Healthytalk8 Forgetting things can occur to anyone even a young person, it is a common experience that many people go through.
But if it occurs frequently or affects your lifestyle, then you should consult your doctor, it may be your workload, etc.
Going blank is not always a serious concern, but it is a sign that you need a break from work before it leads to memory loss.
Forgetting things easily at an older age is common, but if it occurs at a young age, then it may be a sign of brain fog and other mental issues.
So here are these reasons that may be one of your reasons to forget things easily, it may even occur at a young age.
Older Age
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It is one of the most common reasons that most older individuals experience. but why did it happen?
As we get older, our memory capacity is declined naturally, which makes it hard for older people to recall or remember things (1)
However, doing physical and brain exercises can slow the forgetting things decline which helps you to remember things.
There are other several things why older people forget things more easily which include:
- Reduce the level of oxygen and blood
- decline in neurotransmitters (a brain chemical known as messenger)
- hormones changes
- medical condition (faster or worse this condition)
- stress and emotional trauma
But unhealthy lifestyle even at this age, like excessive alcohol, and smoking, can worsen the situation and leads to memory problem like dementia.
Sedentary Lifestyle
A sedentary lifestyle means – spending too much time sitting and not engaging in physical activities too much.
These activities increase the risk of health issues like diabetes, depression, reduce overall memory power, high BP, etc.
An unhealthy lifestyle also reduces the oxygen and nutrient level of the brain cells, which are necessary for cognitive performance (6)
So it is vital to change your lifestyle into do physical and mental exercises, like meditation, and yoga, take enough sleep and nutrition (7)
Multitasking
Yes, I have also seen this in my life, when I did multiple tasks at a time, for a few weeks, it was normal, and then slowly things started forgetting.
Multitasking at the same time affects our brain’s remembering area, which overloads brain capacity (2)
See, each work needs attention to remember, but rapidly switching to other tasks does not allow the brain to remember the previous things.
Doing multitasking at the same time leads to several mental issues and errors (3) including:
- not given full focus
- increase the workload on the brain
- lack of information and understanding
- harder to remember for previous things
- increase error and mistake chance
- affect storage capacity
So to reduce forgetting things make sure to do one thing with focus at a time, which allows you to grab more information (3)
Lack of sleep
Studies reveal that sleep after learning something new is a good way to remember things.
It is believed that an average adult should sleep for 7 to 8 hours so that they are charged for the next day.
Studies have shown that lack of sleep reduces the ability to learn something new by about 40% and increases the chance of forgetting.
Make sure to get enough quality sleep to maintain healthy mental health through these ways are:
- Create a sleepy environment (the bedroom should be calm and quiet)
- sleep at the same time every day
- practice good hygiene
Stress and anxiety
It is one of the most common reasons in many people, whether it is young or old, but how do stress and anxiety affect memory?
Here are several reasons how they both affect memory include:
- increase cortisol level (a stress hormone)
- make it difficult to sleep, which worse the condition
- stress and anxiety itself, which make it hard to go deep into work
- these situations push a person into fear, exhaustion, and unforgettable bad memories.
Stress and anxiety both make it harder to grab new info, and focus, so doing work while stressing increases the chance of forgetting.
So manage your stress (see stress is always with us) so learn how to order, and control it through these techniques include:
- Relaxation technique
- get enough sleep
- avoid excessive caffeine and alcohol
- get well-balanced diet
- disconnect your mobile and connect with other
- go on nature
- learn to say “No”
According to WHO, stress is the leading cause of mental illness worldwide, which is allied with physical issues, and affects everyone (2)
Work overload
Excessive workload overload the brain’s capacity of remembering things, which makes it harder to not forget things (3)
Constant work without taking any breaks and not giving the brain to take enough rest leads to headaches and other issues.
Workload also brings stress, which does not allow the brain to recall info properly, causes harder to remember things accurately.
So to manage it take small breaks, divide your task, seek help from others, and if possible take a nap, which reduces chance.
Lack of Focus
As we said in multitasking headlines not doing proper focus or concentrating on work, leads to forgetting things easily.
If you don’t pay attention to your work, then your brain is not processing full info, leads to hard to recall it later (5)
So it is vital to create a quiet atmosphere, minimize distractions, and create techniques to improve your concentration (6)
By achieving all these you can also do – meditation, yoga, physical and mental exercises, like reading, and play games like solving puzzles.
So if you cannot focus on work, talk to your doctor, because it may be some health issue.
Mental Issues
Several mental issues like anxiety and depression make this situation worse, as we said in the stress and anxiety headline (7)
In some cases, (consuming medication to recover from illness) medication adverse effects may lead to forgetting things.
A person with Alzheimer’s disease has poor decisions, forgets things frequently, and even in the worst situation memory loss.
So it is important to promote mental health and avoid these things that negatively impact your mental health (6)
lack of Nutrition
Of course, lack of nutrition affects our overall health including mental, physical, and emotional health (6)
Nutrition includes – vitamins, minerals, and other essential fatty acids like omega-3 are essential to brain and physical health (7)
Proper nutrition is vital for regulating neurotransmitters, giving energy, preventing inflammation, and giving all essentials for optimal memory.
So it becomes vital to eat a well-balanced diet like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fat, to prevent cognitive issues.
Medical Conditions
Sleep disorders such as insomnia, and sleep apnea can disrupt the overall sleep quality.
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, where person hard to fall asleep, which affects about 35% of adults.
Sleep apnea is another sleep disorder, where a person’s breathing stops and restarts repeatedly, while you are asleep.
There are other several medical conditions like thyroid issues, including medicines side effects that may become the reason for memory issues.
Down Line
Forgetting things easily can happen due to several things such as multitasking (which can occur at the young age of 25), stress, anxiety, etc.
Unhealthy lifestyle, such as consuming alcohol, having a sedentary lifestyle, where no workout, and sitting too much, affect your overall memory.
Lack of sleep, multi-tasking, older age, unhealthy lifestyle, medical condition, and work overload, lead to stress and affect cognitive function.
