Forgetting names
Don’t worry if
You forget the names of people you have met recently. This is because your frontal lobes—for retrieving episodic memories—naturally lose speed and volume after the age of 45.
Do start to worry if
You forget the names of immediate family and friends. These should be hard-wired in the semantic memory, so forgetting them could mean you have a problem.
Forgetting what you came in for
Don’t worry if
You walk into a room and forget what you went in there for, or you often put something down, only to forget where. This is very common in people with stressful jobs or changing circumstances. New mothers, for example—anyone whose brain is overloaded with other tasks.
Do start to worry if
You often lose things and sometimes blame other people for having moved or taken them. Occasionally you forget you ever had them.
Repeating yourself
Don’t worry if
The person you are talking to says you have already told them that particular item of information. When you think about it, you do remember telling it to someone, but just can’t remember who.
Do start to worry if
You frequently repeat yourself during the same conversation, but you don’t realise it.
Mislaying the car
Don’t worry if
You sometimes forget where you have parked the car. It may be that your spatial memory is weak—it varies from person to person, with women generally having worse spatial memories. Try concentrating harder.
Do start to worry if
You always forget where you have parked the car and sometimes get lost on a familiar route. This could be worrying because frequently travelled routes should be stored deep in the memory.
Multi-tasking
Don’t worry if
You find it difficult to multi-task. Midlife brains find this harder, so make a list. Remember that stress and depression can also stop memories from being stored effectively.
Do start to worry if
You are simply unable to do more than one task at a time.
Forgetting plans
Don’t worry if
You forget what the plans are for a night out, or a holiday itinerary, and have to ask again. If you were not concentrating when you were told, the brain will not have processed and stored the details properly. This is common from middle age onwards because the hippocampus—the brain’s distribution centre for new information—produces cells more slowly.
Do start to worry if
You ask again—and again half an hour later—what the plan is because you have no recollection of being reminded. This could indicate mild cognitive impairment, but could also be down to stress or lack of concentration.
Forgetting yesterday’s events
Don’t worry if
You can’t remember what you had for supper last night. We often forget routine things simply because we were not really concentrating in the first place.
Do start to worry if
Much of what you did yesterday is a blank, although you clearly remember parts of your childhood. Our chosen memories from childhood are in “deep-storage memory” and we have rehearsed them many times over the years, so we are less likely to forget them.
Admitting you have a bad memory
Don’t worry if
You are always telling people that you have a terrible memory. This may not mean much; we notice the differences between a brain functioning at 100 per cent and one functioning at 95 per cent far more than we would notice the difference between a 60 per cent brain and a 30 per cent brain.
Do start to worry if
Other people have started to notice your memory problems and pointed them out, but you stay silent and worry about it in private.
