I am dumber than I used to be.

I thought doing crossword puzzles every day would keep me sharp, but they lied.

I sometimes have trouble remembering the names of old colleagues, high school classmates, teachers, song titles or some movie actors. Are you supposed to remember all these names from 10 or 20 years ago or is it normal to forget them and only remember names that were really important yo you?

They say reading aloud can help cognitive function; it never did help my Dad. It drove my mum up a wall and back down though. Give it time OP, the brain is capable of re-wiring, in time other areas will pick up the slack. If you're depressed, that most definitely can slow down processing time, and wreak havoc on concentration. Be grateful you're not coping with stroke or Alzheimers.

How much time have you been spending here?

[quote]I thought doing crossword puzzles every day would keep me sharp, but they lied.

Oh, that's sad news, R1. With the same goal in mind, I recently bought a big book with 1001 NYT crossword puzzles.

So far, the book has just been sitting here. It might be fear that keeps me from starting it, i.e., not wanting to be smacked in the face with evidence proving how stupid I've become.

I definitely feel the same. I was top of my class at school, got a First Class Honours degree at university, but the further I get into adult life the stupider I feel myself becoming. I think part of it is attention span, or lack thereof - I find it much harder to concentrate on one thing for extended periods of time, but I heard recently that's very common in the modern world.

I don't worry about it too much - a stupider version of me is still more intelligent than the average person :-D

My memory always has been a problem—I really did have a quasi-dementia throughout my 30s when I had undiagnosed Lyme, but it has improved significantly following treatment. I would boil water and forget until I heard the dry pan rattling on the burner, leave my door unlocked, lose my car. I even got lost on the way to my parents’ house (where I grew up!) and on the way to my shrink, whom I’ve seen every month for a decade. I am almost totally normal with respect to recall now.

But I have very serious concentration/focus problems. I can’t read more than a few pages of anything unless I am editing, which holds my attention. I can’t figure out everything tech-y as I used to do. I am wrong about a lot of things I “know” I am right about. It’s heartbreaking.

You're not dumber OP, you're just getting to the age where not as many thing interest you enough for you to learn about them or retain the information you have learned.

When I hit 60 my hard drive began to crackle. The end is nigh.

I've had this thought several times, feel the same. I used to be sharp - read, write professionally, follow technology and be on the cutting edge of industry happenings. Cared more about my appearance too. I absolutely feel "dumber" these days (in thought, conversation, knowledge) and it's probably because I'm always on my iPhone to access information from Google search??, and lazier, depressed. The only place I write anymore is in online comments, Datalounge - though I do crosswords and play Words with Friends, which keeps me thinking.. sheesh. Part of it, is I recently moved back to my home town which is all about football and beer. I probably lost a few brain cells fitting in with the masses.

Yes! Between working in a career in Healthcare (which neither challenged or frankly, interested me), the internet and not being able to devour a book in a day or two, (attention span, time management and eyesight) I don’t feel as sharp.

I am studying Italian 101 this semester. It's my first new foreign language in over 40 years (I'm in my 60s), and I am having the hardest time remembering anything unless I'm sitting and looking at it on my computer. When I try to think of anything to say, or respond in class to my teacher's questions, I come up with the French version of whatever I'm trying to say.

I'm thinking of switching to a more advanced French class next semester instead of plodding along any further in Italian.

Same here. Very smart for a kid, pretty dumb for an adult, and it seems like it's getting worse. My memory is terrible, and I'm not as fast with logical thinking as I used to be. And I'm only in my thirties.

I think a lot has to do with depression and always feeling kind of sad and bored. Also, I'm not enjoying my job that much. I'm just going through the motions most of the days. On a daily basis there is not a lot of stimulation for my brain and I have few social interactions. The brain is like a muscle, and I'm feeling I'm just letting it rot.

Like R10, having constant internet access does not do me any favors. If I have a question about something, I just google it and then forget about it. I do not spend as much time thinking about an issue and trying to find a logical answer like I used to. And staying concentrated on one thing is much harder. I'm always multitasking and doing a lot of things very superficially instead of doing an in depth job.

Do you drink? Your brain may be in a fog from that. When I cut out alcohol and workout my brain feels like the sun after it has come out of the clouds.

R14 No, not any longer. I do probably four happy hours a year now and never have more than two glasses of wine. Usually only one, though.

OP Try really busting your balls with some intense aerobic workouts, if your health permits. I often find riding my bike at dangerous speeds, until I cannot any longer, feels as if I've turned the power on to my brain. A really intense tennis match sometimes does the same, but not as intense. It's exhilarating how more aware and alert I feel, and the feelings persist for an hour or so.

This is a normal part of aging. You trade acuity for experience-- a different kind of intelligence

R16 I fucking wish I could. My health does not permit. As I said, my nerve problems and my cognition have recovered well following antibiotic treatment, but I have been left with a freakish allergic autoimmune issue called mast cell activation syndrome and I am (literally, actually) allergic to heat now. If it’s hot outside or if I heat up from exercise and I sweat, I break out in hives all over and then I feel faint, my breathing becomes labored, and several times my arm has swollen up to twice its size. I went into anaphylaxis twice as a result of pushing it, and I guess as a result of the swelling, my joints hurt for months (months!!) afterward. So I can’t do any aerobic/cardiovascular exercise any longer and I do feel that that impairs my mental function because I used to always think best after cardio. I can walk pretty moderately and lift moderate weights as long as I don’t heat up. Life haS gotten so bizarre in every conceivable way.

I'm definitely getting dumber. I read more, and I remember nothing. My logic skills have gone out the window and my short term memory is awful.

I'm working on less internet time to see if that helps with the memory.

OP If I were you, I'd try Ginseng and caffeine, if you don't already partake.

In a way it's normal to have more difficulty learning new things when you're 40 than when you're in your 20s or a teenager. However I'm sure the way we use the internet (and other media) nowadays exacerbates it. Nicholas Carr wrote a very interesting book called The Shallows about this, where he explains how our media use is actually influencing and changing the way our brain works. There's a difference between getting information in a comparatively slow-paced, concentrated way like sitting down and reading a book (as we did in the past) and the fast-paced, superficial skimming over websites we do nowadays. I've read another (non-English) book about media usage and cognitive abilities and yeah... staring at our phones/screens and being online all the time isn't doing us any favours.

The good news is that our brains can change and I believe we can "reverse" getting dumber with some lifestyle changes and challenges. Learning a new language like R12 or other new things (even how to play an instrument) is great, even though it's hard. But people also underestimate the power of things like exercise, meditation, nutrition and especially sleep (another important book: Matthew Walker - Why We Sleep), because they're not directly connected to learning new things or improving memory. However studies show that these things actually help much more than doing crossword puzzles or other "brain exercises".

I used to play oboe in an orchestra in high school. I have completely lost my embouchure and cant utter a note and can no longer read sheet music. I used to do ALL math in my head, now I have to use a calculator for even basic functions.

and there's more

I’ve been noticing lately I’m losing my train of thoughts and

That's strange. I was terrible at math throughout school. Now, at 39, I found out that all the math I found so challenging back in the day is easy peasy now. And this without any studying or math-related work/life experience after grade 10 (except doing small calculations in my head when shopping). I have no explanation for this.

My short-term memory sucks. But all this has to do with sleep deprivation and antibiotic uses, and maybe pollution.

GET IT OFF ME!

Losers. I’m hugely much smarter than before. A stable genius.

Sleep deprivation is the worst for the brain. Even people, who don't feel tired after 6 hours of sleep and therefore think they don't need much more, often have better cognitive function if they sleep more. Tiredness is not always a foolproof indicator of how much sleep you actually need. Most people do need the famous 8 hours, anything less are statistical outliers (there's a certain gene associated with a need for less sleep), which means they are about as common as people, who need more than 8 hours - which is something you hardly ever hear from people.

I sleep a lot.

Shit. I could have wrote (written? ) this. I've lost track of how many times I read or hear someone's name, an important number or keyword and then forget it a minute later. I'll read an article or watch a film and have barely any recollection of either 10 minutes later. I stopped drinking (for the most part ) about 4 years ago and the massive decline in neurological function and memory seemed to happen after I quit. I also get far more irritable and have far more severe anhedonia. I really wish I could have alcohol daily again.

I think that "I have Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome" would have been a more accurate thread title.

That said, by the time we're adults, we have some pretty well-worn ruts in our brain. There is less variety of brain stimulation (think of the varied classes and tasks you were exposed to every day in school) and brain plasticity naturally decreases with age. R17 summed up the trade-off quite nicely.

Low thyroid (cheap to detect and address) can also cause brain fog. I think your body is still at war with something, though. Maybe residual inflammation?

Theodore Roosevelt would advise you pursue the "Strenuous Life" but Karen two cubicles down has already gotten you a Christmas mug to cradle.

Switch to a low glycemic diet. Blood sugar spikes cause inflammation of all soft tissue including the brain. My 40ish doctor told me he went on a low glycemic diet due to serious sinus infections and swelling in his joints. He hasn't had a sinus infection in years, his joints don't ache and his brain fog went away. High glycemic diets prematurely age us and make us sick. The inflammation causes cardiovascular and brain disease.

Thanks, R32, I'll try that because I'm tired of sinus infections. Any advice on what foods to prefer/avoid, if you've tried it?

Long story short, twenty years of internet addiction has done a number on me. I've managed to read/listen to books just to hang in there but the last couple of years, it's been a losing battle. Hoping to use long Xmas break to get through some books. I went on a long weekend trip recently and was hoping to read then, but didn't read a single word. The good was that I was out and about and not glued to the laptop, but still spent my down time on the phone.

The first signs of being in my 40's was when I noticed I had Jeopardy answers on the tip of my tongue but couldn't quite get them out. A handful of years later and I don't have the answers, period.

R31 I do not consider myself to have “post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome,” personally, although that situation does apply to me even if the diagnosis doesn’t. I had undiagnosed Lyme disease that progressed to become late disseminated neurological Lyme disease. That’s a different disease than Lyme that is diagnosed and treated early, despite both potentially causing lingering symptoms after treatment. I specify this because it’s a notable difference, particularly because the bacterial infection was present when I was tested (which doesn’t apply to PTLSD), and because I responded well to treatment and although I was seriously ill with MS-like symptoms prior to treatment, I am faring much better healthwise now than people who have PTLDS tend to fare after treatment. This could have to do with the mast cell disorder diagnosis and treatment, though.

I know it’s en vogue around here to be catty and insulting, and so I want to say thanks to everyone for commiserating so honestly and forthrightly about your shared sentiments. This is disturbing to me personally but to see that many others feel the same way suggests that this could be a culture-wide problem.

For the guy studying Italian forget it. It's hard enough in your 20s. Go back to your French. It will be enough of a challenge to maintain it or build on it if you don't live in France. As for picking up a new language after 60, well you might as well start training as a tennis pro.

My best friend's dad taught himself Swedish in his 60s. He speaks it too.

My father is 71 and over the past five or so years, he learned Spanish well enough to communicate with his Salvadorian neighbors and some construction people, and Irish well enough to read road signs and to understand some of what people on television said when we visited Ireland last spring. He learned both from Rosetta Stone.

I'm certainly less naive, and I'm grateful for that. I could care less about my spelling skills.

R38 and R39 Honestly I am glad to be proven wrong no matter my strong assertion because I know of no case where this has been possible. People very quickly come to grief even with Rosetta Stone.

R41 It’s kind of weird to me re my 71 year-old father. He never studied another language, and he didn’t even go to college—but he is very smart and traveled the world in the Navy, and languages seem to come pretty easily to him.

R41, I'm getting good grades in Italian—A's, actually—but I don't yet feel able to think in the language, which is what I need to be able to do in order to speak it. Now, having read the subsequent posts in this thread, I'm wondering whether internet addiction is my problem.

How long have you been studying Italian, R43? It takes a long time (years) and practice to be able to think in the language. Find a way to listen to it every day - watch RAI Uno/Due/Tre, download audiobooks, develop a taste for Italian music. Linguistically, Italian is very close to French and probably that's why your brain is reaching to the same compartment.

[quote]How long have you been studying Italian, [R43]?

Since August, r44. I know I'm expecting a lot of myself, but in my memory, it was easier to learn French, which I studied for three years (and in which, by year 3, I was tutoring another student).

Wow, you're being way too hard on yourself, R45! Give it at least a year. Not even a prodigy 17 yo student can think in a new language in just four months!

Thank you R3 and R21. And food for thought R32 ... literally! And lol R23 and R27.

And hang in there OP (I actually typed R21 again and had to correct myself lol).

I'm almost 46. My brain has slowly declined since my early 20s. When proofing, I notice that I leave out words when posting on internet forums more and more (it doesn't help that the "t" sometimes doesn't work on my keyboard lol), and I actually type words I didn't intend to use in place of others (like above). I feel like my vocabulary has decreased and when I look up new words, the meaning just doesn't stick with me (I need to start writing them on flashcards or something). And it just takes more time and work to remember things.

But, there is still a lot I can do to improve my situation. I can start meditating and exercising more. I can start forcing myself off the internet and reading books more (even if that's challenging). I wish there was a support group for people like us in real life lol. At the very least, we care and want more out of our lives on an intellectual level.

Learning other languages will be unnecessary within 10 years.

I’ve just come to realize that I was never really that smart in the first place. I mean I used to think I was really smart but now I’ve realized I just never was.

I don't know whether I should be relieved or alarmed that so many people feel the same. Learning a new skill or a new language seems a great thing to do, I wish I had the energy to do that.

Did anyone try those online "brain training" programs? I wonder if they're worth it.

Is that a bad thing?

We’re not dumb - we’re worn out and exhausted from life. Our mental and physical energy is drained.

I am 66 years old. I don't feel dumber but I realize I long ago reached an age where I don't waste any time learning about things that have no beneficial effect on my well being or my life. Time was I would spend a huge amount of time thinking about how to change many things I felt needed changing, whether they directly affected me or not. Now I don't spend one second thinking about those sorts of things or things that I know I have no power to change or influence in any way. At my age I've come to the realization of just how short life is after a certain point in life. I remember in my 30s I thought 60 seemed like 5 lifetimes away. Trust me, it came and went much faster than I thought it would.

Jeez, there's intelligent life on the DL....who would have thought....

I'm planning not to push myself mentally once I hit my old age. I will employ a couple of skills I have and that's it. I expect I'll become dumber too and cruise in the slow lane.

The internet fucked your attention span OP.

:(((

That was very distrubing r57. I'll need to read it again. Doh.

[quote]That's strange. I was terrible at math throughout school. Now, at 39, I found out that all the math I found so challenging back in the day is easy peasy now. And this without any studying or math-related work/life experience after grade 10 (except doing small calculations in my head when shopping). I have no explanation for this.

This could all be down to the way you approach math. Were you “scared” of math when you were younger? I was, and I believe it made it much harder for me to assimilate and use all the formulas and logic required to be good at math. Now that I’m older, I know math isn’t going to kill me and I find it far easier to do calc problems that I struggled with in college.

Regarding this thread, we know smartphones seem to contribute to brain rot, but I do enjoy this app, Elevate. If it works or not long term, can’t say, but it’s fun.

I am more of a hypochondriac then I used to be.

Fixed it for OP

You started in August and expect to be thinking in it? You have to do an enormous amount of memorization and assembling of words and conjugations in your head first. Speak like you are creating a building with words. The thinking will come later.

At 60, I feel as smart/dumb as I always have. My husband was a really good student in school, which is different from being smart and he says this same shit about feeling dumber. I can’t help but wonder if he just equates IQ with committing things to rote memory which he doesn’t do anymore. Also my memory maybe damaged from pot smoking regularly, so I could be getting dumber.

In the same boat here OP. 43 years old and constantly feel that I am becoming slower .

R18

Could you try swimming? I'm sorry that sounds really difficult. You don't write like a dunce so I'd wager you're better than 90% of Americans - which likely isn't saying much! For myself I do feel phone addiction and reading on the phone has messed up my ability to "sit with something" and dive in like I used to? The constant needing to know, and barrage of stimulus makes it challenging. Yoga and meditation are quite helpful to recapture the stillness .. but it can be extremely challenging to do in modern life! I would search for some meditation groups in your area, or perhaps take a class for pure interest alone at a community college.

Dump your stupid friends -- they're weighing you down. Find new, smart, interesting friends that'll inspire you. Eat better. Get off your fat ass, and exercise. Put your phone down.

The world is moving faster. You are not slower. Learning to change requires faster adaptation but you're cruising at the same speed. No, OP, you're not getting dumber. Or in DL terms, it's not always about you 😊

The world is moving faster, most of us here are older and it's difficult keeping up. It sucks but that's the way life is. You then accept it and grow old. As Oscar Hammerstein said 'There's nowhere else to go.'

41 seems too young for memory loss of this magnitude. If you can stand the idiocy, I'd start with your PCP. An MRI might show something in your brain. One of those scans of your brain. At least the medical field is a good place to start. You need to take this seriously. One other thing is to find an accredited nutritionist, who also has references from others that you trust. It could simply be en enzyme deficiency. And if your doctors prescribe pills, be sure you know what they are. My PCP blithely prescribed generic Xanax (Alprazolam). Lucky for me, I immediately knew what it was. Good luck with this.

R68 I had three brain MRIs in my 30s when my neurological problems were being investigated. All produced “unremarkable” brain scans. No signal flares from demyelination, no tumors or growths. As I said, after antibiotic treatment for Lyme, a lot of my problems improved, and they further improved after I was diagnosed with a mast cell activation disorder and treated (simple over-the-counter H1 and H2 antihistamines). I still get hives, flushing and other kinds of inflammation especially when I get overheated, and that inflammation can be systemic and cause cognitive issues. I do wonder whether my brain has been damaged at all. But I also know with certainty that being addicted to my phone has nuked my attention span and I worry it is actually making me stupid.

Get one of those old phones that don't have internet. If it doesn't interfere with your work, use it everyday. If it does, use it on the weekends and evenings. And monitor your time on internet. You'll see if it makes a difference.

Start reading a book. Each time you get new information, reformulate as if you were explaining it to someone else. It will help with comprehension, focus and memory.

Just wanted to say I've been doing board games all afternoon with a friend. I got my ass handed to me but I could literally feel my brain getting less foggy and quicker as we played. It might be a fun way to exercise your brain, OP.

It’s the Lyme, OP. I went undiagnosed as well for a number of years. Now I’ve been on and off antibiotic treatment for years, it sucks. I get better, then it comes back. It’s like being on a roller coaster. My mind is definitely not as sharp as it was. Sometimes I actually fumble for words. I also feel worn down, tired of being beaten down by this disease, it just feels hopeless. O spend half my Life getting better, and the other half getting worse. OP I assume you have been checked and if needed treated for other tick borne diseases such as Bartonella, Babesia, assuming you have been treated by a LLMD. Best of luck to you OP. I’m 47, Not a very big difference in age from you. I totally relate. What part of the country are you located? I’m in NY...

I used to know more, OP. Like, all the Cabinet heads, when I was in high school. Couldn't name a one, now. And yet I'm a political junkie when it involves Trump high crimes and misdemeanors.

Knew my geography then, also. I've been in more states and national parks than I can envision where they are. I'm usually like, "What?! It's in Wyoming?!"

And never mind thinking that I could compose my college papers today.

R72 DC

I blame the weed. It's better than ever.

Unfortunately my memory, cognition, and typing skills are not.

OP, try taking some high dose Omega 3 pills every day. They will help your brain function.

R43/r45, you’re experiencing something called “second language interference”. It’s completely normal when you’re learning a new language for the brain to keep trying to default to the last language you learned. Hang in there!