The neurologist once described to us that brain holds memories like they are in a tea cup... once you fill it up and you try to keep filling it, some things stay in the cup but other things spill out making room for what's being added. Basic functions and long term always stay in the cup, working and short term memories tend to spill over. There is no way to hold it all, we are constantly learning. It picks what is most needed but it ends up being a mix of old and new; however it eventually overflows and continues to flow over time.

For some things that get caught in the saucer of the tea cup, they're not gone but harder to access and recall, but not lost completely. There's just not enough room for everything and there are things that interefere with it too keeping the cup from filling: stress, medications, lifestyle, genetics, etc.

However, there are exercises to improve all the different kinds of memory. The brain is a muscle just like the ones we use to do things. If exercised, it can help make our recall better, or to put things into to longer term memory, or tips to help with our working and short term memories but only to a point. It is because our cups get smaller as we get older, the brain literally shrinks and can only do so much.

Given how much I can remember these days, I suspect I am pea-brained at this point.