What did you eat for lunch?

Rhino

My co worker asked today 'Have a good weekend' and I was like 'Yea' and he was like 'What did you do?' and I just drew a complete blank. I had to resort to checking my calendar.

My girlfriend asked what I had to lunch (because she was hungry and looking for ideas). I had no clue. I had lunch today but don't know what I ate.

It makes my brain think thing go all foggy.

I've been like this for awhile (6-7 years) where I don't remember shit like that any more or even what I worked on yesterday [for work].

Is this normal? Do you guys do this too? Is it cause for concern?

btw, my Grandpa has Alzheimer [it runs in our family].

Moobly

Straight up, I do this all the time. I'd just chalk it up to whatever is you can't remember doing wasn't memorable enough to warrant space in your head.

Start to worry when you roll over in bed and see your girlfriend, two other girls, a Swedish dwarf named "Chica", and an empty case of spray cheese. She looks at you and says, "Last night was amazing." Then, as you vaguely realize you have spray cheese between your toes, you admit, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Oh, only worry about that if you weren't drinking the night before.

edit: Also, do you partake of any extracurricular pharmaceuticals? If so, you may have a potential cause there.

YodaTuna

Unless you're like 70, I wouldn't worry about Alzheimer's.

I forget shit all the time.

Rhino

Moobly wrote: »

edit: Also, do you partake of any extracurricular pharmaceuticals? If so, you may have a potential cause there.

No drugs beside the rare advil. I do a lot of caffeine/coffee.

I eat right and exercise about 4 times a week. The only real vice I have is beer. I like beer, but trying to slow that down a bit.

Darkewolfe

Dude, you're just a space cadet. (like me!) which... oh hell, I forgot to pay the rent. not even kidding here, I'm going to go do it now, thanks.

Darkewolfe

so, anyway, like I was saying...

In all seriousness, some people are like that. My parents always said it was because I didn't focus, but if I haven't figured out how to do that by this point in my life...

You can do your best to try to work around it. (I made a nice memory cue for my rent with a post-it note. we saw how well that turned out.) And then you just deal with it from there.

cooljammer00

if this really concerns you, start taking photos, or writing notes about your day.

tedious, sure. but it works.

or you can just laugh it off with a truthful "i don't remember".

Dalboz

Moobly wrote: »

Start to worry when you roll over in bed and see your girlfriend, two other girls, a Swedish dwarf named "Chica", and an empty case of spray cheese. She looks at you and says, "Last night was amazing." Then, as you vaguely realize you have spray cheese between your toes, you admit, "I don't know what you're talking about."

You've been reading my diary!

To Rhino: Unless you're getting up there in years (I'd say fifty or older; not seventy as YodaTuna suggested), I would doubt that it's Alzheimer's. More than likely, you either just filtered it out because your brain considered it to be unimportant details (this is especially the case if you have a lot on your mind or are concentrating on something else; that happens to me), or your brain is just little lazy. Do you do any memory exercise or read much? Just some suggestions, although I don't have any experience with memory exercises myself and am not sure if they actually help.

LewieP's Mummy

I forget stuff all the time, I always have. I write stuff down to remind me, else I forget. I forgot my wedding anniversary once. Only once.
Lewie has a folder on his PC called Life, where he puts everything in that's important, cos he's even more forgetful than me.
Don't worry about it, just write stuff down.

Rhino

thanks guys.

I do have a todo list and calendar and that helps a lot with my daily/weekly tasks and bills and such.

It's just the small stuff I forget.

I do no memory exercises, but do read a ton and memorized about 10 pages of text once (for a play).

Remembering to do 'future' stuff is lots easier then trying to remember what I have done.

the cheat

i wouldn't worry about remembering dumb meaningless shit. we tend to only remember the really good and bad things that happen to us, not what we ate for breakfast last tuesday...

Zombiemambo

There are lots of ways to improve your memory, but they all revolve around one concept:

Using it.

Put phone numbers in your cell without names. Memorize who has what number. It makes your brain work a little bit harder.

Try remembering little things throughout the day. What time did you arrive at work? Who did you talk to before you started? What did you have for dinner the past week? I've started doing this and found my memory improving a fair bit. I can recall details that I didn't pay a lot of attention to. It's nice being able to remember these things without having to hammer it into your brain.

Cyvros

Darkewolfe wrote: »

In all seriousness, some people are like that. My parents always said it was because I didn't focus, but if I haven't figured out how to do that by this point in my life...

Yeah, that's what I've been told, too. I have a shocking short-term memory because of a crappy attention span and in-built hyperactivity (unwanted extra feature). You can train yourself out of this, though.

Zombiemambo wrote: »

There are lots of ways to improve your memory, but they all revolve around one concept:

Using it.

Put phone numbers in your cell without names. Memorize who has what number. It makes your brain work a little bit harder.

Try remembering little things throughout the day. What time did you arrive at work? Who did you talk to before you started? What did you have for dinner the past week? I've started doing this and found my memory improving a fair bit. I can recall details that I didn't pay a lot of attention to. It's nice being able to remember these things without having to hammer it into your brain.

This, very much this. Train, test and use your memory.

On the "What time did you arive at work?" thing - I do this when I have to fill out timesheets. I'll make a note somewhere of when I arrived and left (as a back-up), but I try to see if I can remember all the numbers by the end of the week.

FirstComradeStalin

When you consider how much of your day is done essentially on autopilot, it's not that shocking that you don't immediately remember.

chuck steak

When you say you don't remember what you had for lunch today or what you did on the weekend, do you mean you can't remember it no matter how hard you try, and can never remember this type of stuff? Or it takes you a few minutes and you have to think about it? If it's the former, I find that a bit odd, but whether or not it's something to worry about only a doctor can tell you. If it's the latter then that's pretty normal like everybody has said. You said you memorized a bunch of stuff for a play though, so I highly doubt that your brain is rotting away or anything.

Evil Multifarious

when people introduce themselves to me i forget their name about 9 out of 10 times. it's just so autopilot to say "nice to meet you" and shake hands that i stop paying attention. it's the same with making lunch or whatever. things don't imprint on your brain sometimes.

Darkewolfe

Evil Multifarious wrote: »

when people introduce themselves to me i forget their name about 9 out of 10 times. it's just so autopilot to say "nice to meet you" and shake hands that i stop paying attention. it's the same with making lunch or whatever. things don't imprint on your brain sometimes.

Same here. You've probably heard it before, but it's good to say, "Nice to meet you, JIM." Just saying the name once means you have to process it, so you have a better chance you might retain it.