The Saturday Chronicle: “Crazy. Or?” – Rebecca Widmo Ovill

I don't think I remember anything. Is there anyone who recognizes himself?

Distä is a charming name for the completely memoryless. At least when it comes to the important things. For example, I forgot my last two mammogram appointments, even though I wrote them down. I booked a new one but still. Numbers are the worst though I can't even save my husband's phone number after 20 years unless I really try. It ends at 17.

At my job, I have to send an email very quickly as soon as I come up with something, otherwise it goes away. Sometimes I feel shy and say no, I remember that. Do I do that? of course not. Many good ideas have disappeared this way. If I told you I would write about something and then the post did not appear, you would know why.

In our life, it is the husband who organizes everything related to the children's school things, gifts to the teacher and the like. When I want to joke about it, I call him the matriarch of the family, mostly to poke fun at my lack of competence in this area.

This is why you should read our Saturday column on Monday. I forgot to write it down last Friday, even though it was on my list. Now, I'm not completely naive, but I remember a lot in life, like where I live, that I have kids and what day of the week it is, but sometimes you get really tired of yourself.

Menopause doesn't help either, I can attest, it's as if the normal things in life are being magnified now. If I'm tired, I feel really tired, if I'm upset, I get really grumpy and my habitual mind wandering manifests as Alzheimer's.

Although I shouldn't joke about it because my grandmother Asta died from it in the 80s, back then those who became half-zombie had to live in long-term care until the rest of the brain turned to slime. It was not necessary to get any help. Now it's a little different, research has come a long way and people who aren't lucky enough to get this diagnosis are living longer than the four years they had with the disease. Until now.

My husband usually says I don't forget at all, but I don't listen, but some things seem to pass through the brain and come out the other side. Things falling out, perhaps through the ears? While my head is full of bullshit, I couldn't forget even if I tried, like Charlotte Pirelli's baby name or the reason Tom and Ariana broke up on Vanderpump Rules. Such things stick like glue.

However, for all you forgetful people, I can give you some good news – dementia is decreasing in the population, contrary to what was thought just 20 years ago.

At the turn of the millennium, politicians were incredibly concerned that the big ORV meat plugs (those in their 40s) were expected to get really old, and so the number of people with dementia needing a lot of care would rise dramatically. It didn't, and the reason is quite astonishing – in just 30 years, 70-year-olds today have become just as 50-year-old as back then. As for almost everything.

Not only are people living longer, they are healthy, energetic and modern for much longer. They eat well, exercise, keep their brains active, and live very active lives for a long time. Many of them are working longer, or again because it has become boring to retire.

There are probably more people in their 70s who have heard their parents shudder that they will no longer be wearing a hat and cane as pensioners, but sneakers and jeans. Incredibly stupid to hear when I was a teenager, and now my aunts run alongside me while I walk in practical pink clothes and hats. Researchers are puzzled, because dementia has declined and they don't really know why.

Today's retirees are more active than ever, fewer and fewer suffer from dementia, and if it does happen, it usually happens later and later. Many retirees do not move into nursing homes until they are 80, and sometimes 90, and only the most scrupulous seniors get a place. Aging is a very different thing today than it was just 30 years ago.

Such poor memory, like the fact that you sometimes forget to do your work, doctor's appointments and children's days outdoors, at least fortunately rarely have anything to do with primary dementia, but it is completely normal behavior for a goldfish. However, I don't have any good answers on how to treat it.