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 