One of Ingrid Friesen's clients was a 25-year-old woman who never remembered to return phone calls and forgot every time she made plans to meet friends.
Another, a 57-year-old man, got lost while driving at night and couldn't figure out how to work his new computer.
Both paid Dr. Friesen, a neuropsychologist who runs a private B.C. medical practice called the Victoria Memory Clinic, a fee of $495 to establish why their minds seemed so full of holes.
As the Canadian population ages and Alzheimer's disease and other dementias become more prevalent – an estimated 97,000 people will be diagnosed in 2007 – men and women are no longer shrugging off memory problems or so-called “senior moments” as a natural part of the aging process.
Dr. Ingrid Friesen, who specializes in memory study with her background in psychology and clinical neuropsychology, poses beside the Tower Test tool in her office at the Victoria Memory Clinic in Victoria on Friday. (Deddeda Stemler for The Globe and Mail)
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Instead, people of all ages are signing up for private memory assessments, filling prescriptions for supplements and adding antioxidants to grocery lists, all while maintaining daily regimens of brain exercises.
“Because people are willing to pay, they're usually quite serious about their issues,” Dr. Friesen says of her practice, which opened in 2003. “Most of them are very scared.”
It was fear of Alzheimer's disease that led U.S. journalist Cathryn Ramin to investigate the makeup of her own mind. Released this month, her book Carved in Sand: When Attention Fails and Memory Fades in Midlife details the various physiological and psychological tests the 50-year-old undertook, and the efforts she made to improve her memory.
She wanted to know why people's names and phone numbers were suddenly disappearing from her head, and also why those holes left her so full of fear.
“You interpret your latest error to mean that you're on a fast, deep slope to aging,” she was told by clinical psychologist Harriet Lerner. “That's when the fear and shame kick in.”
Noel McNaughton, an agriculture consultant who lives in Edmonton, worked as a television reporter for the CBC in his 20s and 30s, and prided himself on near-total recall. Suddenly, in his early 50s, he began to notice worrying gaps in his memory.
It usually happened when he attempted to introduce people to one another, and found their names had vanished from his mind – even those of close friends or lifelong acquaintances. “In a few months, I saw a pretty dramatic drop in the way I could remember things,” the 61-year-old said.
In researching her book, Ms. Ramin interviewed 350 men and women in their 40s and 50s, all of whom experienced similar increases in forgetfulness that often affected their confidence.
A 55-year-old woman named Christine quit her job as a human-rights advocate after becoming convinced she could no longer handle her caseload.
“I realized that I was unable to remember things and people I knew I should remember,” she said. “When this happened several times, I knew it was affecting my ability to do my job.”
An air-traffic controller named Roger also changed careers after he began forgetting things.
“As I entered my 40s, I could feel my brain changing,” he said. “You can't be sitting there asking yourself, ‘Will I have enough memory to get me through the next rush of airplanes?' “ Ms. Ramin found that there was not only an explanation for most people's memory loss, but ways to address it.
After having her mind scanned, poked, prodded and appraised by just about every expert in the United States, Ms. Ramin changed aspects of her lifestyle, from taking dance classes to regularly eating breakfast, and saw a noticeable increase in what she could remember.
“How you treat your brain and the rest of your body in middle age will definitely make a difference,” she writes. “We can do a great deal to change the outcome.”
Dr. Friesen, too, believes people who visit her clinic do not have to accept memory loss as inevitable.
In the case of the 25-year-old woman, the root of her memory problems was depression, and she was counselled about various options for medication and therapy.
Some of Dr. Friesen's patients, like the 57-year-old man, do receive an Alzheimer's diagnosis after being tested.
But among those younger than 60, only a tiny percentage has a dementia. The rest are experiencing very real memory problems for a variety of reasons, including alcohol abuse.
Roger, the air traffic controller, lost 80 pounds (36 kilograms) after realizing his weight and his cholesterol medication were taking a toll on his memory.
Mr. McNaughton, too, has made changes, employing a visualization technique that helps him keep track of his life as though he's watching a movie.
“Once I visualize the plot, I can hang the words on the plotline,” he said.
He also does Sudoku and crossword puzzles each day and tries to learn new songs on his guitar, having read that music challenges brain centres related to memory.
“To keep from getting senile, I've got to use my brain. I've got to learn new things,” he said. “I think that stuff works.”
Dr. Jack Diamond, director of Alzheimer's Canada, said challenging the mind and addressing physical factors that affect cognition is a good idea for people of any age.
“It's a bit like exercising,” he said. “No matter what you do, anything that exercises your brain is good.”
Cranium crunchies Feed your mind Curcumin, a curry seasoning, and foods including blueberries, pecans, almonds, dark chocolate, artichokes and russet potatoes are sources of antioxidants, which have been shown to improve memory.
Log on The website MyBrainTrainer.com offers one- to three-minute interactive exercises, each targetting a specific region of the brain. Nintendo's Brain Age program and Tetris can help, too.
Grope your way to better memory Neurobiologist Lawrence Katz recommends that people try to get from the car to the front door of their house with their eyes closed or wearing a blindfold, forcing their other senses to get involved in day-to-day activities.
Sleep it off Sleep deprivation can affect attention, spatial learning, processing, memory and reaction time. Sleep experts recommend setting a strict bedtime and “ramping down” for an hour before hitting the sheets. This means dimming the lights, getting into bed and avoiding bright lights, even during bathroom runs.
Dance, dance revolution A Columbia University study published this spring found that aerobic activity targets a specific part of the brain – the dentate gyrus – linked to age-related memory decline.Try physical activities, like salsa dancing and tennis, which engage both body and mind.
Lay off the booze Various studies have linked alcohol consumption to memory impairment. A British study found that regular drinkers reported 30 per cent more memory problems than abstainers and were more likely to miss appointments, forget birthdays and not pay bills on time. – Siri Agrell
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