Overcoming Occasional Lapses in Memory

Every so often most of us find ourselves in a quandary wondering where we put our glasses, cell phone or car keys. As we age, these and other annoying problems like forgetting names of people we just met or forgetting the time of an appointment begin to happen. Lydia Cho, a psychologist and neuropsychologist with Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, says, "These moments may seem like an unfortunate part of aging, but they can happen to people of all ages.” She says it is important to not get too stressed out about them as there are a few things we can do to mitigate occasional lapses in memory. However, more serious memory loss should be checked out by your physician.

Often upon meeting someone, we get more involved in the greeting, our surroundings and looking at their face than making the effort to remember their name. To help remember a person’s name, experts recommend making a connection to the name by repeating it back. Then try to associate the name with that of a celebrity, friend or movie character. You can also connect the name to a place or use a rhyming word. 

Another area many of us have experienced memory lapses is with things like “did we turn off the oven?”, or “forget to lock the door?” Cho says this forgetfulness generally occurs because we did not fully engage in the task. Rather they were done in an absentminded way without really thinking about them. She suggests setting up a common location for easily misplaced items like your keys on a table near the door. For other items not used frequently, focus on where you put them and say to yourself: I am putting the “blank” in the drawer next to the coffee pot.  If you think you will still forget, take a photo. 

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Source: health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/managing-memory-slip-ups