‘Dimensia’?

Why are you worried about your memory — at your tender age?

Is it because you’re regularly finding that you can’t remember the right word, peoples names, or whether you actually did something or not? Maybe it’s because you struggle to recall what the heck you came into a particular room to find, do, or retrieve?

Well, worry no more!

For one thing — I’m pretty confident that you’re not suffering from early-onset Dementia; despite what Google has told you.😋

And ‘for two’, worrying is simply not good for your memory.

What I believe you’re currently suffering from (like many of my clients) is: Dimensia

Dimensia is a term I’ve coined for those people whose ‘poor memory’ is due to their focus being off ‘somewhere else’.

While they’re doing the thing it’s almost as if they’re between dimensions; they’re physically here but their mind is elsewhere. Therefore they didn’t actually witness the thing they were doing and have no chance of remembering it.

The underlying causes of Dimensia are stress, overwhelm, and trying to do too many things at one time.

In most cases, the reason why you have a poor memory is because you weren’t consciously aware of what you were doing, hearing, or reading. Therefore you never registered — let alone added it to your memory.

With my clients who suffer from this condition, in the first instance, I tell them that while I can’t help them to retrieve their memories, I can certainly help them to make better memories for the future.

To this end, I simply ask them to slow everything down, focus on one task at a time, and literally narrate their movements for a wee while.

For instance, to combat such issues as double-checking door-locking/frantic key searching/and, what-on-earth-did-I-come-in-here-for, you need to be consciously aware of what you’re doing:

I need to lock the door.
I’ll need a key to lock the door.
The keys are in the kitchen.
I’ll go and get the key to lock the door.
I have retrieved the key to lock the door.
I will now lock the door.
I have put the keys in my pocket/handbag.

(Don’t get distracted from your mission if at all possible.)

Whilst this process sounds super-daft, and is more indicative of how an amoeba might approach this simple task…

If you’re the type of person who can never remember if you locked the front door or not (and have to double or even triple-check), and you spend a great deal of your time on this planet hunting for your keys… Then I can guarantee that you’re only paying vague attention to what it is that you’re actually doing.

You’re barely even aware of these events. So then, how the heck can you expect to recall them at a later date? You can only make assumptions about what happened and start doubting yourself.

Our memories are stored in our brain’s Hippocampus.

Because we are constantly creating and saving new memories, this area of the brain is highly plastic (meaning it has the ability to reorganise itself by forming new connections). Therefore it is also highly vulnerable to damage.

Chronic, or severe stress can damage this region of the brain and effectively reduce the size of your memory bank. ^1,2 😬

It’s important to know, that if this is the reason for your poor memory, then you may also be suffering from other affective disorders e.g. depression, anxiety, sleep dysfunction, and addictions.

Please see  the other blog-posts that I have written on affective disorders, and MALADAPTIVE NEUROPLASTICITY.

Depression
Anxiety
HPA Dysfunction