Memory loss occurs in many people. It is quite often a very fleeting moment and there is nothing to worry about. We just call our poor memory forgetfulness and carry on with our daily filled stressful existence in the fast pace life of the 21st century.

I mean, there is no way you or I could have a problem - is there?

Well as we get older, our mental machinery can get more sluggish. It is not a surprise when a vast number of people never read a book beyond the age of 18 or in some cases younger. You can't expect to have a brain like Einstein did unless you put it to good use. So use your head!

Now, we can all get a bit forgetful. Leave the car key down for a moment then hunt it down like a game animal when it suddenly seems not to be placed in the usual location.

So are you absent minded or starting to feel you are losing your mind - quite literally? Who would admit to that? In the early stages it can be difficult to detect as people manage to cover it up well. The most recent memories are the first to go, and it's only much later in the disease process as does the past memory become affected.

It seems we all have what could be called 'working memory' You hold a fact or action in your mind, only for it to disappear with another activity or distraction. A part of recent memory storage. It's this recent storage capacity that people with Alzheimers seem to have problems with.

It goes beyond being absentminded. People start to lose track of where they live at times, more through disorientation than anything else. Or return to a home they lived in many years previously.It forms an important part of the assessment tool which is used to diagnose Alzheimers disease.

A common test which used to be used extensively was to ask the person suspected of having Alzheimers a series of questions. These covered both the short and the long term memory.

Ten questions commonly asked included

" How old are you
" What is your date of birth
" What day is it today
" What month are we in
" What year is it
" When was the first world war
" What is the name of the prime minister
" Where are you now
" Count backwards from 20-1
" Tell them an address, then ask them to repeat it back to you after five minutes

It's a useful test to help diagnose a possible Alzheimers or dementia condition as it is quick, non invasive and cheap. These questions test a person's short term and long term memory problems and they also test for orientation as well.

A low score on its own doesn't prove dementia or Alzheimers disease, because not all people will know all the answers to the questions anyway! It's just a guide to prove that something may be wrong and needs further investigation. Working under stress can make you forgetful because you have too much to do rather than an underlying illness with symptoms of dementia. Clinically it can be subdivided into dozens of different types of dementia so you need to find out why you seem so forgetful.