Mind matters: make the most of it
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2023 edition of the journal Comet.
With all that we hear about dementia, even though only a minority of us will get it, it is – as Canadian doctor Mike Evans said (in The Globe and Mail in 2014) – very normal to be scared of losing your memory, and what that might imply.
He has, therefore, provided some useful tips to differentiate what is normal forgetting, from what might be signs of dementia:
“Misplacing keys is normal; forgetting what they are for is dementia.
“Forgetting a person’s name is normal; not remembering knowing the person is not.
“Forgetting to turn into a familiar street is normal; becoming easily disoriented or lost in familiar places for hours is not.”
To help manage and counter the sorts of normal senior moments that some of us might be experiencing, psychologist Douglas Hyde Powell provided some evidence-based suggestions in a series of Psychology Today blogs in 2011:
Avoid being rushed: Our research with older and younger individuals found that 40-year-olds were twice as quick as those between the ages of 55 to 64 in solving reasoning problems or changing strategies. When we eliminated the time component, most of the differences disappeared.
Beware of distractions: The ability to stay focused is greatly eroded by age. And sometimes we unfairly blame our memory for letting us down, when in fact the culprit is a distracting thought that disrupted our train of thought. Try to focus on one task at a time until it is completed, and ignore disruptive thoughts or feelings.
Engage in attention restoration activities: This is an antidote to the tiring work of suppressing distracting thoughts in order to concentrate on mental tasks that must be done. Listening to music, a walk in the woods, or strolling through a museum of art, all have been demonstrated to refresh attention and memory by as much as 10%.
Apply the strategy of selection, optimization and compensation: This is one of the most thoroughly researched strategies for maximizing mental ability as we age. Concentrate your powers by selecting those activities that are most important to you and give up the others. Optimize your skills by spending more time in preparation for your work. Compensate for not being as sharp as you once were by scheduling the most difficult problems during that part of the day when you are at your best (most older people are best in the AM), taking short naps, and relying more on co-workers.
On a personal level, I’m happy to report that I’ve found his advice to be very sound. As someone who habitually has several things on the go at once, for example, I’ve sometimes forgotten – by the time I’ve gone purposefully from one room to another – what I had in mind to do, having arrived at my destination. Now, however, I stay focused on that objective. And it works!
And I definitely do my more demanding work when I’m freshest, in the morning. And leave the more relaxing activities for later, as well as enjoying the sorts of attention restoration activities that he mentioned.
So, I’d say that it’s worth trying out his suggestions if you think any of them might be useful for you.
An edited extract from Anne Ring’s book “Engaging with Ageing: What matters as we grow older”