Scientists are not sure whether anxiety (also called “stress”) causes or results in memory loss.

Frankly, I don’t believe this is an “either-or” situation. Both could certainly be true. If I thought I was losing my memories, I would be understandably worried and anxious. On the other hand, memory loss is a symptom of anxiety.

Jim Folk, President of the Anxiety Center says: “You may start something and uncharacteristically forget what you were doing soon after. You may also have difficulty remembering where you placed things, who you just called, what you just talked about, or what you were looking for or thinking about. You uncharacteristically may have difficulty remembering what you just ate, phone numbers, names, or things you recently did. Things that you would normally not forget, you now do.”

Now we older people know that when we were younger and had demanding jobs, busy family lives and never enough money, we were truly stressed and always losing our car keys or sunglasses. But now we are retired, the kids have those old worries and we are supposed to be relaxed and enjoying life. So why are we anxious now?

Well anxiety is an automatic response. We don’t wish to have it. So we need to learn to manage it. Take a deep breath, and make an appointment with your doctor. When the nosy reseptionist wants to know why you need the appointment, just tell her you want to have a discussion with your doctor. Go on. You won’t start to feel better until you make that call.