Merriam Webster defines a senior moment as follows : an instance of momentary forgetfulness or confusion that is attributed to the aging process.
For the record, senior moments are not restricted to senior citizens. Everyone gets them. However, they are more troubling to us seniors. Younger people just think it is funny forgetting something momentarily. Older folks are scared spitless because they fear they have Alzheimer’s.
As a SuperAger, I have to go in to Northwestern University for about a two hour battery of tests every year to measure my brain functions including memory. Mine was last week.
Our local hospital had a program called Healthy Transitions for folks over 55. It explained aspects of aging and what we could do to prepare the coming changesin our bodies – physical and mental. I attended numerous presentations, but the ones that were standing room only had to do with cognitive decline. It was clear to me that everyone ‘of a certain age’ is concerned about their brain functioning into old age.
One of the questions I was asked at the SuperAger test was whether my memory seemed to have declined or was it the same as 10 years ago. I said that I honestly couldn’t say. What I could say was that I had developed certain techniques that helped me to ‘not forget’- or have senior moments.
The first technique concerns, for example, forgetting where I put my keys. I don’t ever forget because I always put my keys on my dresser. I never throw them carelessly on the counter, or the table or whatever surface is handy when I come home. That is a recipe for disaster. When I come in from riding my bike, the first thing I do is to take my keys out of my back pocket and go put them on my dresser. Then I finish with my transitioning into being home, or showering, etc. Because of that technique I always know where my keys are.
Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger 
This is interesting and I am sure quite true.
I am reminded of an incident yesterday. We were driving to the Freethinkers meeting, something that we do regularly, and we were going across to collect Marcia. Marcia doesn’t drive. Instead of turning up her long driveway towards the end of the dead end road, I carried on and turned up the last driveway. Jean said that this was wrong and I panicked, and became totally confused as to where the hell I was.
On the way out of the road, Jean stopped and said you should take that driveway. It was not familiar despite me being many times before.
The reason I believe was that as Jean and I were driving across to Maria’s place I was excitedly speaking of the Evolution book by Richard Dawkins and had not been following what I was doing!
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Thanks for sharing that, Paul. It so often is a case of simply paying attention to what you are trying to do and not letting your mind drift.
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