An interview with author Cathryn Jakobson Ramin

The Best Kept Secret: What led you to write this book?

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin: It was a selfish effort. In my early 40s, I started to notice that my mind was changing. I had left the workforce for a while to be home with my children. When it was time to go back to work, skills I had taken for granted were gone. Things I needed to do in my work as a journalist - like the ability to assess a large pile of documents or interview several people and walk out knowing who said what – had become a challenge. There was no putting things on the back burner. If I tried to do that they were cast to the wind.

I asked myself “What is going on?” I thought I had lost my edge. I thought it was career ending.

After a couple of years, I started to notice it was happening to other people. In fact, it was rare to find someone who wasn’t struggling with it. I thought, “This needs some exploration.”

TBKS: Women in there 40s often assume memory difficulty is due to hormonal changes. Do hormones play a large role?

CJR: It’s not hormones so much. It’s more changes in the processing speed in the frontal lobes. It isn’t about memory loss as much as it’s about distractibility, lack of focus and shattered attention.

Women often believe that this is about menopause and perimenopause but that’s not really the case. Changes from menopause are small and they’re exclusively in verbal memory. Your visual memory is unaffected. If someone is shown a picture of an object, she will know what it is but may not be able to have the word for it immediately on her tongue. And, the menopause related problems are short lived.

All mammals experience this change in processing speed. For humans, it happens gradually, starting in our late 20s. But we really notice it in our mid-40s.

TBKS: Does memory difficult affect men as much as it affects women?

CJR: If affects men and women equally. Men are just as affected and have managed to hide it better because they have better support systems, often in the form of wives, assistants or mothers.

TBKS: So people often try to hide this problem. Why is there such embarrassment?

CJR: There is a lot of stigma attached to the possibility that one’s mind is changing. A lot of people are in denial.

You must first acknowledge that mid-life memory problems exist. Denial is a dangerous place. It can affect your self-esteem and how you live. For example, if you’re afraid of not remembering the names of people you meet at parties, you may avoid going out to parties.

TBKS: I wonder if some people fear that mid-life memory loss is a symptom of a more serious problem.

CJR: People who have first degree relatives with some form of dementia often fear that their mid-life memory loss means they’re going down the same road. And there is a genetic component. But while it may be written, I tell people that it’s written in pencil. You can mitigate a tendency towards dementia. Things like obesity, being a heavy drinker and uncontrolled diabetes all increase the risk.

Aerobic exercise is one of the best things you can do to help yourself. You need to get the blood pumping to the brain.

TBKS: Aerobic exercise is physically challenging. What about doing mental challenges?

CJR: People feel overwhelmed by work and domestic requirements. Some people think that’s enough. But if you do the same thing over and over, you’re not getting a mental challenge. You have to do something that makes your brain sweat. And it doesn’t have to be calculus. I took up Salsa dancing.

TBKS: Any other advice?

CJR: You also need social interaction. It’s key. And it becomes harder and harder to come by as we do more and more on-line.

Cathryn Jakobson Ramin is a journalist and best selling author. You can learn more about her and her work at http://www.carvedinsand.com. Ms. Jakobson Ramin is available for workplace speaking and training engagements. For a list of topics, or to contact Ms. Jakobson Ramin, please visit http://www.carvedinsand.com/midlifemind/ramin-speaker.htm.