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It definitely began with a V, right?

women with clouds around her head

Adalberto Rodriguez

Or maybe it was an R?

If all of this sounds eerily familiar, youre not alone.

Random brain farts like these happen to a lot of us.

Short-term memory storage, also known as working memory, is a limited resource.

Hence that nagging feeling youre forgetting something from that endless mental to-do list you drew up yesterday.

Try beingmindfulwhen learning important new information, as hard as that can be.

Even if it doesnt, at least youll have a physical reminder somewhere out there.

The truth is, well, you probably are, Schindler says.

Give yourself a break about it, because this kind of memory wear and tear is to be expected.

This is an issue that increases throughout life, Schindler says.

There are, of course, cases in which memory lapses could be a sign of an underlyingmedical issue.

The items in your medicine cabinet can affect your memory in different ways.

Sometimes forgetfulness can happen if youre just not giving your body and brain enough quality rest.

You have to think about what can you do to optimize your brain function, Price says.

That includes getting your seven to nine hours of rest each night, as recommended by theNational Sleep Foundation.

(So you should really attempt to get enough of each.)

The REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep kicks up around 90 minutes after you fall asleep.

There are also three non-REM stages.

You cycle through all these phases multiple times a night, according to the NINDS.

Give yourself a chance to get through them all as many times as possible by clocking enough sleep.

If thats your problem area, here aresome ways you might be sabotaging your sleepwithout even realizing it.

When you think of someone with ADHD, you might picture a school-aged boy who has trouble sitting still.

The symptoms can be very different for an adult woman.

If youre a woman with ADHD, you may bemore susceptibleto the attention-deficit symptoms than the hyperactive ones.

Dementia happens when nerve cells in the brain become damaged.

Dementia among young people is, as Knopman puts it, exceedingly rare.

Its more about not being able to remember recent events and conversations.

There is no brain disease that affects only long-termmeaning years agomemory.

The kind of memory loss that gets worrisome is not an isolated event, Knopman says.

There are also psychological changes, like personality shifts, depression, anxiety, and hallucinations, among others.