I recently told my 70s-something walking group that I wanted to write about "retrieval disorder," our shared problem with remembering names and dates, what we had just read and where, even what we had for dinner last night.
One walking buddy suggested I call it delayed retrieval disorder. "It's not that we can't remember," she said. "It just takes us longer than it used to." Then she wondered, "Is it really a disorder? Since it seems to happen to all of us, isn't this just normal aging?"
Indeed it is, I've learned from recent reports, including one released recently by the Institute of Medicine. And it doesn't mean we're all headed down the road to dementia, although unchecked, cognitive changes with age can make it steadily difficult to meet the demands of daily life, like shopping, driving and socialising.
Although memory issues become more apparent in the Medicare years, gradual changes in cognitive function actually begin decades earlier, their effects usually masked by the brain's excess of neurons and ability to lay down new connections throughout life.
AARP writes in its Staying Sharp booklets, "As brain functions go, forgetting may be almost as important as remembering; it would be inefficient for our brains to try to retain every bit of information we're exposed to throughout life."
About a third of healthy older people have difficulty remembering facts, people, places and other things encountered daily, "yet a substantial number of 80-year-olds perform as well as people in their 30s on difficult memory tests," AARP noted.
Nor are those who do less well cognitively suffering from a brain disease. "Just as you wouldn't say that a marathon runner who slows down in his 80s has a motor disease, age-related cognitive decline isn't necessarily pathological," said Molly V Wagster, chief of neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging. Denise C Park, a psychologist at the University of Texas, reports that while the brain's "processing capacity" declines steadily from the 20s onward, "world knowledge," including vocabulary, increases, at least into the 70s, when it seems to plateau. Still, it is important for people to recognise possibly pathological symptoms of cognitive impairment, like getting lost driving to a familiar place or failing to take medications - deficits that warrant medical attention, Wagster said. As AARP put it, "forgetting where you parked your car can happen to everyone occasionally, but forgetting what your car looks like may be cause for concern."
Preventing cognitive decline is a far better option than trying to reverse it. The Institute of Medicine highlighted several actions everyone can take to maximise the chances of remaining cognitively sound well into the twilight years.
First and foremost, "be physically active." Numerous studies have documented benefits to the brain as well as the body from regular exercise. Second, prevent or control cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, smoking, obesity and diabetes. A diet relatively low in fat, cholesterol and sugar and replete in antioxidant-rich vegetables and fish are likely to be protective, as are adequate levels of vitamin D.
Drink alcohol moderately and get adequate sleep. Engage in intellectually stimulating activities, including taking courses online or at a local college, reading books, participating in discussion groups, and attending lectures and other cultural activities. Park maintains that "cognitive engagement" - learning complex new tasks like quilting, crocheting or digital photography - can improve cognitive performance.
©2015 The New York Times
