Senior moment?

I just read an interesting article in Psychology Today called, So you think you’re having a senior moment? Think again, by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D. In it she says that the all-too-familiar lapses of memory that seem to get worse at midlife are not symptoms of imminent Alzheimer’s, but instead are caused by our determination to multi-task.

She says that it is not that our memories get worse as we age, but that when we mult-itask we don’t pay close attention to what we are doing or seeing, so can’t take in the details we need to later recall the information. This knowledge is a great relief to me, but at the same time, I’m not sure I am ready to stop multi-tasking.

The good news is that if we do find ourselves doing, reading or noticing something that we think we might want to recall later, we need to focus on it in a way that will permit us to recall it later. I’m sure you already do this in small ways – always putting your keys or purse in the same place so you know where to find them. For example, this means that I now need to look and notice where I put down my glasses, and not absentmindedly put them down.

In some ways skills and habits we laid down earlier in life can also help us out. When my daughters were young we had some fairly solid routines, and I was probably at my most organized. Although they are now adults I still have echoes of those routines in my life today. I make my lunch for work as I clear away dinner so I don’t have to think about it the next morning, and (mostly) file papers away and put junk mail in the recycling bin as they comes into the house. As a result, when I am frantically looking for something there is less ’stuff’ laying around so I can more quickly eliminate where the missing item isn’t!

Thinking about it, I have a number of strategies to help me avoid senior moments. If I need to take something specific with me somewhere, I create a pile or bag of items for that occasion near the front door. When the time comes to leave there is a much better chance I have everything I need, because I haven’t had to chase round at the last minute trying to recall what I needed to take. I also write grocery items on a list as I am using them and notice I am running out. When I next go to the grocery store I don’t have to try to remember what it was I needed, it is safely on the list – so long as I remember to take it with me!

The bizarre thing is that I multi-task to avoid forgetting what is important. The question is, can I slow myself down to the point where I can concentrate on one thing at a time without feeling stressed by the rest of the things that are waiting to be done?