Neuropsychology

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Hi, I'm Heather Condon.

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And I'm Hugh Green.

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We see many people in our clinic

who are worried about their memories.

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In many cases, this is not

because there is a problem with the brain.

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Rather, there are other factors

that can help explain these problems.

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Firstly, it's good to understand how memory works.

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The first part of making a memory

is paying attention and taking information in.

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If you don't pay attention and take information

in, then you can't store and retrieve it later on.

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However, it's important to understand

that our attention has a limited capacity.

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We encounter so much information

each day that we couldn't possibly absorb it all.

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So our brain helps us to filter

which information is and is not relevant.

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For example, you're unlikely to have noticed

that Heather is now wearing a different shirt

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at the beginning of the video.

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This is a great example of how it's impossible

for us to absorb all the information

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that we encounter.

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Another way of thinking about attention

is like a cup that can only hold so much water.

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Factors such as fatigue,

poor sleep, stress, worry and low

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mood can interfere with attention

or fill up for a cup of attention.

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And that means you have less space

to take in information

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then that affects what you can remember later on.

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If you haven't taken it in in the first place,

you won't be able to retrieve it later.

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Some common intentional symptoms

that people report include misplacing things,

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losing their train of thought

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or forgetting details of conversations

that they've had, or things that they've done.

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People also talk about walking into a room

and forgetting why they went in.

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Or forgetting that they're midway through a task

and failing to complete the task.

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We can do quite a lot of monitoring,

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complicated things entirely on autopilot

without paying any attention to them at all.

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We've all had the experience of preparing a meal,

having a conversation with a friend

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or driving somewhere,

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and then later feeling alarmed

that we have no clear memory of the events.

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This can then lead to a vicious cycle

where people feel worry.

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They notice more attentional problems

and that increases their worry,

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leading to a greater difficulties

with paying attention.

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Understanding

that many problems with memory are normal

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and not something to worry about

can be a relief in itself.

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But there are some things you can do to help

improve your memory.

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Firstly, think about what factors

might be contributing to the problems.

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For example, there changes

that you could make to your lifestyle,

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such as cutting down on alcohol

or being more mindful of your sleep routine.

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We would diet if you're having difficulties

with low mood anxiety or poor sleep.

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You can seek support from your GP.

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There are

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also some helpful resources on our website

that you might find useful

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to help retain information

using strategies like prompts, diaries

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and planners can help do some of the work

of storing information for you.

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If you find you're on autopilot a lot of the time,

perhaps because you're very busy,

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then using strategies like routine

and habit can be really helpful.

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For example,

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you could put reminders in those can't miss places

and always put things in the same place.

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So to summarise, many problems

that people bring to our clinic are not caused

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by problems with the brain.

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Rather than being memory problems,

these can be understood as attentional problems.

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There are lots of things

you can do to help yourself.

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Please have a look at our website

for more information.

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However, we understand that for some people

these problems will be very upsetting

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and distressing.

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If you find that the difficulties go on

for longer than three months

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or they are having an impact on your ability

to function independently.

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A good first port of call

for more specialist help is to contact your GP.