How do you know you're experiencing unusual short-term memory loss?

You might quip, “That’s funny, I don’t remember having a poor memory.” It is a hard thing to nail down, remembering what you’ve forgotten. Who hasn’t ever walked to the other end of the house only to realize that they’ve forgotten why they went there?

Age-associated memory impairment generally affects us all to some extent when we are over 50. This is normal, so I suppose I should be celebrating, given that I’m 67 and can still remember my 3 phone numbers, SSN, passwords to dozens of different websites, and so on. But the other day, I was talking to someone and couldn’t remember the name of the street we previously lived on. That’s a new one to me. Also my wife is noticing me forgetting things she told me the day before.

I’ve made an appointment to see the doc. If it is the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia, I want to know and take what steps I can to slow the progress of the disease as much as possible. Maybe genetic research will pay off in a way to halt or even reverse plaque buildup in the brain.

Does anyone know of things that have proved in large, controlled, double-blind studies to delay age-associated memory impairment or even improve short-term memory. I’m not interested in homeopathic mumbo-jumbo rip-offs, but if there is something that is medically proven I’m up for it.