Somewhere in our 50s, many of us begin to notice a slowing down in our cognitive processing speed. It may take us a few extra minutes to recall where we left the car in the mall parking lot, or where we placed our keys when we came in from shopping.

According to Dr. Joel Salinas, a behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, the primary areas of the brain involved in memory processing – the frontal lobe, the amygdala, and the hippocampus – can slow down with age, injury, health decline, nutritional deficiency, or as a side effect of certain medications such as Klonopin.1 Anxiety, stress, lack of sleep, and depression can also cause brain fog and adversely affect one or more of the processes involved in creating and recalling memories.

Dr. Salinas recommends the following simple tools to aid memory encoding, transfer, and retrieval:

• Repeat new information out loud. A name, phone number, address, or simple idea can be repeated and used as soon as you hear it or read it. For instance, the next time you go to a restaurant, repeat your server’s name as soon as you hear it, and use it whenever thanking him or her for bringing something over. The repetition gives the brain more opportunities to encode the information, and strengthens the connections between sensory input and data storage.
• Take notes. Because we’re better at recognition than recall, jotting down lists or keywords helps jog our memory. Sometimes, the act of writing something down strengthens the connection enough so that it’s unnecessary to refer back to the note.
• Create visual and linguistic associations. For example, if you’ve just met someone whose last name is Lansky, you might visualize land and sky, creating a connection between the new information and something familiar.
• Break down information into chunks. Instead of trying to remember the individual numbers 3,2,4,7,4,7, remember it as “324”, “747”. This gives the brain only two pieces of information to remember, rather than six separate ones.

A simple lack of attention can result in normal forgetfulness of minor details day to day, but if you find yourself having difficulty paying bills, doing basic chores, cooking, or completing other usual, familiar tasks, speak with your doctor.

“4 Tips to Rev Up Your Memory”. Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, July 2017. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/aging/4-tricks-to-rev-up-your-memory?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GB20171206-Memory&utm_id=733090&dlv-ga-memberid=30662005&mid=30662005&ml=733090