You can’t find your car keys — again
In this Article
- What’s Normal?
- Quick Tricks
- Lifestyle and Memory
- Memory and Aging
Faulty memory happens to us all. You meet someone at a party, and 5 minutes later you forget their name. You leave the grocery store and have no idea where your car is parked.
What’s Normal?
Things you learned only recently — like a name at a party — are the hardest to remember, because they haven’t yet taken root in your mind.
It’s also common to forget where you put something or an appointment that was on your schedule. Most of the time that happens because you weren’t paying close attention in the first place. Maybe you were focused on not spilling your glass of wine instead of learning that new person’s name, or you might have been thinking about your grocery list instead of where you left your car. You also tend to forget things when you’re tired, sick, or stressed out.
Quick Tricks
There are things you can do to improve your recall day to day. You may have to organize (or reorganize) your life a little:
- Get organized. Stash the items you misplace often in the same spot, and they’ll be less likely to go missing in the future. Install a key hook and cell phone charging station so they have dedicated places.
- Write it down. When it comes to keeping track of your schedule, phone numbers, and birthdays, put pen to paper. Even if you don’t look at your notes, the act of writing them down can help you recall things.
- Consult your calendar. Get a date book or wall calendar and write meetings, appointments, family outings — and everything else — in it.