What is Short Memory Loss and Long Memory Loss?

Memory loss is one of the saddest conditions that you can suffer from whether you are young, middle aged or old. Memory loss affects a large proportion of older persons but it can also affect persons in younger age groups regardless of their overall health and lifestyle.

Memory loss involves your brain not being able to recollect events, people, ideas or places which you previously knew. This may sound harmless enough however when it is considered in the context of life being something that is only built on memories then memory loss becomes one of the most serious conditions that any of us might ever suffer from.

Memory loss can occur in two ways both of which are equally as frightening. Short memory loss refers to people who can not recall events that have happened within a short time frame. This may be the last few hours or the last week depending on the person and individual circumstances. Therefore you may go to a party and be introduced to someone who goes on to tell you all about their life including their name, their marital status, their favourite sport, whether they have children or not and where they live. If you suffer from short memory loss then you may happen to see that same person a few hours later and not be able to remember a single detail about the person and perhaps you will not even be able to recognize them.

As you can imagine, short memory loss can have a serious negative impact on your quality of life and you chance of being happy throughout life. The other type of memory loss is long memory loss which is more likely to affect persons as they age and the nerves in their brain become a little duller than they were when they were younger.

Long memory loss occurs when you are unable to remember events or details that occurred some time in the past. You may not be able to recall a person’s face that you met some years ago or the name of one of your aunts. As you can see, this type of memory loss is very close to simply not remembering details which all of us are guilty of. Memory loss differs from simply not being able to remember something as it occurs on a daily basis and causes serious angst amongst those afflicted by it.

What are some of the key Memory Loss Causes for both Short Memory Loss and Long Memory Loss?

Memory loss can be caused by a number of reasons which you have control over and also some factors that none of us have control over. Those memory loss causes that we are able to control include improving our lifestyle to give our mind and body the best chance of remaining healthy throughout life. The lifestyle factors we can alter include the amount of alcohol we consume, our diet and our general well-being.

The factors which we have little control over relate to the ageing process which affects all of us no matter how much money we have or what sort of lives we have lived. The ageing process affects all of us and memory loss, both short term and long term, is likely to affect every one of us in at some level and in some form. However by living a healthy and happy life we are much more likely to maintain our memory.

By living a full and happy life we are also more likely to have an incentive to maintain those happy memories.

Some Steps You can take to Reduce Your Chances of Suffering Memory Loss Now and in the Future

There are a few significant steps you can take in order to reduce your chances of suffering from some form of memory loss and the majority of these factors relate to our lifestyle. The top five actions you can take to address the memory loss causes identified above and maintain your memory are listed below.

• Lower your alcohol intake to maintain brain function and reduce stress caused to crucial organs such as the liver. This is very relevant for young people who are prone to drink more.
• Improve your diet to maintain your overall health.
• Life a full and happy life to create memories that you want to remember.
• Keep your brain active to ensure cells do not sit unused for an extended period of time.
• If you do suffer from memory loss simply smile and do the best you can.