How To Tell If You Have A Senior Moment
Senior moments—a nonmedical term for mental lapses—occur as our brains endure normal, age-related memory decline over time. Such moments include distorting words (literal paraphasia) as well as forgetting names, phone numbers, and reasons that you walked into a room (“What was I going to get?”). Changes in neurotransmitters and brain size can cause these incidents, which make it difficult to focus and process information. While senior moments tend not to hinder daily functioning, you may want to seek personalized senior care if you suspect a deeper problem.
A small senior living community committed to delivering a holistic living experience, Tysons Woods Assisted Living offers a safe and loving environment for elders. In one of three lovely residences located near McLean, VA, residents can enjoy a free-living lifestyle while receiving personalized medical services. To learn more about Tysons Woods, visit our website or call (703) 846-0395 today.
Below, we discuss how to determine whether your senior moments are a sign of dementia as well as how to reduce their incidence in the future:
Senior Moment or Early Sign of Dementia?
If your senior moments make daily activities difficult, they could be early indicators of Alzheimer’s disease or another kind of dementia. Before jumping to conclusions, however, consult your doctor. Several factors could cause your symptoms, but you’ll need a complete diagnosis.
The difficulty lies in determining whether your senior moments are normal or the start of something worse. Furthermore, they may signal moderate cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition that falls between normal, age-related memory decline and dementia. Thus, it’s crucial to keep track of your senior moments and ask others if they’ve noticed them happening more often.
How to Reduce Senior Moments
Our society’s fast pace can stimulate senior moments occurring. For instance, multitasking makes remembering things more difficult because we neglect to give each piece of information our full attention. Furthermore, the exhaustion many of us feel due to stress and work impair our ability to concentrate and recall details.
People with normal, age-related memory loss may compensate for senior moments by employing lists and other memory aids. They can also:
- Focus on one task at a time.
- Pay attention to what’s going on, such as how things look, smell, taste, and feel.
- Replay memories in their mind to help them stick.
- Get ample sleep.
- Learn how to manage and reduce stress.
- Use calendars, lists, and personal technology to note things they wish to remember.
- Apply memory techniques (mnemonics).
If these steps do little to help your memory problems, consult professional memory care providers.
Tysons Woods: Exceptional Senior Care in McLean, VA
An all-inclusive senior care community in McLean, VA, Tysons Woods offers memory care and other assisted living services. Our senior living communities provide a warm, family-like setting as well as 24-hour personal care that caters to your loved one’s unique needs. You can trust that your loved ones are receiving the best care possible. Call us today at (703) 846-0395 and visit our website for more information.
