If you periodically misplace your car keys but can have no problem calling up random bits of trivia, that is one of the nuances of your hippocampus. Located deep within the temporal lobe, it is the part of the brain that handles memory. It holds short-term memories and transfers them to long-term storage. Long-term memories are hard-wired into the brain, like a computer backup.
Information stored in the short-term memory is trickier. We face so many distractions, it’s easy to forget some fleeting information. Memory is essentially recalling information we’ve learned. As people age, it is natural to experience this. That level of memory loss is generally minimal and manageable.
The Mini-Cog memory test
One of the routine tests primary care physicians use with adults during an annual medical exam is the Mini-Cog test, also known as a three-word recall. The doctor or nurse-practitioner says three unrelated words such as “tree,” “apple” and “chair.” After a few minutes, the patient is asked to repeat the three words.
This simple test can help identify potential memory loss or cognitive impairment. But even a person without cognitive decline can stress out when given the test. That’s because it is new information that you haven’t learned previously, according to Dr. David Holtzman, professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine.
“The random words you have to learn are new, and you only have to have them stick in your memory for five minutes,” Holtzman said. “The reason it’s tested that way is a memory over a few minutes is called episodic memory. That’s what usually becomes abnormal first in some diseases.
“That’s a new thing you’re asked to remember. The hippocampus allows new memories to be formed. If a person was asked, ‘What’s your social security number?’ it might be more hard-coded into the memory, as opposed to several random words.”
When information is encoded in the brain, the retention process usually occurs quickly, Holtzman said.
“What you learned a long time ago is usually very stable during normal aging,” he said. “Once something is encoded and stored, it usually doesn’t go away. What’s affected with diseases like dementia or Alzheimer’s, you don’t initially develop trouble with being able to recall things from the past. It’s when new things start happening.”
Simple steps you can take to preserve memory
A great fear for older adults is memory loss. The Mayo Clinic suggests Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors affecting the brain. Genetic disposition is unavoidable, but you can easily make lifestyle changes and potentially minimize memory loss.
The four pillars of active aging have a direct impact on memory health. You can maintain memory function by engaging in regular physical activity and making heart-healthy food choices. Getting sufficient sleep (7-9 hours per night) and managing stress are also important. Controlling blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol can also improve memory function.
Mental stimulation is another step to keeping your brain in shape. That can take the form of solving a puzzle, playing a board game or learning a new hobby. Taking a class is also a memory-stretching activity. That experience is good for a brain of any age, said Marylen Mann, founder of Oasis, which works to promote healthy aging through lifelong learning, active lifestyles and volunteer engagement.
“It also means you’re making connections,” Mann said. “You’re pulling your memory, and that enables you to understand new things. I play bridge with a group of people, and one of the members is 97 years old. She is amazing. She plays well, but when she learns a new convention, she gets very excited. It gives you a sense of self-confidence when you master something new.”
Assuming an individual does not have an underlying condition that compromises their memory, taking classes and other mental stimulus can aid in maintaining memory function, Holtzman said.
“Those type of things are very helpful because you are exercising different parts of your brain,” he said. “In those kind of activities, the higher order parts of the brain are activated. It’s like exercising your muscles or aerobic exercise with your heart. In this case, it includes all these different parts of the brain. The nerve cells are firing away in the higher ordered parts of the brain when you’re playing Scrabble or word games. That’s why it’s helpful.”
Older adults generally are not limited in picking up new skills that are dependent on memory, he said. However, the development of the brain in a younger person will make it easier for that individual to learn to play a musical instrument or speak a foreign language
“It’s not just cognitive skills, like a language, but also motor skills are much easier to learn if you’re less than about 12 years old,” he said. “The plasticity of the brain during development is so much greater that once you pass a certain point, it’s not that you can’t learn a new language or you can’t learn a new skill, but it’s definitely harder.
“It’s through repetition and how many times you do it that helps you learn something. With people over age 65, there’s still a lot of things you can learn. It’s not that learning goes away. With normal aging, the overall speed at which you can think slows down a little bit. But if you’re given enough time, even really old people generally still can remember recent things that occur in daily life very, very well.”