Dollah, Shalini and I had a wonderful dinner together after work. Dollah offered Shalini and I a ride back home, as he was worried about our safety to take public transport back home late night. As we headed towards the parking lot, Dollah has forgotten about where he parked his car. It took us an hour to search for his car. Finally, Shalini suggested that Dollah should lead us to go back to where he came from, and we found his car.
As we headed towards his car, Dollah mentioned that he had misplaced his car keys. He has forgotten where he had placed them! Shalini then suggested that we could go back to the restaurant we had dinner together, along the way how Dollah got there. At last, we found his car keys - a waiter saw it and kept it for him. Phew!
While there are certain mental conditions related to memory loss, how about being forgetful on a daily basis? Is there a cure? What can we do when we become forgetful sometimes? Dollah and Shalini agreed to share their experiences here as well. Let’s take a look!
Here are 8 common causes as to why you forget things easily, and what you can do about it!
1. Distractions
Shalini shared about how she could forget easily when there are distractions. As a fitness trainer, she has a work schedule for her fitness and yoga classes with her students. However, if there are noises from the street nearby or there are other fitness trainers looking for her while she’s conducting her classes, she would be distracted, thus forgetting her last moves or the last thing she was teaching her students.
Distractions, or external stimulations may easily divert your attention while you need to pay full attention on completing a task. Your brain couldn’t concentrate at task. Hence, if possible, cut down on external stimulation (noises, people's voices, etc.) when you need to be focus. For example, when you’re at home and you need to complete an urgent task that requires using your memory, try not to tune in to your favourite Youtube channels and mute your mobile phone.
2. Lack of Sleep
Dollah doesn’t have a fixed job, but several part-time jobs a day. He finds himself feeling more fulfilled in life this way. Well, if he’s happy then it’s good for him, but...he tends to sleep less! Do you find yourself having trouble sleeping, like Dollah? Besides adjusting your sleeping habits, do you know that if you force yourself to sleep, you would find it harder to sleep as well?
Too little restful sleep may not only lead to forgetfulness, but also mood swings and anxiety, which in turn contributes to problems with memory. No wonder Dollah would always forget little yet important details - like his car keys!
3. Lack of Vitamin B12
If you have a lack of vitamin B12, your brain and nerve cells cannot work as they should. Deficiency in vitamin B12 may lead to anaemia. Hence, you may get forgetful and have trouble concentrating. Now I know why Shalini would always have vitamin B12 with her!
4. Stress and Anxiety
Dollah is always the cheerful, happy-go-lucky one among us. It seems like nothing that could move him to be less positive. However, he does admit that sometimes stress and anxiety at work do get in the way to make him frustrated for a short period of time.
Stress and anxiety makes it harder to concentrate and lock in new information and skills. This happens when you tend to focus on issues that are bothering (or worrying) you, rather than other things that is more necessary to remember. Stay calm and keep going! Talk to your loved ones, or seek professional advice if you need help.
5. Lack of Physical Exercise
Dollah seldom exercises, and he has a high self-esteem that he looks good. This is when Shalini would always tease him, and advice him to do more exercises, to maintain a healthy body. Not only that, exercise relieves stress, as well as improve blood flow to your brain and increase good brain chemicals, which help in improving your memory and sleep. Physical exercise do keep us physically fit, too!
6. Not Using Your Memory Enough
When you don’t use your memory enough, it can slow down a little. Dollah whispered to me, “Juliet, I kinda regret for not memorising the multiplication table better in school those days. A young kid laughed at me that day when I couldn’t answer him what the answer is for 9 times 9!”
You may train your brain to recall information by practising. Believe it or not, our brains have the ability to do better at something when challenged! You can start with not referring to your to-buy list until you’ve bought your groceries, and see how many items you can remember. Or, you may begin learning to exercise your brain by visualising and associating things with what you have to remember. Like me, when I need to remember the name of a person I just met, like a patient named “Henry”, I’ll imagine him as a prince in the old ancient days and he’d save the day!
7. Alcohol or Drugs / Medications Use
By any chance, Shalini will tell her friends how they should be careful with their alcohol and medications (drugs) use. Drinking too much alcohol may affect your short-term memory, and if consumed in the long run, it may shrink your brain size and affect nerve transmissions that help you remember things.
Meantime, certain medications can affect your memory by causing sedation (a relaxed, calm, or sleepy condition) or confusion, like sleeping pills or marijuana. Taking these drugs may cause you difficulty in paying attention to new things. Do discuss with your doctor or pharmacist on precautions for your medications!
8. Underactive Thyroid
I didn’t know that forgetfulness can be linked to underactive thyroid, until Shalini told me about what has happened to her before. Once, she found that she had underactive thyroid, and she’d noticed that she began to forget things easily. A low thyroid hormone level may increase forgetfulness, as you would feel more tired and have trouble thinking. You may get a blood test to find out if your thyroid is working fine!
In any case, if you find your forgetfulness persists for a very long time, you might want to seek consultation with a specialist to find out if you’re in fact, having symptoms of medical conditions in relations to memory loss. Or you can chat with me via juliet@erufucare.com! For your parents or elders, if you’re suspecting more than just the common forgetfulness, you can try these 3-step test to help determine if symptoms of Alzheimer’s are present. Alzheimer's disease is not just a common forgetfulness among older people, but a mental condition that requires medical assistance!
Juliet’s Reminder: Being forgetful once in awhile is normal. However, if you find that your forgetfulness is affecting your daily life, you might want to be more aware of the causes. If you need some professional advice, you may contact one of our healthcare partners here! These are just some of the causes, and if you’ve found other causes, do share with us in the Comments section below!
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