London, Nov 4
If you often misplace your belongings or forget why you went somewhere then this could signal the early stages of dementia.
According to a recent study, by researchers in University of California, women who reported problems with their memory were 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia decades later.
Normal memory problems include taking several minutes to recall where the car is parked, forgetting to call a friend back, putting things down and being unable to find them soon after or forgetting the name of someone you have just met.
This could happen as our immediate short-term memory is very easily distractible, the study said.
Stress, grief and lack of sleep can also affect memory, it said.
However, if you have symptoms like finding multi-tasking increasingly difficult, problems negotiating familiar places, such as you regularly can’t find your vehicle in the car park, forgetting the names of close relatives and friends or problem in recognizing faces, colors, shapes etc, it needs to be attended, the study suggested.
