Dementia is a mental health condition characterized by a persistent decline in intellectual functioning as a person ages. It leads to difficulty remembering things, abstract thinking, poor logical reasoning, confusion, and trouble starting and carrying forward conversations. The ailment also changes people drastically in terms of personality. For instance, the individual may get upset, worried, or angry more quickly. Here are the common warning signs of dementia that one should not ignore.

Inability to recall actions and experiences
Dementia impacts the brain’s memory center right from the onset. As a result, people with the condition tend to forget past conversations or experiences as if they never happened. It is one reason they often ask the same question multiple times despite repeatedly receiving an answer. Some patients repeat the same story to the same person in the same way over and over again.

Speaking of memory, people with dementia struggle with remembering the minute details of an event or place they had visited recently. For example, they may forget they have been to a foreign country for a holiday a few days after returning. That said, they may recall specific events from their earlier life pretty clearly.

Forgetting familiar names and faces
Actions and experiences are not the only things individuals with dementia forget. The condition distorts their memory to the extent that they may have trouble recalling the faces and names of their kids, spouses, and parents. More worryingly, this happens even in the initial stages. While it is common for everyone to occasionally forget the names and faces of their acquaintances, forgetting the names and faces of immediate family members is a sign one needs expert attention.

Confusion about time and place
Besides forgetting faces and events, individuals with dementia constantly feel disoriented by their immediate surroundings. Such persons may suddenly wonder how they reached a particular place, such as the porch of their house, and get lost in familiar settings. The constant feeling of seeing something new and scary can debilitate other brain functions in dementia patients.

People with dementia may also lose their sense of time. They may not know whether a given event is occurring during the day or night. It is a common warning sign of dementia that should not be ignored.

Language problems
While speaking, many mispronounce a few words accidentally or struggle to find the right words to convey what they have in mind. However, if such language problems reoccur frequently, it is a cause for worry. People with dementia often forget the simplest words and their substitutes, making their utterances challenging to understand. Similarly, dementia makes it hard for people to understand what others tell them.

Difficulty performing familiar tasks
Familiar tasks, such as preparing a meal one has cooked a thousand times before or putting on a coat, become extremely difficult for people with dementia. Even in its initial stages, the condition causes people’s minds to become so muddled and indecisive that their bodies refuse to do the simplest of tasks, even if they want to do them. This is one of the most evident warning signs of dementia. Those who find it hard to perform simple everyday tasks should visit a mental health therapist sooner than later to address the problem.

Impaired judgment
Individuals with dementia find making small decisions incredibly challenging. It could be something as routine as deciding which foot to slip into a shoe first before putting the other one on the other foot. Such high levels of impaired judgment can cause people to make dangerous decisions that may have severe consequences for their (or their loved ones’) health. Not wearing sweaters and other woolen clothes on a freezing day and walking toward oncoming vehicles on a busy street are other major faulty decisions someone with dementia will likely make.

It is important to note that this kind of impaired judgment differs from what a sound-minded person may occasionally experience; for example, wondering whether to put off a doctor’s visit due to a busy work schedule.

Loss of interest or apathy
It is normal for one to display apathy toward specific events or people based on their life experiences and memories. However, when apathy becomes an inherent part of somebody’s life, they may have initial-stage dementia. Those with this condition slowly but surely start losing their social skills. They lose interest in spending time with their family, friends, work colleagues, or local acquaintances.

Besides dementia, general apathy is a sign of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI is a condition that occasionally acts as a precursor to dementia, even though it is not as severe as the latter. People who develop it, more often than not, go on to develop dementia. Therefore, if a person shows general apathy to anyone and anything around them (along with some other symptoms listed here), the best advice is to get them checked by a healthcare professional at the earliest.

Falling more often than normal
The brain helps people balance their bodies. However, dementia affects the portion of the brain responsible for this function, causing individuals to lose their balance, fall, and get hurt. Someone with the condition may even fall while standing straight, which is a major red flag and a reason to get checked to determine the underlying cause.

Some other early warning signs of dementia are subtle short-term memory changes, abrupt changes in mood, challenges in understanding visual information, problems with speaking or writing, a failure to detect sarcasm or lies, and disregarding the law and other social norms. Those who constantly experience these signs should visit a doctor for a diagnosis. The earlier dementia is diagnosed, the better it can be managed in the long run.