quote:

It seems that our "hard drives" literally become full, and the old stuff must simply be pushed out to make room for new data.

I have told people that for years, at least about me. Every time I remember something new, I forget something old.

I believe I frazzled my brain by working too much between about 28 and 32. I was averaging 80 hours a week between police/detective work, some of it very high stress, and playing paramedic for 24-48+ hour shifts.

My brain has never seemed to work the same after that time period, and it is a subject of aggravation, because I used to be focused and able to think clearer and faster. I fully blame it on overworking, the stress from the jobs, lack of sleep, and my divorce saga.

Or, maybe I'm just nuts.

A memory is an interesting thing. It can comfort us with pleasant reminders or torture us with reliving our mistakes. Whose idea was it to give us a memory?

I recently visited with my sister, who I have seen about a half a dozen times in the last 50 years. She has a totally different memory of our childhood than I do. I remember a Mayberry type town, complete with holiday parades and close knit neighbors. Her memory was of a boring town with uncaring, dysfunctional parents. My younger brother has similar memories to mine. Different outlooks I guess. I like my memory a lot better than my sisters.

just finished Dr. Matthew P. Walker's 2017 book Why We Sleep. fascinating that the memories that you create today are only in a temporary storage of the brain. he likens it to a flash drive. when we get into REM sleep, these memories are moved to a more permanent are of the brain and stored there for future access - while the temp storage gets written over. i never paid enough attention to sleep back in the hey day of work and work and half days work (12 hours plus), so there was a lot being written over. this perm storage only occurs during REM - which reaches it's peak during the later hours of sleep. so if you're not getting your 7-8 hours a night, say you get up after 5 or 6 hours, you're robbing your REM and not allowing that memory transfer.

F2 that makes sense to me. I get lots of sleep
and these early memories are crystal clear with names and places.
Last couple of years I recall every thing with a joy of having seen and done so many things.
Kinda like typing class in 1959.

quote:

Originally posted by 45 Cal:
F2 that makes sense to me. I get lots of sleep
and these early memories are crystal clear with names and places.
Last couple of years I recall every thing with a joy of having seen and done so many things.
Kinda like typing class in 1959.

I was trying to think of my home room teachers after writing this post. From 7-12 grade, I think I remember 2 of them. I do remember my typing teacher though.

I think a lot of my memory reflects what I feel is important. Unfortunately my wife knows this too.

quote:

Originally posted by Sportshooter:
torture us with reliving our mistakes.

I remember all my embarrassing mistakes, even very trivial ones, so it isn't as though my memory doesn't work.