MHME 018: Memory Loss Test: Why You Should Check Your Risks For Memory Loss [Yearly] with David Norris

A personalised memory loss test should be done every year.

The sooner you test your risk factors for memory loss, the sooner you can respond.

When drastic changes are already happening, it becomes harder to correct.

Do you know someone who’s had a sudden change, almost as if they flipped over..

You can be caught off guard and surprised.

Wondering what caused all of this to happen and why did it happen.

You can pull out all of your hair trying to get to the bottom of it.

Go to so many doctors. Do so many tests, bloodwork, scans, the works.

But it’s all just a way to eliminate what it isn’t. 

Even with all the research and evidence we have, the picture we have is still incomplete.

Yet, it doesn’t mean we should wait and let things get worse.

Appreciate the complexity of the mechanism of memory loss then ACT

Prevention is still best.

If you’ve listened to my other episodes, you know I’ve talked about how lifestyle choices play a role.

How you live your life, when it comes to exercising, sleeping, and eating can either harm or help your memory health later.

You can choose to make positive changes or continue down the path of memory decline.

Part of proactively choosing health includes identifying your risks.

If there is a framework that lets you check the areas associated with memory loss as you get older.

Then you can keep tabs on your memory health.

You can compare whether there are changes that would later lead to dementia.

A memory loss test should be done every year.

Think of it as part of your annual physical. I know, I know.

But shouldn’t it be?

You’re probably already used to doing the tests regularly required at work. Why shouldn’t you also include checking your memory health?

Memory loss is one of the reasons affecting older people’s ability to live a happy life.

If that’s a future you want to avoid, then a test must be done. 

Be active and take charge of your memory health.

Avoiding memory loss is a possibility. All it takes is for you to choose. 

In today’s show, you will find out the risks for memory loss and get a personalised view on where you stand through a memory health checkup.

Episode Highlights

• The Approach For Testing Memory Health
• Benefits Of Getting A Personalised Memory Loss Test
• Test To Prevent Memory Loss
• Test To Identify Your Personal Memory Loss Risks

DOWNLOAD THE PDF TRANSCRIPTION

 

About Our Host

David Norris is an occupational therapist who has been in this practice for 20 years.

He has dealt with a lot of clients who seek help with their memory loss problems. David began asking himself about how these people can get ahead of these problems. It is then that he started teaching his clients how to improve their brain health to prevent memory loss.

David Norris is also the director and founder of Occupational Therapy Brisbane.

 

Personalised Memory Loss Health Test

The Approach For Testing Memory Health

• Different lenses and different frames of reference are used when diagnosing the cause of an illness or disorder.
• Tests and doctor consultations are done to rule out what an illness isn’t.
• Your body influences the performance of your brain.
• There are so many things happening that it can be difficult to pinpoint which influences one over the other.
• It is your basic nature to group things or cluster things together. 
• Context, environment, and other variables drive how we look at things. It is the fault of thinking things in boxes.
• A more global or holistic understanding that looks at many different systems and moving parts is needed to reduce your risk for memory loss.
• There are likely other factors that impact memory health that we don’t know yet.

Benefits Of Getting A Personalised Memory Loss Test

• Things are complicated when it comes to memory health.
• The risk factors for late onset dementia includes a lot of factors associated with increasing one’s risk. 
• The APOE gene puts people at higher risk for developing dementia.
• Lifestyle choices and environmental factors can influence the mechanisms at a cellular level.
• The mechanisms that affect your memory health destiny aren’t that clear and the growing body of evidence surrounding treatment methods is incomplete.
• When you understand where you stand, what your familial risks are, and what your lifestyle risks are, you can get a handle on it and start working with the right team to find the best strategies for improving your future outcome.

Test To Prevent Memory Loss

• Find a suitable dietary intervention that answers your needs.
• Do a yearly memory health check, especially for those over 40 years of age.
• The sooner you get into a trajectory of change, the sooner you can correct changes happening in your body. This lets you avoid reaching the point when things become harder to correct.
• Have a chat with your doctor to go through the known physical and physiological culprits that can be checked.
• You are the navigator of your own health. 

Test To Identify Your Personal Memory Loss Risks

• Figure out what are your personal lifestyle risk factors.
• Your daily physical exercises, sleep, and diet can be either harmful or helpful to your memory health.
• Creating an urgency of the need to change increases your inclination to take action.
• You should be prevention-minded rather than wait when memory loss is already happening.
• Having a marker that detects any overt change in a person’s cognitive abilities is a helpful tool.
• It’s important to know where to start and have a framework that looks at a cluster of areas associated with memory loss later in life.

 

Previously Recommended Resources

Books

• Behave by Robert Sapolsky

Podcast Episodes

• Podcast Ep 012: The Surprising Impact Of Lifestyle Changes For Better Health That A Doctor Wished All His Colleagues Knew About with Dr Dexter Shurney
• Podcast Ep 002: Do You Know These Risks For Memory Loss?
• Podcast Ep 001: How To Prevent Memory Loss

The Biggest Takeaway about Causes of Temporary Memory Loss

You should have a cognoscopy every year so that you’ll know where you stand, what your risks are, and take immediate action against those risks.

Quotable “I fundamentally believe that we need to improve our own capacity to be our own navigators.” - David Norris

What was your BIGGEST takeaway from this episode? 

 

All the best 

David 

P.S. Did you get the free guide?  If not, here’s the link. 

 

Disclaimer: Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.