Memory lost?

People who know me for a long time probably know that I don't tend to remember things all the time....and yet sometimes it's not up to me. My brain kinda just filters out stuff without me being able to figure out how the brain does it. I think I just tend to make a very quick decision upon the importance of things when I 1st hear them. For the things which the brain categories as unimportant then down the dump they go. Well....that is just what I "thought"....

A friend back from high school recently got reconnected with me through facebook. I was surprised we can actually carry some conversations through interesting issues... since again I was never that close with him back then (even though I always thought he was a very interesting and brainy guy). I couldn't remember if he was studying in the same studio with me or with another violin teacher at school, so I blamed it on my failing memory when I was mentioning it. Here....is what he said about it...

Milan :
"Hey, when you say you don’t remember things, I was like that for a while! I could not remember things if my life depended on it… People, names, where I knew them from… what happened and when it happened… Years were particularly bad. It turned out at the end that I had a condition called sleep apnea for the past 6-7 years which did not allow me to have a deep sleep (REM – stage 4). That stage is where the brain “reboots” clears out junk we don’t need to remember and forms long-term memories. You not remembering things from the past can very much be some physiological thing with your health now, perhaps a sleep problem of which you are not aware. I would go and see a doctor and talk about it as it can be potentially serious health condition. I would not think that we “did not pay attention to people” back then, no matter what Bushkova says. You not remembering the past can be because of the condition now, not because you were not paying attention. My wife thought the same about me, but it turned out she was wrong -- it was sleep apnea. I now have a machine (CPAP) that helps me breathe at night and I am in turn more rested in the morning, my dreams have returned and so did my memories! Go see a doctor and talk to him/her about it. You can also have a sleep study done and that will tell you if you are resting well. I think it’s not about not paying attention but some physiological change that might need medical attention,… not to scare you but it can be. I don’t fit the pattern for the apnea -- I am thin, good blood pressure, eat healthy, exercise… but it turns out I have it. I also thought my memories were bad, and wondered about it for a long time too. Now they are back, and all because of a good night's rest which I was not getting for a long time."

So....I guess my lack of good sleep throughout the years did contribute to my memory lost....