Causes of Memory Loss

Forgetting where you placed your car keys; unable to recall the name of the person who just introduced himself to you; how about, not being able to remember your anniversary day? Are these familiar questions that you ask yourself most of the time? Memory loss need not be as serious as forgetting everyone you know, but it can no doubt escalate into that or even into worse cases. Memory loss can come from many causes including old age, medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease or Dementia, excessive alcoholism and even from lack of brain activity!

Excessive Alcoholism
Excessive consumption of alcohol can lead to irreparable nerve damage as it is scientifically known that alcohol destroys our nerves. Especially when our brain is reliant on these nerves to keep the neuron-connections which help us remember things. Thus, it is important to keep your alcohol intake at a moderate level.

Medical Conditions

Dementia
Dementia comes in two forms, chronic or reversible; with the former being the more worrisome kind of dementia. In any case, dementia would result in the degradation of one’s mental functioning ability with special emphasis on the memory area, which may result in making a once simple task to seem like an impossible one. Dementia can also lead to behavioral changes, causing one to become more aggressive, paranoid or even afraid. However, Dementia can be identified through blood tests and can be kept in check if treated properly.

Amnesia
Amnesia is quite different from normal memory loss as it is more associated with total loss of memory. It happens normally with age related illnesses and has a more lasting impact as compared to short term memory loss. People suffering from amnesia will for what just happened, and would insist that it never happened as they have lost the memory of it ever happening. Amnesia can also result from stress, where traumatic experiences may cause one to lock away certain memories they do not wish to remember. In more severe forms of amnesia, when age-related diseases afflict a main portion of the brain, it can cause a person to erase his own personality and identity unknowingly. It may cause depression and they would become anti-social or easily irritable and suffer from frequent mood swings.
Side-Effect of Drugs
In certain cases of memory loss, the root cause of it comes from the usage of certain kind of drugs or medication. For example, Statin drugs used to treat people with high cholesterol problems have been proven scientifically to cause retrograde memory loss. In other less serious cases, patients using Statin drugs keep their memory but are unable to formulate new memory.
Memories are what are left of our past, and to the elderly these little snippets of the past may mean the whole world to them and they would mean the same thing to you in the future. Now that you know what some of the causes of memory loss are, take actions to improve your memory and live a healthy lifestyle to keep your memories preserved!

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