Due to your old age, you may experience memory lapses that are considered normal. Forgetfulness may increase as you get older. Things you may forget include appointments, birthdays, where you left your keys or wallet, route to your favorite restaurant, forgetting to vacuum, to take medication or leaving clothes in the washing machine.

Some types of memory loss are a form of dementia such as Alzheimer’, but others are simply normal and may happen to most of us to a certain degree. These memory lapses should not bring a sense of alarm to seniors, unless they adversely interfere with their every day life.

Fading out

New memories are easier to remember than old ones. And as you accumulate more memories, old memories are erased to make room for new ones. You may remember new memories within a short period but as time passes by, the memories become old and difficult to remember.

Being Biased

Your personal opinion, prior knowledge, mood, belief and even experience can affect your memories when the brain encodes them. Being biased can influence what you actually remember.

Absentmindedness

Lack of attention, unwarranted distraction or focus can make you absentminded. You may forget why you went into a particular room or where you placed a particular item.

Blocking

Blocking is when trying to remember a memory but another memory keeps creeping up, thus blocking what you are trying to remember. The memory you want to remember may be just at your fingertips but you cannot quite say it at the moment, which can be frustrating.

Retrieval

Your brain may fail to retrieve a memory it has acquired seconds ago or the following day due to missing stimulation. For some reason, your brain finds it a little difficult to retrieve the memory in store.

Suggestibility

Your brain can be vulnerable and receptive to suggestions. Information you learn can fool your brain into thinking it’s a real memory even though you didn’t experience the details of the incident.

Muddled multitasking

At one point you were super at doing many things at a time. You may now find it difficult to do many tasks at a go because as your become older the brain requires to exert more effort to maintain focus.

Transience

You may forget events over time since your brain is cleared of unused memories to create room for new ones. The memory deteriorates and passes over time.