Have you ever said hi to someone without remembering how you know them? It’s that strange feeling when you’re unable to clock people or places, but you know they’re familiar. Well, welcome to memory loss in your 20’s! Whether it’s leaving your airpods at random locations, forgetting a friend’s birthday, or even worse, forgetting your friend all together. Memory issues can negatively impact your efficiency and if severe, they can pose a real problem when it comes to going about your day normally.
Losing one’s memory can be scary which causes people to jump to conclusions. And, no it’s highly unlikely that you’re like Vaani from Saiyaara. Your memory loss issues are probably best explained by lifestyle factors rather than rare conditions.
The B12 Blind Spot
Vitamin B12 is important for cognitive function, brain health, and memory. The body uses this vitamin to make DNA, nerves, and red blood cells. Sources of this vitamin are mainly found in animal-based foods, such as fish, meat, and egg yolks. While this vitamin can also be found in plant-based foods, the sources for that are mostly fortified foods or meat substitutes.
Funnily enough, people with vegetarian diets or weight loss diets are at a higher risk of developing this deficiency. Furthermore, studying in FLAME, which is a vegetarian campus, makes it harder for one to eat vitamin B12 rich foods. Honestly, let’s be real, no one eats properly in college. Between classes, presentations, partying, and a messed up sleep schedule, it’s hard to keep track of our eating habits. So maybe it’s not your brain that’s ghosting you, it’s your nutrition. So before you forget, try grabbing a supplement!
How Stress Makes You Forget
Turns out, your brain can only take so much crashing out before it hits delete on your short-term memory. Higher cortisol levels are associated with faster cognitive decline. Your nervous system can get overstimulated and make it harder for you to function and carry out basic tasks. So the next time you’re wondering why you’ve completely forgotten where your class is, take a step back and breathe. Re-evaluate your environment and try to reduce your stressors. Whether it’s cutting off that toxic friend, dropping that extra course, or tuning in for meditation. Just try it!
Happy Pills and Hazy Minds
People have started talking more openly about mental health in recent years. These issues tend to emerge in adolescence and treatments include therapy as well as medication. In fact, one in seven 10-19 year olds experience mental health issues.
Now, medication in itself disrupts neurotransmitter functioning thereby directly impacting cognitive functioning. Furthermore, when taken over long periods of time, the effects can be more severe. This is particularly common for SSRIs. Nowadays, antidepressants are pretty common; it feels like every other person I meet is on them. That’s why it’s important to be cautious with medication, especially when it’s something you’re taking long-term.
Dream Debt: Why Your Brain Needs Sleep To Remember
We all know that one person with a super messed up sleep cycle. They seem to be going to bed when everyone is waking up, and waking up when everyone is asleep. While this might work for them, it certainly doesn’t work when they forget they have a test and miss 20% of their grade.
Sleep is important for consolidation of memory, and when we don’t get sleep we become disoriented and forgetful. It always starts as one night of bad sleep until you’re knee deep in a messed up sleep cycle.
CONCLUSION
While most of these causes seem obvious, we tend to overlook them and not realize their impact on our cognition. Especially in college, lifestyle factors vary. We go from attending an 8 AM lecture to partying till 6 AM. Between sleepless nights, skipped meals, and constant stress, our brains are just trying to keep up.
The truth is, memory loss in your 20s doesn’t always mean something’s wrong; it’s your body’s way of saying, slow down. Eat better, sleep more, and give your mind a break. After all, forgetting things once in a while just means you’re human.
