Causes of memory loss

About memory loss

When we talk about memory loss, almost everybody will associate that phenomenon with Alzheimer’s disease. However, any kind of dementia includes not only problems with memory, but other symptoms as well. We can distinguish at least two different types of memory in our brain, short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory serves for storing information at that moment when we receive them, and the information is present there for about 20 minutes, after which it is transferred to long-term memory or it disappears. When the information goes to long-term memory, it stays there for a long time and it is believed that during that process proteins in the brain are synthesized.

Individuals who suffer from dementia usually can remember events that occurred in the long past, while the events that happened few hours ago are erased from their memory. Retrograde amnesia is used to describe the phenomenon when a person can’t remember anything that happened after the trauma and when it is unable to remember those events that happened just before the trauma. Post traumatic memory loss is the one that occurs due to some severe distress, such as physical, sexual or other abuse, experience in war, and other.

Causes of Memory Loss

As we get older, all of our functions become less efficient and so does our memory. If your memory sometimes fails you in the late time of life, don’t worry because you can easily solve that problem with some extra physical activity and healthy food intake. Dementias are usually followed by loss of memory, but long-term memory often stays intact. Epilepsy can sometimes cause memory losses that usually don’t last long. Some forms of antianxiety medicines and anesthetics can also be the reason for poor memory, but these changes are not permanent. After someone gets extremely drunk, it will probably be very hard for that person to remember what was going on during the consumption of alcohol. Also, alcohol has great impact on vitamin B12, which is essential for our nervous system. That is the reason why many alcoholics suffer from vitamin B deficiency.

Conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s dementia can cause memory problems. Also, head trauma can result in temporary and retrograde memory loss, but if the trauma is severe, then the result may be permanent loss of memory. Stroke, tumors and some infections of the brain are also possible causes of memory loss. Psychological conditions such as anxiousness and depressive disorder are very often main causes of poor memory. All these conditions are only some of the possible causes of memory loss.