Monday, May 7, 2012

Brain Farts, It's Mind Boggling

Moving out of the fog and doing OK

As we age, we become more sensitive to and frightened of "losing it".  I read recently that people fear getting dementia more than they do cancer.  This is understandable, since many cancers are treatable, but a disease of the brain is a dark journey where no one wants to go.

Brain : Illustration of a brain cartoon character giving a thumbs up sign
I have always had the theory that the minute you have children, the degeneration begins.    Actually, I think they start sucking out your brain cells while in utero.  By the time they leave home, you are no longer the person you once were, and much of the grey matter has been depleted during the intervening years.  My life in the past few years has been all about:

Where are my keys?

Gosh, I just had my glasses.......

"How come I can't work the TV any longer?

What am I looking for?

What is that word I want to say?

What was I talking about?
funny but crazy smiley
and it is all driving me crazy.
(so to speak)

However, according to LiveScience.com, many of the things that you worry about are just natural occurrences and not to be worried about.   For example:
-    How often have you walked into a room only to forget why you are there?  It is not Alzheimer's catching up with you, it is the door itself.  Psychologists have discovered that passing trough a doorway triggers what is known as and "event boundary" in the mind, separating one set of thoughts and memories from the next.  Your brain files away the thoughts you had in the previous room and prepares a blank slate for the new locale.  The answer might be to move into a one room house, with no closets.
Talking to yourself might not mean you are crazy.  Studies have shown that it can actually benefit thinking and perception.  Besides, we will never find a more interested listener.  
 - Zoning Out.  No matter how hard we might try to stay focused on an everyday task, such as brushing our teeth or queuing for coffee, we simply can't stop our minds from wandering. Fortunately, those bizarre bouts of cognition sans awareness known as "zoning out" are actually a good thing. They’re vital to creativity and imaginative thought.

Instead of staying completely focused on a dull and familiar external stimulus, neuroscience research shows that our attention waxes and wanes, and we spend 13 percent of the time "zoned out." During this time, we are free to float along internal streams of consciousness, following wherever our minds randomly take us — perhaps arriving at a "eureka!" moment, or at the very least, a spontaneous and interesting ideathing and perception.  Works for me!

As I have been questioning my capabilities lately, this was very good news indeed. It turns out I really am  OK, at least until I go through a doorway.



26 comments:

  1. I forget stuff all the time. My kids get mad at me when I forget to send them off with a hat for 'hat day' or pjs for 'pj' day. I just wish their teachers would stop coming up with these stupid days. My brain can't handle it.

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    1. I hate to tell you Amy, but it gets worse. However, it is not our fault, it's the doors.

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  2. That whole going into a room to do something, doing a dozen other things, and then leaving without doing that one stupid thing we went in there to do in the first place is annoying as all get-out, isn't it? But it's reassuring to know it isn't ME at all ... it's that cursed door!

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    1. I am so glad to have found this excuse. It's the door, damn it.

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  3. At least I am not alone. Anyway, I don't think so.

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    1. The good thing is that we can still think, just not as fast as we used to.

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  4. Well, this is what I've always told myself. And my kids.

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  5. Oh Arleen, I have ask each of those questions. I lose my keys daily. They have usually fallen into the abyss (my purse). And yes it drives me crazy. Oh I do like knowing my problems lie with passing over the threshold. Amazing. Bonnie

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  6. I have just got home from the "Home for the Bewildered" as M. has had three falls and I had to take him to the G.P. to get checked over.

    I must say that his "confusion" is completely different to the odd lapses that we all get.

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    1. Alzheimer's is such a terrible disease, and one that w all fear.

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  7. When Lady M asks 'are you talking to yourself again?', I reply 'I was talking to the dogs'. It puts her mind at rest.

    Now, where did I leave my breakfast?

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  8. Hello Arleen:
    We are hugely reassured to read this post. Never having had children we should, so to speak, have a head's start but, alas, it does not always feel like it. The research carried out here suggests that we have not, at least yet, entirely lost the plot.

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    1. Jane and Lance, It is good to know that we are not alone in our frustrations and there are reasons for these hiccups we have along the way.

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  9. Bless you. I (far too often) march purposefully into a room and stop with no idea of what I was doing. My middle brother is a pretentious twit a lot of the time. I zone out when he is in his 'I am the greatest' rants. Recently he was overseas being important and I had no idea where because I had zoned out.
    And the dementia fairy (a bad, bad fairy) hides my possessions to make me worry.

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  10. I remember a Bill Cosby monologue in which he stated that "your memory is in the seat of your pants". It was his opinion that if you go into a room and can't remember what you went in there for, you should go back and sit down where you were when you first thought of going there. You would then remember. "Write it down" he said. I've tried it. Sometimes it works.
    What annoys ME the most is when I "lose" a word. If it keeps on at this rate I'll soon be permanently silenced. Hubby should love that.

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    1. Losing a word is what frustrates me the most. It usually comes to me in a minute or two, but by that time it is too late.

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  11. Words and names can drive me nuts. I'm developing tricks to remember things. Generally I think it helps me to stop and review the day before I go to sleep. I remember trips this way, too, starting with leaving for the airport and tracing all that happened. But it can be really funny when you're in a group and everyone knows what you're trying to recall but nobody can remember it. As soon as you all start laughing about it someone will remember it. Sometimes I wonder if we sort things into order of importance as we age, and the things that aren't used get put in the attic, or the garage.

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  12. Great post! My daughter has definitely sucked the life out of me, physically and mentally. I don't know how women have loads of kids. One is more than enough for me.

    I have read that our brains compartmentalize and sort things... the door thing makes sense. And boy, am I glad to hear it! Maybe we drift off more and more as we get older, too; hence forgetting where we left X or Y more regularly. Yes, I'll go with that. :)

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  13. I feel mightily reassured after reading this post! I know that the Bill Cosby method described above really does work. My problem is the word-forgetting. I fear that one day I will forget my wife's name even though it will seem to be 'on the tip of my tongue'.
    Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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  14. Dear Arleen, . . . oh, what reassuring news. This posting set my mind at rest. However, I live in a home with many doorways and so what's a person to do?!?!? I loved your second fact about talking out loud to ourselves: "Studies have shown that it can actually benefit thinking and perception. Besides, we will never find a more interested listener." And it's true--I do find myself interesting. But perhaps that's a sign of something too!!!!!

    I certainly do find you and your blog interesting. And if you are talking out loud when you write it, please continue to do so.

    Peace.

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  15. this is very good news indeed! my husband and I are starting to have collections of notes all over the place....

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  16. Ha! This post makes me feel SO much better! Thanks:)

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