Memory can wither with age. Forgetfulness can be unnerving, but there are ways you can support your mind during memory loss — or support a loved one going through it. While not all lost memories can be retrieved, with science-backed tips and strategies, people experiencing memory loss can still live quality and fulfilling lives.
[READ: 9 Signs It’s Time for Memory Care]
Age-Related Forgetfulness Versus Dementia: What’s the Difference?
Some age-related memory changes, such as temporary forgetfulness, can be normal. But, severe memory problems are not normal and could be signs of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Signs of dementia can include forgetfulness, memory loss, confusion and changes in behavior.
Dr. Vernon Williams, a board-certified neurologist, pain management specialist and founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, says that memory problems that are consistent, severe and force you to alter your way of living to cope are “concerning” and could signify a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia — and are important to get checked out.
[READ: Eating for Your Brain as a Senior.]
Comparing Age-Related Forgetfulness to Dementia
| Feature | Normal Age-Related Forgetfulness | Alzheimer’s/Dementia |
| Severity | Temporary, occasional, mild. | Consistent, severe and interferes with daily life. |
| Day-to-Day Impact | Minor inconvenience (e.g., forgetting a name). | Impacts ability to function (e.g., struggling to navigate a familiar route). |
| Recall Time | Takes longer time to “dig up” the memory. | Fully unable to recall a memory; total forgetfulness. |
| Related Symptoms | Usually just memory. | Often includes changes in language, visual perception, attention or personality. |
[READ: Dementia Tests: What to Know and How They Work]
How to Get Ahead of Memory Issues
Being proactive about seeing the doctor may help you catch a cognitive disease diagnosis sooner, or uncover an alternative cause of memory loss. It may also empower you to live a healthy lifestyle to support your brain.
“We don’t have to accept devastating memory problems as a fact of life as we get older,” Williams says. “There is plenty we can do right now to help maintain our memory function and enhance it.”
Stephani Shivers, the chief innovation officer and vice president of program development at CaringKind, a not-for-profit organization that has been serving families impacted by Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia for over 45 years, says that one of the first things experts do when working with a patient with memory changes is uncover “the root” of the issue — which may be unrelated to a cognitive disease.
Shivers explains that several other health challenges can impact memory, and these may require unique treatments. It’s important for experts to “rule out all those other factors” to devise the best treatment plan for the individual, she adds.
Some medical causes of forgetfulness that can be unrelated to Alzheimer’s or dementia include:
— Certain metabolic conditions
— Hormonal issues
— Mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression
The root cause of a person’s memory loss may dictate how much or how little of their memory they can eventually get back. The above issues often create memory changes which, with the right treatment, can be “reversed,” Shivers says.
Unfortunately, people with memory loss related to Alzheimer’s or dementia can be unable to reverse changes, Shivers adds.
But even when memories are lost, there are ways for people to live a high quality of life. Instead of fighting a losing battle, Shivers says patients and their loved ones can find peace in talking candidly about their experiences, sharing memories that they still have and having patience with one another as you each learn more about the disease.
[READ: What Type of Doctor Treats Dementia and Cognitive Decline?]
How to Differentiate Between Forgetfulness and Dementia
To most effectively differentiate between age-related forgetfulness and dementia, you can schedule a doctor’s appointment to address your or your loved one’s symptoms. You can also ask a few questions such as:
1. How often are you forgetting things? If you’re occasionally forgetful, this may not be a big deal. If you are forgetting things to an extent where it impacts your day-to-day life, this is more concerning.
2. Are you fully unable to recall a memory, or is it taking you a longer time to dig it back up? Total forgetfulness can be more concerning than needing a longer time to recall a memory.
3. What types of things are you forgetting? If you experience memory losses like struggling to navigate your way to the grocery store that you’ve been going to for years or having trouble recalling very recent events, you may be dealing with something more serious than age-related memory loss.
4. In addition to forgetfulness, are you experiencing changes in your language skills, visual perception, attention span or personality? People with dementia can experience a combination of these symptoms.
Memory loss can impact your short-term memory, long-term memory or both. Your short-term memory is your ability to remember something recent, whereas your long-term memory is your ability to recall something that happened a long time ago, like from childhood. With diseases like dementia, short-term memory tends to be impacted first.
[READ: Healthy Aging Tips]
Compensatory Strategies for Memory Loss
Compensatory strategies for memory loss are techniques that can help you work with and around memory issues — and set you up for success in recalling future memories. For some people, strategies involve visual cues like Post-it notes, whereas others may benefit from tactile reminders or fewer distractions.
“Whenever somebody is experiencing a loss or a change in their abilities to think or to act in a certain way, we look at what strengths the person still has and what abilities the person still has and how we can maximize and optimize those abilities. Then we match that to what the person wants to — what’s meaningful to them,” Shivers says.
“People adapt and they compensate for those gaps,” she adds. “When someone’s living with memory changes or thinking changes, especially in the early stages, we try to identify what strategies are going to leverage their strengths.”
Strategies to boost memory include:
1. Repeating things
2. Making reminders
3. Using multimodal processing
4. Using visual cues
5. Setting consistent routines
6. Timing activities strategically
7. Minimizing distractions
8. Writing down your personal experiences
9. Avoiding multitasking
1. Repeating things
Repeat things back to yourself, or write them down.
2. Making reminders
Put a sticky note on your fridge or calendar, or set reminders on your phone. These can be helpful to keep track of tasks and items on your to-do lists. Make a list of tasks that may have become more challenging to remember on a daily basis, such as taking medications or other daily activities.
3. Using multimodal processing
Kristinsson recommends using mnemonics or multimodal processing to contextualize things you want to remember. Mnemonic devices — like acronyms and rhymes — work by tapping into how the brain naturally stores data. For example, she says to give words to visual things you want to remember (people, nature) and attach images to words. To ensure long-term retention, rehearse new information after several minutes, several hours, the next day and then every few days.
“Use verbal cues to remember visual information and use visualization when learning verbal information,” says Hayley B. Kristinsson, a board-certified neuropsychologist at UCI Health.
For example, if you have a new co-worker named Jack and an uncle with the same name, you could imagine your co-worker with glasses and a beard — just like your Uncle Jack — to help you remember your co-worker’s name.
4. Using visual cues
Visual cues like brightly colored rubber bands or bracelets can be helpful ways to keep track of tasks you’ve completed or have yet to get done, Kristinsson says.
5. Setting consistent routines
Setting a consistent daily routine can reinforce patterns and may help with short-term memory loss.
Kristinsson suggests creating a routine that includes waking at the same time each morning. Also find time for enjoyable activities on top of personal care and household responsibilities.
6. Timing activities strategically
How you order your daily tasks can impact your ability to remember them and get them done smoothly.
Kristinsson explains that “difficult or cognitively taxing activities should be completed at the beginning of the day when fatigue is low and attention is at an optimal level, as impaired attention can impact encoding of new material, causing short-term memory difficulties. Large projects should be broken down into smaller tasks, and take frequent breaks when engaged in a long task.”
7. Minimizing distractions
A clean living and working environment with minimal distractions may help you focus on your tasks and remember what you need to do.
8. Writing down your personal experiences
The best way to remember personal experiences is to write about them. Memory research has established that when people write about their personal experiences, they tend to recall those occurrences much better.
9. Avoiding multitasking
Doing multiple things at once could adversely affect your short-term memory, particularly as you get older. One study found that people between the ages of 60 and 80 have significantly more trouble remembering tasks after they’ve experienced a brief interruption than do people in their 30s and 40s. Research has shown that switching your attention from a laptop to a cellphone or texting while watching TV decreases the gray matter in our brains that helps us with sensory perceptions, including decision-making and memory.
[READ: How to Keep Your Mind Sharp]
How to Support Your Memory
Many facets of health can impact memory. Taking care of your body as a whole may help prevent physical and mental deterioration as you age — including fighting against memory loss. This is particularly true with cardiovascular health, as “what is good for the heart is good for the brain,” Kristinsson says.
Ways to support brain health include:
1. Eating a healthy diet
2. Exercising regularly
3. Staying social
4. Staying cognitively active
5. Sleeping well
6. Seeking treatment for physical and mental health conditions
7. Avoiding excessive alcohol consumption
[See: Music Therapy and Dementia]
1. Eating a healthy diet
A healthy diet can support brain health. Research finds that along with other benefits, foods rich in omega-3s, such as some fish and nuts, as well as those full of antioxidants, can help protect the brain from memory decline. Williams recommends people follow diets similar to the Mediterranean diet, abundant in healthy proteins and fats, for most support. The MIND diet, which is similar to the Mediterranean diet, was designed to support brain health and memory loss.
“Brain volume loss can affect learning and memory, especially as we get older, but the components of the Mediterranean diet are shown to have protective benefits for the brain,” Williams says.
2. Exercising regularly
“Making daily physical activity a priority optimizes blood flow to the entire body, brain included,” Williams says. “Adequate blood and oxygen supply to the brain helps keep our memories sharp.”
For example, a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people ages 50 and older experienced boosts to brain health following exercise sessions lasting 45 minutes to an hour at a minimum of moderate intensity.
“To get the most brain-boosting bang for your buck, aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of heart-pumping cardiovascular exercise most days a week,” Williams suggests. “Of course, be sure to clear any new activity with your doctor before you begin.”
If cleared, he encourages options like:
— Running
— Power walking
— Swimming
— Cycling
3. Staying social
Socializing with others can support brain health and memory.
“We are innately social beings, and social neuroscience has shown us that social engagement can impact brain health,” Kristinsson says. “Social engagement can foster a sense of closeness and connectedness with others and decrease isolation and loneliness.”
4. Staying cognitively active with memory improvement games
Engaging your brain in cognitive activities like problem-solving and skill-learning can help with memory. Cognitive exercises like brain games and learning new skills can enhance your cognitive function and may work against memory decline. Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and learning something new and challenging stimulates the brain, which helps our mental sharpness, agility and memory.
While these exercises can be helpful, they are not a foolproof prevention for memory loss or from diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia — so don’t use them to replace any medical advice.
“Cognitive exercise is important for maintaining good cognitive functioning throughout the lifespan,” Kristinsson says. “Although research is mixed regarding the effectiveness of brain games in actually preventing dementia, cognitive exercises can be employed to learn compensatory strategies for coping with memory loss.”
There are some brain games that you can try to test your memory, including the “2-7-30 rule” — a self-evaluation you can conduct when trying to learn new information or a skill. Simply test your memory of the information two days, seven days and 30 days after you initially learn it.
There’s also the “8-second memory trick” for recalling new information. For this memory trick, you focus on new information for a full eight seconds after receiving it, or hearing about something new. The idea is that it takes eight seconds of focused attention to hold onto a memory, long-term — but there isn’t substantial scientific evidence to back this up.
Learning new skills or starting a hobby If you want to stay cognitively fit without brain games, you can practice enrichment exercises like learning a new skill or starting a hobby.
Such exercises can include:
— Learning a new skill, like a musical instrument or a new language
— Reading a book
— Playing a crossword puzzle
— Taking dance lessons
— Practicing yoga
“The important thing is to find something that challenges you to think in new ways while also providing enjoyment,” Kristinsson says. “Activities that are cognitively stimulating are fun, engaging, challenging and novel.”
5. Sleeping well
Keeping a consistent and adequate sleep schedule supports brain health too. As we get older, lack of sleep can impair our memory. Memory lapses are more common when we are sleep-deprived or have had several nights of poor sleep quality. Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.
“One of the most fundamental ways to keep your brain functioning correctly and sharp is to turn it off,” Williams says. “Powering down on a nightly basis allows the brain to heal and restore itself, clearing toxins that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia types.”
6. Seeking treatment for physical and mental health conditions
Staying up to date on medical appointments, treating existing conditions and seeking out medical attention for new symptoms is important in caring for your brain.
7. Avoiding excessive alcohol consumption
Alcohol disrupts the brain’s ability to form memories — and drinking too much can have unfortunate effects on brain health and memory storage and retrieval.
Is Memory Improvement Possible?
Memory improvement is possible for some, but not all, people. Exact predicaments will look different from person to person — or memory to memory. For example, a short-term memory that was never properly encoded cannot return to the mind. When thinking about how to preserve memories, individualize your expectations by talking to a doctor about the severity of your or your loved one’s disease, and what types of improvements they consider to be achievable.
When working with a patient who has a cognitive disease, experts tend to focus on “preventing or slowing further decline rather than recovery of memory function,” says Kristinsson.
This can involve using “compensatory strategies,” or tools to help people cope safely go about their day, amid short-term memory difficulties.
When to Consider a Memory Care Facility
If your loved one is experiencing more severe memory loss, especially if you feel their condition is putting themselves or others at danger, it may be time to consider a memory care facility. This is a big decision to make, so you’ll want to meet with a health care provider to go over a few questions to help determine if your loved one is ready for the change and, if so, what memory care facility is best for them.
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Memory Loss: Tips to Improve Recall and Memory originally appeared on usnews.com
Correction 11/24/25: A previous version of this article misspelled CaringKind, and Stephani Shiver’s quote was updated.
