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Differences Between Dementia and Normal Aging

What's the difference between normal, age-related forgetfulness, and signs of a more serious memory problem?

Normal forgetfulness may take you a little longer, but more serious memory problems interfere with the ability to do everyday things like planning your day or shopping.

Signs of dementia may include:

  • Asking the same questions over and over again
  • Getting lost in familiar places
  • Not being able to follow instructions
  • Becoming confused about time, people, and places
Normal aging: making a bad decision once in a while, missing a monthly payment, forgetting which day it is and remembering later, sometimes forgetting which word to use, losing things from time to time. Alzheimer's Disease - making poor judgments and decisions a lot of the time, problems taking care of monthly bills, losing track of the date or time of year, trouble having a conversation, misplacing things often and being unable to find them.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/infographics/forgetfulness-normal-or-not
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