WE'VE all had moments in our lives when we've worried we are losing our memory - but how do we tell momentary lapses from a sign that it might be time to get our memory and cognitive function tested?
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The key is identifying a pattern. There are several common indicators that it might be time to have a gentle conversation with your older relatives to help them maintain or improve their mental fitness. And most of them involve either breaking a long-held pattern of behaviour or developing a new pattern of regular lapses in memory, such as:
- They've stopped putting common household items in the right spot. We all forget where we've put our keys from time to time - but if someone has always had a place for something like their keys and then breaks from the routine on a regular basis, it could be a signal of diminished mental fitness
- They ask the same questions again and again - or forget they've asked them
- They have increased trouble with simple arithmetic
- Regularly having trouble thinking of a word they want to use
- Increased indecision
- Breaking from or struggling to remember a route they take on a regular basis
- Tuning out of conversations
While it can be a difficult conversation to have, it's worth having - and something simple like a brain fitness self-assessment is a much less confronting step than visiting a doctor or psychologist.
Catching it early gives people an increased chance of maintaining their level of mental fitness, arresting the decline and even improving brain function.
Even before you start seeing signs of cognitive decline, it's always good to keep yourself sharp. The brain is like the rest of your body - it benefits from even light exercise.
Doing the daily crossword puzzle, attending your local trivia night or even counting your purchases while you do the weekly grocery shop could be having enormous benefits for your brain function and staving off memory loss.
Different exercises work different parts of the brain. Counting your purchases as your shop helps with computation, doing crossword puzzles helps exercise the language function of your brain and logic puzzles are fantastic for maintaining your critical thinking faculties.
These small activities every day aren't just fun, they are likely to keep your mind healthier for longer.
Shannon Chin is a cognitive function expert from Fit Minds Australia.
