Last week I took a continuing education class through Shirley Ryan AbilityLab about Cognitive Decline. Here are two takeaways from that program:
1) Memory loss, forgetfulness and lack of word recall happen on a spectrum.
As you and those you love age, you may worry about cognitive decline and dementia. While dementia comes in many forms, there is also Mild Cognitive Impairment. Depression, hormonal changes, insomnia and many other factors can cause Mild Cognitive Impairment.
Once the underlying causes are resolved, cognition usually returns to normal.
However, if you or someone you know might be experiencing cognitive loss that isn’t due to a known cause such as grief or stress, please reach out to a medical professional. There are tests to diagnose cognitive impairment that were not present 10 or 20 years ago. There are also practical strategies and treatments to help. 
2) Start a Memory Station! Memory stations can be great tools for people with dementia. They can also be incredibly useful for stressed out people who are having trouble keeping a lot of balls in the air.
– Set up your memory station in a high traffic area. You don’t want to forget about your memory station!
– You put things there that you need to remember. You can put a glass of water there if you are working on drinking more water. You could put a picture of something you are grateful for if you are working on remembering the good things in your life. You could also put your keys and your phone there. Anything you think “I know I should do that, but I’ll forget” can live in the memory station.
– A family calendar can be placed there so that everyone can see the major events to track or other things everyone needs to keep top of mind.
What are you going to put in your memory station? Let us know on your next visit! Schedule here.
