How To Recognize the Early Warning Signs of Dementia

Everyone experiences forgetfulness from time to time. You might misplace your wallet, forget to call a loved one on their birthday, or have trouble recalling why you walked into a room—all of which can happen if you're feeling stressed or not getting enough sleep.

But as you get older, your brain also ages, which increases your risk of having lapses in your memory. If changes in memory are starting to affect your quality of life, you might be experiencing an early warning sign of dementia. Dementia is an umbrella term for neurological (brain-related) conditions that affect memory, thinking, judgment, and the ability to carry out daily tasks.

It's worth noting that dementia is not a normal part of aging. While it's normal to forget some details as you age, dementia leads to a much greater loss of memory. To help differentiate between normal memory changes and dementia, researchers have developed a list of several warning signs of dementia you can spot. Learning how to recognize these symptoms early can help you or your loved one seek a diagnosis from a healthcare provider and receive treatment sooner.

Memory Loss That Affects Daily Life

With normal memory changes, you may forget a date or a person's name and then remember that information at a later time. But one of the hallmark warning signs of dementia is forgetting information that you just learned and then not remembering the details at all. For example, if a loved one is telling you a story about their day, you might forget that you had a conversation with them altogether.

Dementia-related memory loss may cause you to:

• Have difficulty creating new memories
• Forget important information, such as your home address, phone number, or the name of your spouse
• Lose track of medications you need to take or appointments you need to go to
• Depend on memory aids like phone reminders or handwritten notes
• Ask the same question over and over
• Get lost in familiar places

Difficulty With Planning and Problem-Solving

Making plans, following instructions, and solving daily problems can become more challenging with dementia. These changes are sometimes known as executive dysfunction—a term that describes challenges with cognitive (thinking-related) abilities like planning and organizing.

This warning sign can manifest in the following ways:

• Forgetting to pay bills
• Difficulty concentrating on activities like reading or playing games
• Not being able to follow directions on a map or recipe instructions in a cookbook
  

Trouble Completing Familiar Tasks

Dementia can often make it difficult to stick to your daily routine and finish tasks you're already familiar with. This change can make you forget how to:

• Use your phone or a remote control
• Prepare a meal
• Drive to a store that you frequently visit
• Get dressed or brush your teeth
• Engage in your favorite hobby
  

Losing Track of Times, Dates, and Places

With dementia, time starts to feel blurry. It can be easy to forget which day it is, what season you're in, or where you are. Keep in mind: most people lose track of time once in a while, especially if you've been busy at work or engaged in a fun activity. But dementia can cause disorientation that can affect your life in these ways:

• Not remembering how you arrived somewhere
• Trying to walk into someone else's home thinking it's your own
• Thinking it's the winter when it's actually the summer
• Feeling like you've time-traveled to a previous period of your life
  

Changes in Vision and Spatial Abilities

As you get older, it's normal to have some vision changes—like not being able to see things up close or having cataracts. But dementia-related vision problems can be more severe. That's because your brain tissue is directly connected to your eyes. Because dementia damages your brain cells, your vision and spatial orientation can also become compromised. As a result, you may notice these changes:

• Trouble reading words
• Losing balance or having trouble walking
• Difficulty judging distance or how far one thing is from another
• Not being able to tell the difference between two colors
• Dropping things or tripping over items frequently
  

Forgetting Words While Speaking or Writing

Communication can become difficult if you have dementia. People with dementia may start losing the ability to understand conversations or express themselves verbally or in writing. Problems with communication may cause you to:

• Forget what you were saying
• Stop talking in the middle of your sentence
• Repeat yourself multiple times
  
• Have trouble understanding what someone else is saying to you
• Misremember the name of a word
• Say words that don't make sense

Frequently Misplacing Items

It's common to forget where you left your keys or put your glasses. Eventually, you'll find these items and go about your day. But dementia-related memory loss can make it easy to lose items and not find them again. Consider the following examples:

• Leaving your phone or book in a room and not being able to retrace your steps
• Putting your watch or jewelry in the refrigerator
• Hiding items for safekeeping and then forgetting where the hiding spot is located
• Collecting or hoarding unnecessary or broken items
• Searching for items you think are missing but are actually not

Poor Judgment or Decision-Making

The ability to pay attention to yourself or your surroundings and make decisions often decreases with dementia. A loss of judgment can also lead to questionable actions and inappropriate choices. Here's what that can look like:

• Not washing your hands after using the bathroom
• Forgetting to take care of a pet
• Walking across the road on a busy street
• Falling for scams or being a victim of fraud
• Wearing shorts or a tank top during stormy weather

Withdrawing From Relationships and Activities

Because dementia affects the health of your brain cells, it's common to lose your ability to complete tasks and activities you've done for a long time. For example, if dementia is causing communication troubles, you may stop trying to start a conversation with others. If you notice that you're frequently getting lost or having trouble following directions, you might avoid driving.

Changes in your normal abilities can make you feel isolated, lonely, or disengaged. These feelings can be extremely hard to deal with. In some cases, you might not even realize you're withdrawing until a loved one notices or says something. Some examples of withdrawal may include:

• Avoiding social gatherings with your family and friends
• Losing interest in your hobbies
• Skipping regular activities like going for a walk or a restaurant you enjoy
• Not being able to follow the news or keep up-to-date with your favorite sports team

Emotional and Behavioral Changes

Dementia affects more than just your thinking. It's common to also experience changes in how you feel or act. These changes might be difficult for you to notice on your own. A loved one of someone with early signs of dementia typically recognizes personality shifts first. Personality changes may include:

• Having rapid mood swings
• Feeling easily upset, annoyed, or agitated, especially when you're out of your comfort zone
• Experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression
• Becoming paranoid, fearful, or suspicious of others
• Losing sleep at night or being extremely tired during the day
• Imaging things that aren't there or having visual hallucinations
• Physically hurting yourself or others
• Making inappropriate comments or sexual advances
• Sundowning, or feeling confused or disoriented when it's dark outside

A Quick Review

Dementia is a group of neurological diseases that cause significant changes in memory, thinking, and judgment. Contrary to normal changes in memory, dementia can severely affect one's quality of life. Some of the primary early warning signs of dementia include memory decline, poor decision-making, and social withdrawal. These changes may also lead to emotional and behavioral concerns, like anxiety, confusion, and fear.

Keep in mind: early signs of dementia are not the same as normal age-related memory decline. If you're noticing memory changes in a loved one, it's important to seek an evaluation from a healthcare provider as soon as possible.