9781422285664

10

Do your grandparents repeat themselves or forget things? Maybe every Thanksgiving, your grandmother tells the same story about that time she burned the turkey. Or maybe you have to remind your grandfather of your best friend’s name, even though he’s met your friend a number of times before. When we are young, our brains are very good at storing information. When we learn something, our brains develop new pathways to save the new item. When we get older, those pathways become less efficient. It becomes harder to store new information. This is a natural part of aging. It can be frustrating sometimes—both for the aging person and the people who love her. But a poor memory alone is not a disease.

As people age, learning new things can become challenging.