Forgetting a first name, looking for your keys everywhere, no longer knowing why you entered a room can increase anxiety. For Health Insurance (ameli.fr), these omissions occur especially when stress, emotions and lack of sleep accumulate. There remains one nagging worry: these memory lapses Are they banal or worrying?
When forgetting is repeated, many immediately think of the
Alzheimer’s diseaseespecially after 50 years. However, neurologists distinguish the difficulty of recall linked to stress, where the memory ends up returning, from the memory disorder where the brain begins to deteriorate. Certain benchmarks allow you to make a small
self-assessment test to do at home.
When stress is enough to explain your memory lapses
Memory follows several stages: attention, recording in short-term memory, then recall in episodic memory. If we are absorbed by our worries, encoding is poor and the memory is never really stored in the hippocampus. Many “forgets” are due to this lapse in attention rather than brain damage.
Before the age of 30, these forgetfulness appear especially after too short nights or exam periods. Later, mental load and fatigue make them more frequent, without transforming them into illness. Specialists are alarmed when these episodes are repeated two or three times a week in the same person.
The home test, a simple benchmark for your memory
First exercise: the story test. Read a short text, wait ten minutes, then write what comes to mind without rereading it. In the evening, complete with a “24-hour test” by listing, in your head, the significant events and people you meet during the day.
For a few days, keep a journal of your forgettings: note the date, the context, your stress level, the duration of sleep and whether the memory comes back, spontaneously or thanks to a clue. Information that reappears, especially with help, is less worrying than a persistent blank.
When your memory lapses should take you to the doctor
Talk to your doctor if you forget important appointments, orientation, money management, or if your loved ones notice new disorganization. He can, if necessary, request a memory consultation assessment from a neurologist or a memory center to look for early dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, without waiting for the situation to deteriorate.