You just opened a drawer to take out something, whatever it was. You can’t quite think what it was. A little later you’re looking for something in the cupboard, not entirely sure what you’re looking for, no matter, you will remember when you go back to the kitchen. This is an ordinary normal consequence of aging, it’s not dementia, it’s not Alzheimers and not caused by menopause.

Our brain is middle-aged too. It’s lost a few cells along the way, a life-long gradual falling-off in the way we store and retrieve information. Our short-term memory is like a small memo pad on which we quickly scribble notes to ourself for temporary recall. The memo pad can’t hold very much and the ink of the scribbled note quickly fades. Just as well, we don’t want to remember all those notes, can you imagine if you kept in your memory everything you saw, heard, said, experienced in one day ? Some of these scribbled notes have to be transferred to our long term memory - and some of them don’t. It’s the ones we don’t have to transfer that cause us trouble. Short-term forgetfulness is a completely normal although irritating part of life

Stress effects our short-term memory too. Menopause can happen along at the most stressful times, it can coincide with divorce, even the death of a partner, retirement, the anxieties associated with elderly parents, and children leaving home. These are huge milestones in our life and, while they can be golden opportunities for inner growth, they bring sadness and stress. Forgetfulness goes hand in hand with stress, we become distracted and our short term memory suffers. This is because we are stressed, not because we are menopausal.

Please Note : Depression is another matter, and creates problems with retrieval of long-term memory. If you feel you may be suffering depression, contact your health-care provider. Several studies suggest that depression is a complaint in women who seek treatment for menopausal problems.

Memory loss that accompanies aging is annoying, not a serious concern. You can slow down the process with mental exercise, get to work on crosswords and puzzles, read challenging books, play memory games with yourself, attend a class, whatever it takes. Keep your brain active by enjoying interesting activities and your memory will maintain. And next time you walk upstairs to get something and forget what you went up for, think of it as exercise.

Susanna Duffy is a Civil Celebrant, grief counsellor and mythologist. She creates ceremonies for women, especially in the menopausal years menopause.allinfoabout.com

Relaxation is important because it allows you to stop and breathe. A relaxation break makes it possible to recharge your energies by staying focused, taking action, and having more time. This pause will allow you to have more time to enjoy with your family.

Relaxation can help you live longer for 3 simple reasons.

1. Focus

Why is focus important? Let’s look at a typical example for illustration purposes. If you are planning an event like going on a holiday, it would first be important to know where you want to go. What is the objective of your trip? Do you want to ski or sit in the sun and enjoy your favorite drink? What type of activities do you want to enjoy? How long do you want to be on holiday?

These are some of the questions you will need to answer in order to enjoy your holiday. On the other hand you may not know what you want and a good efficient travel agent can help you clarify your needs.

In life, it’s easy to lose focus. The daily stresses of living can take over and cloud your feelings causing you to lose focus on life. In our vacation example, losing focus can result in your spinning out of control and maybe going on a more expensive holiday than is necessary at the moment. Losing focus could also result in you going on a spending binge. Remaining relaxed helps you stay focused on the task at hand so you can enjoy yourself and your family.

2. Action vs. Non-action

Action would be calling the travel agent and booking your holiday, while non-action would be putting off calling your travel agent until the last minute.

Now this is very important because there are certain things in your life that you can easily take action on and there are other things that create all kinds of stress and conflict because you procrastinate. You may be surprised at how many things you habitually put off.

Exercise

Here’s a simple exercise. Take a piece of paper and make a list of all the things that you take action on. Then make a list of the things you tend to put off.

Notice what you say to yourself when you look at your responses. Look at the things you tend to put off. How do you feel when you look at your list? Relaxation can give you more time to breathe so that you can take positive action and have more time to enjoy with your family.

3. More time

A friend asked me, “Where has time gone? I used to have more time, but now it seems to disappear.” A good example would be children. Children used to have extra curricular activities at school. Now because of the workload of the teachers, some of these programs are no longer available. The responsibility has now been put on the parents. Some parents now have their children enrolled in every possible program, and with all the constant activity, consequently some children are no longer having fun.

There seems to be some unwritten new rule or law which suggests that you can collapse the time period in which you want to achieve your goals, and we are passing this philosophy on to our children. The problem with this idea is the consequence of stress. You are now creating more stress because you are working harder to achieve what you want in less time. This is a good example of how staying focused can help us stay relaxed.

Having a focus is a good thing, but being focused in an extreme context (wanting a drive through solution) because you want what you want so quickly, causes you to become confused, not knowing what action to take. You may also respond inappropriately and create stress. This behavior could result in all kinds of health challenges like diabetes, high blood pressure, tightness in the chest, headaches and sleepless nights. Relaxation helps you deal more effectively with your health challenges so that you can have more time to enjoy with your family.

In Conclusion

You can continue to allow your daily challenges of stress to knock you out over and over again or you may decide to fight back by enjoying relaxation. Relaxation allows you to notice that you are focused. Relaxation also provides an opportunity for you to experience action rather than complacency. This positive feeling can make you more aware of the sounds of nature so that you have more time to enjoy with your family.

Cecil McIntosh is a Hypnotherapist, Neuro-linguistic programming
(NLP) Trainer and Energy worker specializing in providing a gifted teacher’s shortcut relaxation resources to his clients.These resources helps you to relax anytime, anyplace and have fun to enjoy with your family. For a free 7 day relaxation course visit this site now. http://www.emptyyourcup.com