually starts in the 50s and 60s. Why does it start? There are fewer neurotransmitters in the brain. (Neurotransmitters are the chemicals released by neurons that allow nerve cells to communicate by acting as messengers across synapses, the spaces between brain cells.) The brain shrinks, leaving less brain matter and fewer intact connections between brain cells. White matter — the fiber tracks connecting the front of the brain to storage areas — changes so that information takes longer to process. The brain becomes like a computer that freezes temporarily as it tries to call up a file. This time lapse is the senior moment where you have a hard time recalling names or choosing the right word.
But, you ask, should I be concerned about the memory loss of senior moments? Is what I am experiencing the first signs of something worse…something like Alzheimer’s disease?
Although I am no medical expert, both my mother and my mother-in-law passed away after long, ugly, seemingly endless bouts with Alzheimer’s. I saw the disease up close and personal. I lived with it every day and watched it consume the brains of two once remarkable women. I can tell you what I noticed about the disease. Extreme changes in mood, behavior, or memory can be a signal of early Alzheimer’s…and I do mean extreme here. If you have always been kind of ditzy, it is not really unusual that you can’t remember things well; BUT, if you have always had a remarkable memory and now can’t remember things, I would go talk with your doctor.
With early Alzheimer’s, there is a significant change in short term memory. You can pull up obscure old memories, but have difficulty with recent events and conversations. You may forget the names of simple things. You may go from being very organized to frequently misplacing things. If you cannot find your car in a parking lot because you forgot to look at the number associated with the space in which you parked, you are probably having a senior moment. If you can’t remember the make of the car or the color of the car and it is the car that you drive all the time, I’d make an appointment with a doctor.
Just remember that there is a huge difference between the mild cognitive impairment of normal aging and Alzheimer’s. People with normal age-related memory loss are usually able to compensate for these changes by using lists and other memory aids. In other words, the senior moments don’t generally impair daily functioning. If you’re concerned, get evaluated by a family doctor or a memory specialist…and do it sooner, rather than later. And also remember, DO NOT PANIC. There are many other physical conditions that can cause memory problems — depression, alcohol abuse, thyroid problems, vitamin deficiencies, hormone fluctuations… and you will notice that these are treatable. If it is Alzheimer’s, getting help early may be able to reduce symptoms and slow the progress of the disease - at least for awhile.