5 Surprising Causes of Memory Loss Everyday Health
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Sleeping pills The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also cautions that the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins could slightly increase the risk of reversible cognitive side effects, including memory loss and confusion.
5 Surprising Causes of Memory Loss
If you have difficulty remembering things, your mind may make the leap to Alzheimer’s disease — but that’s not the only cause of memory loss. By Mary Elizabeth DallasMedically Reviewed by Jason Paul Chua, MD, PhDReviewed: July 21, 2022Medically ReviewedIf you’re troubled by forgetfulness or memory lapses, see your doctor. It may be reversible or treatable.Jasmin Merdan/Getty ImagesYou can’t find your keys, or perhaps you forgot an appointment. For many people in middle age or older, simple acts of forgetfulness like these are scary because they raise the specter of Alzheimer’s disease. But Alzheimer’s is not the only health problem that can lead to forgetfulness, says the National Institute on Aging. Memory lapses can happen at any age and for a number of reasons. And when the underlying cause is treated, the memory problems often improve as well. “Patients might experience memory loss and describe their symptoms similarly, but a doctor can tease apart what parts of the brain are affected,” says Seth Gale, MD, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “When you drill down and find out what’s actually happening with someone’s mental functions, you can reassure them. For example, it’s common for people to still have the capacity to learn and store information, but because of their overloaded mental resources at this time of their life, they have trouble doing it well,” Dr. Gale says. Talk with your doctor about concerns you may have about your memory, so that the condition responsible for your symptoms can be addressed. Discussing your symptoms and taking various tests, including possibly an MRI, may help your doctor determine what is affecting your memory, Gale says. In some cases, one or more of the following issues could be playing a role:1 Stress Anxiety and Depression
Significant stress or anxiety can lead to problems with attention and memory, says Constantine Lyketsos, MD, director of the Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine and professor and chair of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Bayview. This is particularly common among people who may be juggling home and work responsibilities and are not sleeping well. Usually, easing stress can improve memory, he says. Untreated chronic stress can lead to depression, which could also affect brain function, including some measures of memory, according to a study published in May 2022 in Frontiers in Psychiatry. However, a mood disorder such as depression may improve with medication and counseling, notes the National Institute on Aging.2 Sleep Problems
Sleep problems, including insomnia, or the chronic inability to fall or stay asleep, as well as sleep apnea, a disorder that causes breathing to stop briefly and frequently throughout the night, have been linked with memory loss and dementia, according to Harvard Medical School. Lack of sleep causes fatigue, which, in turn, can lead to brain fog and memory problems, it says. In a study published in May 2022 in the Journal of Sleep Research, people with insomnia and sleep apnea were less likely to perform well on assessments designed to measure memory, compared with people without those conditions. When not treated, sleep apnea affects spatial navigational memory, found a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in 2021. This type of memory includes being able to remember directions and where you put things, like your keys, Dr. Lyketsos says. One explanation is that for people with sleep apnea, oxygen delivery to the brain is interrupted several hundred times during the night, explains Lyketsos. “The brain is stressed by the oxygen disruption, so people wake up,” he says. The injury that sleep apnea causes can show up as a variety of memory loss symptoms, he adds.3 Medications
Memory loss or forgetfulness could be a sign that your medication needs to be adjusted. Several types of drugs can affect memory, according to the American Association of Retired Persons, including: Anti-anxiety medicationsAntidepressantsAntihistaminesAnti-seizure medicationsBlood-pressure medicationsCertain painkillersCholesterol-lowering medicationsDiabetes medicationsDrugs to treat Parkinson’s diseaseSleeping pills The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also cautions that the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins could slightly increase the risk of reversible cognitive side effects, including memory loss and confusion.