You can't find your keys or you forget an appointment. For
many people in middle age or older, simple acts of forgetfulness like
these are scary because they raise the specter of Alzheimer's disease.
But Alzheimer’s is not the only health issue that
can lead to forgetfulness, which is often treatable if you know the
cause, according to the
National Institute on Aging. Memory loss can happen at any age and for a number of reasons.
“Patients might experience memory loss and describe their symptoms
similarly, but a doctor can tease apart what parts of the brain are
affected,” says
Seth Gale, MD, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
He points out things like polypharmacy (taking several medications),
significant depression, and poor sleep that can lead to memory
complaints. “When you drill down and find out what is actually happening
with brain function, you can reassure someone. They have the capacity
to learn and store information but because of their overloaded mental
resources, they are having trouble,” says Dr. Gale.
Talk with your doctor about concerns you may have about your memory,
so the condition responsible for your symptoms can be addressed.
Discussing your symptoms and taking various tests, possibly
including an MRI,
may help your doctor determine what is affecting your memory, Gale
says. In some cases, one or more of the following issues could play a
role.
1. Sleep Apnea
This common but treatable sleep disorder causes
breathing to stop briefly and frequently throughout the night. It is
linked to memory loss and dementia, according to
Constantine Lyketsos, MD,
director of the Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center at Johns
Hopkins Medicine and professor and chair of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins
Bayview. You might have sleep apnea if you wake up with a headache and
have daytime fatigue — or if your partner complains of loud snoring.
When not treated, sleep apnea affects spatial navigational memory, found a study published in
The Journal of Neuroscience.
This type of memory includes being able to remember directions or where
you put things like your keys. The research suggests that deep sleep,
also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, plays an important role in
memory.
One explanation is that for people with sleep apnea, oxygen delivery
to the brain is interrupted several hundred times during the night,
explains Dr. Lyketsos. “The brain is stressed, so people wake up,” he
says. The injury sleep apnea causes can show up as a variety of memory
loss symptoms, he adds.
2. Silent Stroke
Obvious changes in the ability to think and move normally can
come from strokes
that block major brain blood vessels, Gale says. Mild memory problems
can also develop gradually after silent strokes that affect smaller
blood vessels. These changes in brain function, which can range from
mild to severe, are called vascular cognitive impairment.
The brain is especially vulnerable to blocked or
reduced blood flow depriving it of oxygen and essential nutrients.
People with memory loss are at greater risk for stroke. And
forgetfulness may be an early warning sign of stroke, found a study
published in
the journal Stroke.
3. Medications
Memory loss could be a sign that your medication needs to be
adjusted. Several types of drugs can affect memory, according to the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including:
- sleeping pills
- antihistamines
- anti-anxiety medications
- antidepressants
- certain painkillers
- cholesterol-lowering medication
- diabetes medication
The
FDA also cautions that cholesterol-lowering
drugs known as statins could slightly increase the risk for reversible cognitive side effects. These include memory loss and confusion.
A commonly prescribed type 2 diabetes drug, metformin, has also been
associated with memory problems. A study published in Diabetes Care
found that people with diabetes who took the drug had
worse cognitive performance than those who did not take it.
4. Nutritional Deficiency
A lack of sufficient B12,
one of the B vitamins essential for normal nerve function, can lead to confusion and even dementia. Each day, you should get about
2.4 micrograms of B12
in your diet from natural sources like dairy products, meat, and fish,
or from foods fortified with vitamin B12 — like fortified cereals.
Try our free online tool to
plan healthy meals that will give you the vitamins you need.
RELATED: How to Navigate the Heart-Mind Connection
5. Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
Significant stress or anxiety can lead to problems with attention and
memory, cautions Lyketsos. This is particularly common among people who
may be juggling home and work responsibilities and are not sleeping
well. Usually, easing stress can improve memory, Lyketsos says.
Untreated chronic stress can lead to depression, which could also affect brain function, according to research published in the
Journal of Pharmacy & BioAllied Sciences. A mood disorder may improve with medication and counseling, notes the National Institute on Aging.
Less Common Causes of Memory Loss
Other conditions that can lead to problems with memory include:
- Infection: Memory loss may be attributed to severe infection around the brain, including neurosyphilis, Gale says.
- Head injury: Symptoms of a mild brain injury may
include confusion and trouble with memory and concentration, according
to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
- Tumors: Memory and the ability to process information may be affected by brain tumors, the American Brain Tumor Association says. In addition, treatments for a tumor can affect your memory, including brain surgery, chemo, or radiation therapy.
- Alcoholism, Substance Abuse: Both alcoholism and drug abuse can affect memory, says Lyketsos. A study published in Neurology found that men who drank heavily showed signs of mental decline one to six years earlier than light drinkers.
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