Memory and Aging: What’s Normal, What’s Not?

You start to feel it slipping away in your 40s but it isn’t until your 50s or 60s that you notice significant changes in your memory. Baycrest psychologist Angela Troyer explains what’s normal, what’s not and what you can do about it.

Most of us have some inkling of how we’ll look when we are older – our parents’ appearance gives us an indication of that. We can expect that our hair might grow greyer over time or that we might have to deal with a bit of midriff spread. But do we have any idea how our minds will function as time goes on?

As we start to experience memory slips in our middle years, we may be wondering if they are a normal part of aging or if they might mean the onset of disease. For some, not having a clear idea of how our brain will perform in the future can cause a fair amount of anxiety.

So what are normal memory lapses? For example, you’ve just been introduced to someone at a party. Three minutes later you can’t remember the person’s name. As you approach your front door, you remember your wife asked you to pick up a loaf of bread on your way home from work. Or, you find yourself barrelling down the hallway of your apartment and, for a moment, can’t remember which room you were heading for or why. Is that normal? Does it indicate a potential problem, down the road?

Baycrest psychologist Dr. Angela Troyer laughs reassuringly as she lists common memory lapses that happen to most of us, but sobers as she talks about signs that may indicate Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a condition that researchers have found has a high correlation for the eventual development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Our memory peaks in our 20s and 30s and slowly begins to decline after that,” Troyer explains. The changes are generally so gradual that it might not be until our 50s or 60s that we start to notice a difference. Troyer stresses that even in cases where more frequent slips occur, or more consequential ones – such as forgetting important appointments – there may be other underlying causes like stress or lack of sleep that might affect memory function. Only a doctor and psychologist can offer a clear diagnosis. “The positive thing is that your brain is plastic, it can be changed,” Troyer explains. Researchers and clinicians have observed that consistently using key memory techniques and strategies can actually change the structure of our brain cells, causing more extensive connections to form between the cells.

“At Baycrest, we apply this knowledge to the treatment of patients with memory complaints or impairments. People who exercise their brains – by doing puzzles, playing bridge or otherwise performing challenging mental tasks – would have increased resources with which to face the normal lessening in brain function that comes with age.”

Baycrest’s Memory and Aging program focuses on practical strategies and how to use them to function better in daily life.

Troyer and Dr. Guy Proulx, head of Baycrest’s psychology department, have developed several memory intervention programs geared toward different audiences. The Memory and Aging program is tailored for people of retirement age and upward and teaches strategies for helping people increase memory performance. “The first part of the program is educational,” Troyer explains, and is aimed at helping people understand what is normal and what is not. “They may be experiencing some memory loss and they fear the future,” she says. “They generally come out of that part of the program feeling a lot better than they did when they first came in.”

The second part of the Memory and Aging program focuses on practical strategies and how to use them to function better in daily life. The program teaches participants how to make information meaningful so they will remember more easily, and how to use repetition and other means to enhance their level of functioning.

The Memory at Work program, on the other hand, is geared toward active working people who are interested in developing memory enhancing skills and is facilitated by Troyer in the corporate workplace.

“If you’re a busy working person, under stress, working long hours and multi-tasking – all these factors can affect your memory,” she explains. “When people are stressed, a hormone is released that affects the brain, but this process can be reversible.” Meditation and relaxation exercises are effective for relieving stress as is focusing on one thing at a time rather than multitasking. Handheld electronic organizers and day planners are two of the aids that can be used effectively for enhancing memory.

“If you’re a busy working person, under stress, working long hours and multi-tasking – all these factors can affect your memory,”

So, it seems, the onus for enhancing our memory is on us – and the experts at Baycrest. The good news is that just as it’s important to remain physically active throughout our lives, research and clinical observation make it clear that educating ourselves about memory strategies and using them on a daily basis will not only help us further develop our memory, it may even delay the onset of cognitive disease.

For more information about Baycrest’s Memory and Aging program and the Memory at Work program, please call 416-785-2500, ext 2445.