Sisterly Love

So the main reason I chose to write about this topic is because of my sister. She was born 7 weeks premature and is doing well now. The one thing that I tend to worry about as I prepare to move away to college is the fact that she forgets EVERYTHING. She'll get mad at me for saying it, but she tends to lose her keys at least once a week, making me think I'm going to have to have 4 extras made (one to hide under each car tire of course) before I leave for West Lafayette. My mom and I have both wondered whether or not her premature birth has played a part in her memory "problems" shall we call them.

We tried out a memory test -special thanks to Sam Daily :)
We wrote down a list of words that rhymed with bat (cat, rat, sat, Matt...) 9 total. We gave her 1 minute to memorize their position on the counter, in rows and columns of 3s. After her minute was up we gave her 5 minutes to go back to work and then called her back over. She then had to recall where each word was on the counter. First time she got a 6/9, aka a 67%. The second time we gave her a minute but made her wait 10 minutes to tell their position, and shockingly enough she scored a 7/9, only one card better. Hopefully we'll have some more fun-filled experiments later on :)

The Sad Truth

Provisions in medical care and healthcare are being made due to new discoveries almost daily. Because of this, people are living longer. We obviously have better physicians today than the ones from one hundred years ago and more powerful meds now that are supposed to cure or at least be beneficial to a multitude of diseases. With people living longer however, that also makes them more likely to develop more severe diseases in their old age, such as cancer as well as the dreaded Alzheimer's. Recent studies show that there are 5.3 million people worldwide living with this devasating illness. And although Alzheimer's is a terrible sickness that destroys the memory of the one who possesses it, it also causes serious emotional pain to the family members and friends of that person. New discoveries have been made which show that minorities, specifically African Americans and Hispanics, are more likely to develop this disease later on in life.

Experts also say that if you keep your brain active, you are much less likely to run a risk of obtaining this disease in your golden years. Pull out those Nintendo DS sudoku puzzles and get your brain exercising. And better yet, get your body moving too! Regular exercise and a healthy diet keep you physically and mentally fit as well.

Although there is not cure for Alzheimer's, there are many options. If diagnosed with Alzheimer's, doctors recommend that you take meds instead of reject them. These drugs will help treat the symptoms and prolong the dementia.

You can read about a real-life example of a man living with Alzheimer's here.

Oh the Horror!

Did you know traumatic events can be erased from the memories of certain people? It's been scientifically proven that if a person is emotionally unstable, they are more likely to forget an entire event (horrific or positive). This disorder, known by those in the world of medicine as emotion induced amnesia, occurs due to a specific genotype. Many anxiety-related problems have been traced back to a "short variant genotype" according to "Scientific American." People who possess this genotype are more likely to shove unwanted experiences out of their memory for good, which sometimes also causes them forget information like their name or location (as seen in Seatbelts Everyone :) up above). Although this type of amnesia occurs in order to help protect the person being emotionally harmed, it ultimately causes psychological problems down the road. Forcing painful memories from the brain can lead to severe problems when trying to cope with stressful situations in the future. Those who go untreated for this illness face serious problems and also become more susceptible to anxiety and depression.

Seatbelts Everyone :)

What is the number 1 killer of teens? Yep, accidents. Car accidents specifically. According to car-accidents.com, car accidents kill 36% of people between the ages of 16 to 20. What about those who don't die in car accidents though? What kind of injuries do they sustain?

"Concussion related brain damage... can also [cause]... difficulty with both short and long term memory functions" according to an article from crash-worthiness.com

You can see from the diagram which area houses the memory portion of the brain. If the brain is shaken up just enough in the accident, it could seriously impair one's ability to remember much information. This we all know from personal or other experiences. Short-term memory loss is much more common in these cases. Victims often forget their name, location, or the time and place and often mistake common, everyday things for something out of the ordinary. Example: I have a friend who was knocked unconscious during a football practice four years ago. His teammate tried to help him regain consciousness by pouring a bottle of water on his head. Although my friend woke up and only sustained minor injuries, he immediately began screaming "I'M DROWNING! I'M DROWNING!" at this time, thinking that the 16.9 fl.oz. bottle of water was about ready to kill him. I also have another friend who, after experiencing head trauma, was admitted to the hospital and believed that she was not in the hospital but in the wonderful land of the Wizard of Oz. So in both of these cases, head trauma = memory loss.

Uhhh...

Remembering everything going on in life is tough to do. Trying to balance school, family, a job, friends and everything between doesn't make it any easier either. We all have trouble with our memories sometimes, but why are some people more susceptible to developing such problems? Head trauma, certain genetic traits, and on and on. These ones we know- But are there other reasons that could explain why some respond with the phrase "uhhhh..." anytime you ask them a question?