Don’t Forget Tonight’s Dreams [PHIL-OSOPHY]

Think about this: if you lose your memory, you've essentially lost all your born days of personal recollections, happy and sad memoirs, celebrations and flashbacks.

Now think about this: aren't your memories really your whole life's story?

As I age, the thought of losing my memory occasionally butts into fetter what would have been another beautiful day. I used to say, humorously, that I'd probably end up with some form of dementia at my end because it's as if I already have bits and pieces of it right now. However, now that I've read a small stack of accounts of how lack of sleep may raise the risk of developing dementia, I've got to get down to business.

A new study published in the journal, Nature Communications, found people who got less than six hours of sleep on a regular basis between the ages of 50 and 70 were one-third more likely to develop dementia.

I should offer myself to be their poster boy. For the last half of my lifetime, I wake up at 3:45 a.m., faithfully. The problem comes in when I'm still up at 9, 10, or 11 p.m. on a regular basis. I start the day in that state of I forgot something, but what? I guess I could look on the positive side of things, that realizing one of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.