02/12/2024

How Your Memory Really Works

How it changes as you age

Have you ever mixed up the names of your children? Struggled to remember key dates or the year a loved one died? Recent news of mental lapses by President Biden and Donald Trump have sparked a national conversation and social media posts about what memory mistakes really mean about aging and brain health.

Matt Griffin, 54, who works in communications for a school district in Vancouver, Washington, said he thinks about his father, Grady Griffin, every day, and he remembers what he was doing the night his father died. But he can’t remember the exact date of his death from terminal brain and lung cancer. (He looked it up, and it was 19 years ago this month.)

"I don't think it's reasonable to expect everybody to recall everything," he said. "The thing I know that is ever present is my dad is gone, and I miss him."

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.