Normal Signs of Aging: Memory Loss vs Dementia & Alzheimer’s

Becoming a senior citizen is a rewarding experience. You get to retire from the hustle and bustle of work and can pursue other interests. One unfortunate side-effect of aging is suffering from memory loss, and being unable to remember parts of your memory.

While some loss of memory is a normal sign of aging, in some cases it can be indicative of a more serious problem, such as signs of Dementia or Alzheimer's disease, both of which affect the brain's function. Let’s take a closer look at the signs and symptoms which separate normal memory loss from the type which can be a result of disease.

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Memory Loss due to Aging

1. Forgetting where you put various everyday objects, such as keys, the remote or your mobile.
2. Not being able to remember the names of acquaintances, or confusing the name of one person with another.
3. Forgetting an appointment, or walking into a room and not remembering why you're there.
4. Not being able to focus on a task, such as forgetting something you just read or not remembering parts of a conversation.
5. Forgetting a piece of information you had clear knowledge of earlier.   

Memory Loss due to Disease

Here, we will focus specifically on signs of memory loss due to Dementia, Dementia-like diseases, or Alzheimer's, which is itself a specific form of Dementia:

1. Not being able to perform normal, everyday tasks due to the severity of memory impairment. 2. Forgetting the steps involved in a procedure you have completed many times in the past.
2. Not being able to recall familiar places, and feeling frightened and overwhelmed and unable to handle unfamiliar situations.
3. Speech may become harder to understand and unclear, due to being unable to remember large parts of your vocabulary or ordinary speech patterns. Stories and anecdotes are repeated in a single piece of conversation.
4. Not being able to make decisions or choices in simple matters, which can also result in behavior which is considered socially inappropriate.     

Thus, we see that while some amount of memory loss is an inevitable result of aging, it can in other cases signal the onset of a brain-related illness. The only way to know for sure is to consult a doctor as soon as the signs begin to appear, so that effective treatment for the condition can be arranged from the start.