The subtle sign of dementia that might show up while watching TV

Dementia, the slow degeneration of your brain, can creep into your daily life silently, often appearing in the form of harmless symptoms that are brushed aside as forgetfulness. However, even the initial signs that affect memory, coordination, changes in gait, and ability to focus on daily tasks, hide clues of the neurodegenerative disease taking hold of your life, which could eventually rob off independence and self control.
In a new article, Dr. Tim Rittman, a neurology consultant, in an article for Alzheimer's Research UK, highlighted these lesser-known early symptoms of dementia, which could be noticed by close people in the family. One of them can be observed while watching TV.
It all starts with things that are hard to notice. Dr Rittman says mild forgetfulness, changes to perception or the way we speak can be early indications that something is wrong. In some cases, low mood, or side-effects of medications could be the culprit, but they could be early signs of dementia.

Early forgetfulness can be about forgetting places or things that have happened in the past. Dr Rittman says someone may be asking the same question in quick succession, or struggling to remember the name of objects around the house.
People coping with early stages of dementia may struggle to focus on daily tasks or they may find following the storyline of a TV programme difficult.

Dr Rittman notes that the early signs include changes to perception and awareness. People experiencing memory and thinking problems are often less aware of these early changes than people around them, or have less insight into how these symptoms are disrupting their everyday life.
Is your loving family member all of a sudden not able to relate with your life and is less empathetic. This could be another sign that dementia has started affecting them. In some types of dementia, like frontotemporal dementia, changes to behavior like a loss of empathy and sense of humour, or becoming angry can be early signs too.

There may be too many pauses, and issues in finding the right word, or putting sentences together. This is referred to as aphasia, a phrase that is related to having issues in understanding words, speaking, reading, and writing. These symptoms can be caused by Alzheimer’s disease.