At this stage of our lives, we have more opportunity to devote time to ourselves and the things we like to do. With much of the responsibilities of caring for our families and/or our busy working lives behind us, we can enjoy life at a more leisurely pace.
We would also begin to experience normal age-related memory changes such as occasionally misplacing things. However, if the bouts of forgetfulness are persistent and other cognitive declines appear (e.g. forgetting how to go home despite taking the same routes for years), they may be signs of dementia.
As dementia can affect our lives greatly, it is important to learn more about this topic. What is dementia? Slight changes in memory may occur naturally as we age, be it simple forgetfulness or delay in recalling names, dates, and events. Experiencing small memory lapses and becoming forgetful does not necessarily mean that we have dementia.
