Now Why Did I Come Into the Kitchen? Middle Age and Forgetfulness

All of a sudden it hits me. I need to see if I recorded everything in my checkbook because I used my debit card. I get out of bed, and wonder why the heck did I come in the kitchen?  I go to my laptop in the kitchen, get a cup of coffee, and check my FB to see what my friends  are up to. Then I go to my e-mail and check out the e-mails and clean up my account. I get distracted and check out some of the news trailers on Yahoo. Oh someone recommended something on YouTube. I’m hungry.  I’m sitting in front of my laptop realizing there was a reason why I came into the kitchen to open my laptop to begin with.  Darn it, what was it?  Food?  No. Definitely not wine, not in the mood. (I know, right?) Oh speaking of wine, OMG, did I call my wine club to see which credit card they need?  Credit card, oh yeah, my bank account.  I came in here to check out my bank account.  I get up and retrieve my check book and noticed how many times I’ve eaten out.  Eaten out!  Ding!  I’m suddenly hungry. What’s there to eat? Go back to bed and start all over again, because I never really took care of the original thing I was supposed to do. What was it? CHECK MY ACCOUNT BALANCE. 

Why? Why all this forgetfulness. Is that even a word? Well apparently it’s a rite of passage. Yes you turn 50 or so and then throw menopause into the mix and VOILA! You’ve got a whole lot of memory loss happening. When did it start?  Why now?  I used to feel so proud of the fact that I hardly had to use a planner. Sure I’d jot down an entry in my planner, just in case I forgot, but now I have my calendar on my laptop, my iPhone calendar which I refer to almost on a daily basis because I forget what I’m going to do the next day, and I have a paper planner on my kitchen (ok now I forgot what that’s called) oh yes, counter top. Guess what? I still forget!

Apparently I’m not alone. I Googled, Middle-Age and Forgetfulness. I saw an article titled Forget About It – Managing Middle-Age and Forgetfulness, and it said a couple of things one can do if they find themselves in this dilemma more often than not. The article was written by Majid Fotuhi, MD, PhD from Sinai Hospital and Johns Hopkins University.  There were some great recommendations to keep your brain active and your memory sharp.

Have a complete checkup.  Monrovia has a lot of great doctors to help you with your checkup. Ask a local friend to see where he or she goes to visit their doctor.

Stay physically active.  Even if you can just go for 30 minutes per day, take a walk. As I said in my previous blog, Monrovia has so many nice areas to walk in.

Give your brain a work out.  Reading, cross-word puzzles, arts and crafts, keep up a hobby. Stay connected. Don’t isolate yourself. 

Make new friends. That is one of the nice things about Monrovia; it’s easy to make new friends.  Volunteer. The Friends of the and the library's Literacy Program is always looking for volunteers.

Develop patterns and stick to them. This is where I fall short.  WHERE ARE MY KEYS?, is a daily mantra in our house. Keep your keys in the same place every day. I hope I can remember that. 

I hope this helps. If you have any techniques you use to help keep your memory sharp, please comment on this blog. I’m interested to see your recommendations and tips. Now where did I or what was I originally doing? Oh, never mind, I forgot.