Memory Lapses—Causes, Signs of Bigger Health Issues

As you age, you may briefly blank on someone’s name or take a bit longer to work through mentally arduous tasks like your taxes. Just like the rest of your body, your brain changes as you get older, so feeling mildly forgetful and thinking a little more slowly is par for the course. But experts say true memory loss—the kind that disrupts your day-to-day functioning—isn’t “normal” in any decade of your life.

“Memory” can mean a lot of different things, says Georges Naasan, MD, an associate professor of neurology and the medical director for the division of behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Your episodic memory helps you hold onto important experiences you’ve had in life, while your semantic memory cements facts in your brain. Your procedural memory, on the other hand, allows your body to do a task without having to stop and think about how to do it. Meanwhile, working memory stores information only for as long as you need it.

Because it’s such an expansive term, when people complain about “memory loss,” they often lump their symptoms in with other parts of cognition that are closely related, Erica Dawson, PhD, a neuropsychologist and an associate clinical professor of neurology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF. “Some patients will say, ‘I have memory loss because I don’t know where I put my keys,’ but what they’re describing is an attention problem,” she explains. “Sometimes they tell me, ‘I can’t think of the right word.’ That’s a language problem.”

There’s a vast list of potential reasons why you may be struggling with issues that tend to be grouped under “bad memory”—and they’re not all cause for panic. As Dr. Naasan tells SELF, “Our brains are alive and dynamic.” This means that sometimes the answer is as simple as needing more rest. But if you just can’t shake the feeling that you’re not as sharp as you should be or your mind feels like a sticky, gluey version of what it once was, there may be something deeper at play. Here are the red flags that warrant a conversation with your doctor.

You started feeling forgetful or scatterbrained after your stress majorly spiked.Dr. Dawson says chronic or heavy stress is among the top reasons her younger patients have problems thinking or remembering clearly. And when stress at this scale is overlooked or suppressed, it can pave the way for mental health conditions like anxiety disorders or depression.

Heavy or prolonged stress can make you feel like you’re “falling apart cognitively,” says Sonja Blum, MD, PhD, an associate professor of clinical neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical College and the director of Weill Cornell’s memory disorders and cognitive neurology division. The emotional strain is usually tied to a life change—either positive or negative—that forces you to burn the candle at both ends. Examples of this may include not getting enough rest as a new parent, grieving the loss of someone you love, working additional shifts due to financial trouble, or moving to a new city for a career-defining job.

Studies have shown that significant stressors can alter parts of your brain that help you solidify, store, and retrieve memories. Stress also zaps your focus and attention. This doesn’t necessarily translate to legit memory lapses, but it can make you feel more forgetful, spacey, or mentally cluttered because your brain is preoccupied or overloaded. As a point of reference, this is similar to how your computer starts to glitch and overheat when you have too many tabs open in your browser.

Dr. Blum says cortisol drives some of these effects. With acute stress, a rapid spike in the hormone typically helps your brain process and retain memories so they can be retrieved later. But with chronic stress or untreated anxiety or depression, persistently elevated cortisol can trigger dysfunction in your hippocampus, your brain’s memory center, she explains. All that said, the right self-care and support from a therapist can help get your mind back to baseline, Dr. Blum says, but the first step is acknowledging that your mental health needs some serious TLC.

You’re dealing with memory issues on top of sleep issues.If you’re consistently fatigued during the day (beyond the afternoon slump) and your memory feels shot or your brain feels foggy, it’s worth exploring whether these symptoms are connected. Not sleeping well or for long enough directly interferes with memory consolidation, Dr. Blum says. “We often think of sleep as the brain’s ‘save’ button. A lot of activity happens in the brain overnight to help solidify information that we learned during the day,” she explains. Your brain also does a lot of crucial maintenance while you’re in deep sleep, like clearing away toxic waste and cellular junk that can raise your risk of developing neurological diseases, she adds.

Dr. Dawson says most people need between seven to nine hours of quality rest per night, so if you’re hitting that range and still feel exhausted and forgetful on the regular, talk to your doctor about whether you should be screened for a sleep disorder. Despite what you may assume, it’s not always easy to tell if you have one. “Even mild untreated sleep apnea or insomnia can sometimes feel like cognitive decline and result in impairments in memory,” Dr. Blum says.

In addition to problems with attention and short-term memory, sleep disorder symptoms can also include dozing off during the day, having trouble falling or staying asleep, snoring or gasping for air while sleeping, having a dry mouth when you wake up, and feeling physically restless in bed. It’s crucial to clue your doctor in if any of this sounds familiar because an untreated sleep disorder can impair your ability to go about daily life safely; increase your risk of other serious conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s; and tank your mental health. “It’s priority number one for brain health to make sure you’re getting adequate sleep,” Dr. Blum says.

You don’t feel mentally “with it” after a random fall or injury.If you recently bumped your head—say, you fell off your bike and weren’t wearing a helmet or slipped while mopping and landed hard on the floor—don’t assume it was NBD, even if you seemed to walk away with just a bit of soreness.

If it’s been a few days to weeks since you took a tumble and you’re experiencing memory slips, having a hard time focusing, or feeling confused or disoriented, see a doctor. The cognitive effects of a mild traumatic brain injury can be subtle but persistent, and it’s often hard to connect the dots if you didn’t lose consciousness after falling and/or injuring yourself. “People can underappreciate the impact of a hit to the head,” Dr. Blum says. (Headaches, fatigue, problems with your speech, and dizziness after a fall are also physical signs to watch out for, whether you’re having memory problems or not.)

Any “mild” injury to the brain still deserves medical attention and close monitoring. It may affect your neurological functions temporarily, and your doctor will want to make sure there aren’t serious bruises, tissue tears, bleeding, or other physical damage near or in your brain that could lead to more concerning side effects or health complications down the road. However, most people should gradually feel better with rest, OTC pain relievers, and time.

Your memory problems are severely impacting your ability to function in day-to-day life.Many other health issues can influence your memory, attention, and thinking, according to the experts SELF spoke with. Metabolic conditions like a thyroid disorder, nutrient deficiencies (particularly B12), substance use disorders, post-viral illnesses like long COVID, chronic pain, and medications you’re taking can all be culprits—and each can trigger unique symptoms.

Any of these health problems can lead you to miss a bill payment or fail to grasp that word on the tip of your tongue. Slight forgetfulness also becomes more apparent as you age, usually around your 50s. However, simply getting older doesn’t equate to consistently missing bills or appointments, having a hard time speaking with people, or feeling lost or confused in places that are familiar to you.

Once these things are common enough to impact your daily functioning, close relationships, and mental well-being, a neurologist is more likely to suspect a progressive brain disease like Alzheimer’s, Lewy body dementia, or frontotemporal dementia. Age is the biggest factor in these diagnoses: The majority of dementia cases occur in people 70 and older. It’s “extraordinarily rare,” though not impossible, for folks in their 30s or 40s to be affected, Dr. Dawson says.

Neurologists will also look for the following memory-specific symptoms if they’re exploring a dementia diagnosis:

You recall moments that happened a long time ago but can’t remember recent events.You fail to remember something (like the general plot of your favorite movie) even when you’re given a cue (like the lead actors’ names) to help jog your memory.You’re asking the same questions over and over.You can’t follow a conversation or remember a conversation you recently had.You’re consistently losing track of the date or time of year.You lose things all the time and are unable to find them.Your loved ones are pointing out changes in your memory and mood, even when the symptoms aren’t obvious to you.The bottom line: If you’re really worried about your memory and thinking, start by speaking with your primary care doctor. “If they give you suggestions and those don’t help, follow up with them. Don’t just give up on it,” Dr. Dawson says.

If they can’t ID the source of your symptoms, they can refer you to a neurologist or a neuropsychologist. Don’t hold back once you’re with a specialist—be detailed about your medical history, overshare your symptoms, and speak up if you feel like they’re not hearing you. “Trust your instincts,” Dr. Blum says. Because the earlier your doctor reaches an accurate diagnosis, the more treatment options you’ll have.

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