Various causes are often forgotten and how to overcome them

Have you ever forgotten the name of someone you just met or just forgot to put your car keys? If so, you must be upset and wonder why you forget so easily. But take it easy, you are not alone. The reason is, everyone must have forgotten. So, what causes someone to forget often? How to overcome and prevent it?

Various causes you often forget

In fact, it is only natural for you to forget the name or the things you just learned. This happens because the information you just learned hasn't reached your long-term memory, or you simply aren't focused on remembering what you've just learned.

In addition, even though your brain has a large storage capacity, it still needs new space to store important things. As a result, the brain will "delete" information that is considered less important, less specific, and rarely recalled. This information was eventually replaced with new ones.

Even though it seems normal, a person can often or easily forget due to certain factors. Here are some factors that may cause you to forget a certain fact or thing:

• Lack of sleep

Lack of sleep is one of the main reasons you easily forget to remember things. This is because too little sleep or poor quality sleep can cause mood swings, mood swings, and anxiety. As for this, it can reduce focus and concentration which in turn can affect a person's memory ability.

• Poor diet

Without you knowing it, a bad diet can affect your brain to remember things. Reporting from the Harvard Health Publishing page, someone who eats a lot of foods containing saturated fats and trans fats tends to have a worse memory than those who consume less of these foods.

In addition, lack of vitamin B-12 intake, such as from dairy products and fish, can also be the cause of your forgetfulness. The reason is, vitamin B-12 can help maintain a healthy nervous system, especially brain health.

• Excessive alcohol consumption

It is also easy for you to forget if you drink too much alcohol or consume too much alcohol. The reason is, consuming too much alcohol can interfere with short-term memory, even after the effects of alcohol have subsided. This drink can also damage a person's mental abilities.

• Stress, anxiety and depression

Stress, anxiety, and depression can interfere with your concentration and memory skills, causing you to forget easily. When you are depressed and stressed, your mind will be overstimulated or distracted, which reduces your brain's ability to remember. In fact, stress can cause emotional trauma, which can lead to memory loss.

• Certain drugs

Some sedatives, antidepressants, blood pressure medications are known to affect memory and can cause side effects such as sedation or confusion. This condition can make it difficult for you to pay attention to new things, so that it can be a cause of frequent forgetting.

• Aging or increasing age

Aging or increasing age is often associated with the reason someone often forgets. The reason is, as you get older, a person's ability to remember will decrease. Therefore, older people generally take longer to learn and remember information.

In addition, as you get older, you also experience physiological changes that can cause disruption in brain function. Therefore, in old age, it is necessary to know the difference between forgetfulness due to normal aging or perhaps as an indication of a certain problem or disease.

• Mild cognitive impairment

In addition to the causes above, frequent forgetting can also occur due to mild cognitive impairment (mild cognitive impairment / MCI), including at a young age. Mild cognitive impairment is a decrease in cognitive function (thinking and remembering) found in a person, whose condition is more serious for individuals his or her age.

This decline in cognitive function does not really affect the activities or daily life of the sufferer. However, people with MCI have a higher risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, which causes a person to experience memory loss.

The mild cognitive impairment is thought to occur because of the same brain damage as people with dementia and Alzheimer's. Some of the risk factors that may cause this condition include depression, lack of exercise, obesity, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, low levels of education, to a lack of activity that stimulates mental and social stimuli.

How to deal with forgetfulness?

The reasons why someone often forgets, including at a young age, are indeed various. By identifying these causes, you can overcome the forgetfulness that often happens to you.

If you experience forgetfulness easily due to lack of sleep, having adequate and quality sleep can slowly fix your memory problems. You also need to reduce alcohol consumption, increase your intake of vitamin B-12 and omega-3 fatty acids, and limit foods that contain saturated and trans fats, which can improve your brain's ability to remember.

Meanwhile, if you experience forgetfulness easily due to taking certain drugs, you can consult your doctor about it. Your doctor can change or adjust the dose of medicine you take to reduce your memory problems.

Meanwhile, frequent forgetting caused by mild cognitive impairment can be overcome by administering drugs to prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Some drugs or other methods may also be given according to your condition, such as giving blood pressure drugs if you have risk factors for hypertension or drugs or therapy to treat depression for those who have problems with depression.

Given the variety of causes and ways to deal with forgetfulness, you are advised to see a doctor, especially if it keeps happening and recurs. The doctor will diagnose the cause of your forgetfulness and provide appropriate treatment.

Tips for dealing with and preventing forgetfulness

In addition to the methods above, you can also overcome forgetfulness by doing various ways that can improve your brain's ability to remember. You can also apply these methods to prevent forgetfulness in the future. Here are these ways:

• Keeps your brain active, such as learning a new skill or doing activities that are challenging and involve the mind and body, such as learning to play the guitar, learning to dance, and so on.
• Spend time with friends and family to control stress.
• Use a calendar, notebook, or other tool that can help you remember what to do.
• Putting small and essential tools, such as keys, wallet, glasses, or others that you find difficult to find every day, in the same place.
• Doing regular exercise, such as aerobics (jogging, cycling, swimming, etc.) for 150 minutes a week, which can increase oxygen levels to the brain and reduce the risk of health problems, including forgetfulness and memory loss.
• Maintain a good diet, especially increasing the intake of vitamin B-12 and omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, and so on, and limiting foods containing saturated fats and fats trans.
• Quitting smoking, not taking illegal drugs, and limiting alcohol consumption (a maximum of two glasses for men and one drink for women per day).
• Ensure adequate rest and sleep, at least 7-9 hours a night per day (for adults).