Remember that fun birthday party of your friend you attended last year? I’m sure you do. Now, try to remember the outfit you wore on Wednesday, 8th of February, this year. This is definitely more difficult than it was to remember the party. So the question is: Why do we tend to forget certain things so easily?

To know why we forget, first, we need to learn about how our brains form memories. When you undertake certain activities, for example; reading a new book, your brain gets active and converts that information into a pulse of electric energy that travels through the network of neurons to the short term memory area, where it is stored for hardly a couple of minutes. Then if your brain thinks that certain information is important enough, it transfers the data to long term memory through the hippocampus, an important part of the brain that processes memories. Then finally, the hippocampus moves the data across different areas of the cerebral cortex for permanent storage.

Now we know how we remember things. But the critical question is: Why do we forget things? Well, that is because there is no need for us to maintain everything in our brains. Short term memory has a fairly limited capacity. So whatever information our brain perceives as less important is eradicated from its system, saving it from getting overloaded. The information that is very important to you is eventually transferred from the short term area of our memory to the long term area that has a more sophisticated capacity to store information.

It is natural for us to forget things every now & then. But when this becomes more frequent, there are several steps you can take to keep your brain healthy and retain your memories:
Try to stay physically active by exercise.
Eat healthy food, as your brain needs the right nutrients to keep working effectively.
Give your mind a good workout session by solving puzzles, learning new languages, and exposing it to new challenges to keep your memories intact for years, decades, and as long as age permits.

Note that certain memory problems could be severe, such as when a person has Alzheimer’s disease. In this disease, deposits buildup and nerve cells stop working, leading to memory loss. Also, other reasons, such as chronic stress, depression, isolation, etc. can affect our ability to store short term memories.