The Words Evade Me

If you've ever felt like you're losing your mind because you're drawing mental blanks more often it's time to examine your cause for memory loss. Sometimes there is more than one change to be made for a person to get back to normal with their ability to remember.

Are you stressing yourself too much by taking on too many projects at once? This will cause you to become preoccupied, and you may feel as though you can't afford to take the time to relax and recharge your brain. But to do the best job no matter what the job, one must take care of oneself. Besides the physical damage of overworking, over-thinking will lead to mental meltdown. Your short-term memory will begin to suffer, causing you to forget even the simplest of words.

Exercise your body - exercise your brain. By exercising regularly, you increase the amount of oxygen that gets to your brain, and reduce the risk of illnesses that can contribute to memory loss, such as heart disease and diabetes. Exercise can also increase the effects of certain chemicals that help the brain to function at its best.

So, first consider if there is anything you can do to ease your burden, like learning to say no when you already have too much on your agenda. Let someone else take over when possible, delegate responsibilities, learn to stop giving so much of yourself that you begin to suffer because of it. It's easy to do too much for your loved ones, especially. Mothers (or fathers) decide that something may be done faster or done in a more satisfactory way, so they neglect to allow their children to handle things they are really quite capable of doing. Hence, an overworked and harried mother, who begins to lose her keys or wallet, forgets to put gas in the car, neglects to put the school gym clothes in the wash, can't remember a neighbor's name that they have seen and spoken to often, or calls his or her child by their other child's name. Maybe the children won't do the chore exactly as you do or as quickly as you or as well as you, but the child can't learn how to perfect their efforts unless they perform trial and error. Give them the benefit of the doubt and accept their imperfect achievements whenever possible. Gentle guidance and praise are the keys here.

There are health reasons that can cause our words to escape us. Short-term memory loss is one of the drawbacks to having diabetes. If you struggle with your blood sugar levels, you are sure to have memory challenges from time to time. Motivation, the proper diet and medication, along with strict self-discipline will get the situation back under control and the memory should return to normal.

A well-nourished brain will definitely perform better in terms of memory. Eat lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Also, drink a lot of water. You should drink up to 8 glasses daily. Other ways to improve your diet is to limit the amount of saturated fat, but eat fish or supplements for omega-3 fatty acids (which improves brain function and fights against Alzheimer's).

There is an old phrase that goes 'Use it or lose it'. Sometimes we can retain our sanity and our memory loss just by making the effort to exercise our brains. Besides the benefits of physical exercise, mental exercise is also essential to overall health. Take up a new activity, something to make you think, some way to present a challenge to your mind. Of course, you want to avoid having to try too hard or you'll just become discouraged. Take baby steps if necessary, keeping up with each accomplishment and making each new challenge a bit harder. Besides improving your ability to recall words, this will boost your self-esteem.