Everyday memory lapses, like misplaced keys or forgotten names, are often overinterpreted as early signs of dementia, but neuroscience experts say actual early cognitive changes may be reversible if addressed promptly.
Dr. Tommy Wood, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Washington, said minor forgetfulness is often caused by fatigue or stress rather than the beginnings of a neurodegenerative disease.
“For most people, it’s just because you’re stressed or you’re tired and weren’t paying attention,” Wood told Fox News Digital at Strong New York, the city’s largest annual fitness and wellness festival.
DOCTOR REVEALS ’10-YEAR RULE’ FOR EVALUATING BRAIN FOG AND DEMENTIA SYMPTOMS
“If you want to remember something … you need to actually be focused, be paying attention. You need to tell your brain it’s important to remember it.”
Wood said memory formation works in three stages: encoding (forming a memory), consolidation (storing it) and retrieval (accessing it).
When someone is stressed or sleep-deprived, the issue is typically retrieval, he said — the memory exists in the brain, but the individual struggles to access it in the moment.
In contrast, people experiencing a neurodegenerative disease often fail to encode the memory in the first place.
“They don’t even remember or notice that there’s something going on,” Wood said. “If you’re noticing something’s not quite right, that’s usually a good sign.”
Dementia is clinically defined as the loss of cognitive function that’s severe enough to impair an individual’s ability to manage daily life independently. Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia account for 70% to 90% of cases, with many individuals showing signs of both.
Research indicates that at least 50% of dementia cases can be prevented by modifying lifestyle and health risk factors.
Key preventable risk factors include heart and metabolic health problems, as well as hearing and vision loss.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Wood emphasized that addressing physical health issues — such as obtaining hearing aids or undergoing cataract surgery — directly lessens cognitive decline risk.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
“If you expect decline, you won’t do the things that will prevent decline from happening,” Wood told Fox News Digital. “Believing that it’s possible means you’ll actually engage in these processes, and then through that, you can prevent a lot of this decline.”
Wood’s focus on reversible causes of cognitive symptoms aligns with guidance from Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, which note that several treatable medical conditions can mimic early dementia symptoms or contribute to subjective cognitive decline.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
Common reversible causes include the following.
Cleveland Clinic highlights that early clinical intervention is critical when individuals notice changes in “brain fog” or executive function.
“How your brain functions on a day-to-day basis is kind of the output of everything your brain is dealing with,” said Wood. “But if you start to notice something, there’s still time to make some changes if you need to.”
