Issues retaining new information

[anonymous]

I love learning new things, reading books, watching videos and so on. I like watching the news to be informed, learning about history, trying to learn Arabic and other different languages, learning about the deen, etc. etc. My issue is that I have a hard time retaining the information that I learned. I made it through grade school fine and I don't think I have any kind of learning disability. I'm in my 30s now and I don't know if this is something that has gotten worse over time or if I've always been this way. This bothers me because I'll read books about the religion for example and, in a short amount of time, will forget or have a hard time remembering what I just read.

Are there any kind of medical tests I can take to see how "healthy" my brain is and whether or not I might have some kind of underlying issue?

[aadil77]

Al-Khateeb reported in al-Jaami’ (2/387) that Yahya ibn Yahya said:

“A man asked Maalik ibn Anas, ‘O Abu ‘Abd-Allaah! Is there anything that will improve my memory?’ He said, ‘If anything will improve it, it is giving up sin.’”

[*charisma*]

Assalamu Alaikum

I love learning new things, reading books, watching videos and so on. I like watching the news to be informed, learning about history, trying to learn Arabic and other different languages, learning about the deen, etc. etc. My issue is that I have a hard time retaining the information that I learned. I made it through grade school fine and I don't think I have any kind of learning disability. I'm in my 30s now and I don't know if this is something that has gotten worse over time or if I've always been this way. This bothers me because I'll read books about the religion for example and, in a short amount of time, will forget or have a hard time remembering what I just read.

Are there any kind of medical tests I can take to see how "healthy" my brain is and whether or not I might have some kind of underlying issue?

If you don't practice or use what you learn, you will forget it. Life after school is different than in school. In school your brain is constantly activated to learn and retain information, especially when under stress because your goal in mind is to graduate or pass an exam. You're also always reviewing and using that knowledge in exams and homework and cross-reviewing it in other subjects (like math in chemistry or physics etc). If you don't apply the same effort learning now, then you will easily forget it. When it comes to learning matters about the deen, there are a few things you can do such as hijaamah, increasing your dhikr, and leaving sin as mentioned above.

Medically, if this issue is a bit severe, it could be because you are not eating healthy and not getting enough healthy fats and vitamin B-12. Your vitamin levels can be tested by your dr.

[anonymous]

Thanks. Now that I've thought about it, I'd say it's really been more noticable in the last 2 years or so and now that you mention it, I think diet and/or genetics(?) could be playing a factor. The last 2 ramadhans have been very brutal for me and were easily the worst in terms of working conditions. I was severly dehydrated for most of the month and some days I worked late after the Maghrib and ended up breaking my fast by going to the nearest store to chug down the biggest water bottles I could get my hands on. After recently looking into my issue, I read that long term dehydration could have a negative effect on the brain, even shrinking it, and quickly supplementing it with water in large quantities could be just as harmful. I was also very malnurished and lost a lot of weight and muscle that I've never been able to put back on naturally yet. My appetites aren't nearly as big as they once were. I don't know if I'm reaching out and overthinking this.