On Memory and Mood: How Your Surroundings Affect Life With MCI or Early Alzheimer’s

Your surroundings can affect how you feel and function. A noisy environment can make it tough to concentrate. A cluttered desk can leave you feeling scattered. But those effects can be even more profound when you’re living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

“When the brain has a harder time sorting through information, a busy or confusing environment can make it even more difficult to process what’s happening around you,” explains occupational therapist Madisen Redar, OTR/L. “A calm, supportive environment can make it easier to focus and make sense of your surroundings.”

Redar explains why your surroundings affect memory and mood, and how to make small, lasting changes to your environment that can help.

How space affects memory and mood when living with MCI or early-onset AD

Your environment is more than just the four walls around you. It includes everything your brain takes in and responds to, from sights and sounds to smells and physical sensations.

Most of the time, your brain filters all that information without much effort. But MCI and Alzheimer’s affect cognitive skills, like attention, memory, learning and problem-solving. As those abilities change, your brain may have to work harder to make sense of your surroundings.

Think of your brain as having only so much processing power. If it’s using a lot of that power to tune out a blaring television or find something important in a cluttered room, less brain power is available for other tasks. That can make those other tasks feel challenging or confusing, which can then affect the way you feel and behave.

When an environment becomes difficult to process, you may:

• Be confused or have difficulty concentrating
• Struggle to solve problems or complete tasks
• Feel irritable, agitated or restless
• Withdraw from activities or conversations

Creating a dementia-friendly environment

“If you can no longer easily tune out distractions in your environment, it helps to remove some of them or adjust your surroundings,” advises Redar. “This can also help you feel more comfortable and safe.”

You don’t have to completely redesign your home or remove every challenge from your life. But when you’re living with MCI or early Alzheimer’s, it’s helpful to adapt your surroundings to support your current abilities — not just at home, but also in any space where you spend your time.

Ideally, the areas you inhabit should:

• Limit unnecessary information and distractions so your brain has less to sort through.
• Make important activities easier to complete with the help of labels, visual cues and step-by-step instructions.
• Provide the right amount of support without bulldozing over your needs or independence.
• Keep important belongings, activities and routines as predictable and familiar as possible.

“Ultimately, the goal should be to make everyday life easier so that you can stick to your routines, stay as independent as possible, and maintain your dignity and sense of control,” says Redar.

Not sure where to start? Consider making these changes to your surroundings.

Create comfort

A room that’s perfectly comfortable for one person may be completely overwhelming for you.

Too much noise, harsh lighting, uncomfortable clothing and strong smells can become difficult to process. If you’re over-stimulated, try to identify how your surroundings affect patterns in your behavior.

Do you get irritable when the TV is on and someone is trying to have a conversation with you? Do you feel withdrawn at family gatherings because there are too many people talking at once? Or are you more agitated in the morning when someone comes into the room and turns on the harsh overhead lights?

Once you narrow down what’s triggering your discomfort, you can adjust one small thing at a time until you find solutions that work. You might:

• Move to a quieter room during a party.
• Adjust lighting based on the time of day and how you’re feeling.
• Turn off background television or music during conversations.
• Avoid using candles or wearing certain fabrics.

Improve accessibility

Making your surroundings easier to navigate makes them more predictable. And that can make it easier for your brain to process information.

Try:

• Clearing clutter from work surfaces so you can focus
• Using labels or color contrasts so you can identify important items
• Keeping frequently used items, like car keys, in the same place so they’re easier to find
• Clearing a pathway between your bedroom, bathroom and other main areas of your home so it’s easier to get around and more predictable

Let’s say you’re trying to pay bills at the kitchen table, but it’s cluttered with magazines, mail and other miscellaneous objects. It can require a lot of mental energy to sift through the mess and focus on the task at hand. So, try clearing the desk first and creating an easy filing system that removes some of that competition for your attention.

“With early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and MCI, you tend to rely more heavily on external visual cues to guide you through an environment,” explains Redar. “Little changes in your routine or your environment can significantly affect your ability to get things done, so it helps to think about how you can simplify your space.”

The same is true for the things you do in your home — not just the space itself.

“If you’re cooking, for example, it may help to lay out all the ingredients in the order they’re needed so you don’t have to scramble to find them,” she illustrates. “The aim is to make meaningful activities more manageable.”

Create meaningful social interactions

Your social environment matters, too.

If you enjoy one-on-one dinners, schedule a couple a month in a more peaceful setting. If you still want to go to a party, look for a quiet, familiar place during the event where you can clear your mind. Or show up early and leave when you need to, before things get overwhelming.

Social connections stimulate your brain and provide a sense of purpose. Isolation and loneliness, on the other hand, are associated with depression and changes in cognitive health.

When you’re living with early Alzheimer’s or mild cognitive impairment, you may find that large social situations (like concerts or holiday parties) exhaust you because your brain has a hard time filtering out different conversations.

“You may become frustrated, quiet or withdrawn — not because you don’t want company, but because the environment has become too demanding,” says Redar.

Everyone socializes differently, so create opportunities for connection that align with your preferences.

Explore nature

Sometimes, changing your environment can be as simple as stepping outside.

Research suggests exposure to nature can help improve mood and reduce stress. Redar notes that evidence is less clear that nature directly improves memory or slows cognitive decline, but it still has its benefits.

“Hiking is great for your health, but even brief exposure to green space and fresh air can offer a calming change of scenery,” she says. “If an indoor space triggers uncomfortable feelings or behaviors, try bringing the outdoors in or spend meaningful time outside.”

Consider these ideas:

• Use natural lighting to light up a room during the day.
• Bring in some plants that make your living area more comfortable.
• Build an outdoor activity into your schedule at least once a day, whether it’s sitting on the porch for 10 minutes while you enjoy your coffee or taking a short walk in the afternoon.

Problem-solve your feelings about a space

“If you’re feeling irritable, it’s important to try to figure out what’s driving it,” Redar advises.

Let’s say, for instance, that you wake up feeling irritable every morning when it’s time to get out of bed. Others might chalk it up to cognitive changes. But Redar encourages you to dig deeper. Ask yourself questions like:

• When does irritability tend to happen most often?
• What else is going on around you when it happens?
• What happens immediately before your mood changes?
• Could you be tired, afraid, uncomfortable or in pain?
• Has your health, medication or routine recently changed?

In this example scenario, these questions may help you realize that what you’re actually upset about is waking up to the harsh lights that your partner turns on each morning. Or that you feel scared and confused when you’re suddenly woken by your child’s blaring alarm clock.

Once you identify the real problem, you can take steps to fix it — a lamp with softer lighting, an alarm that’s not quite so loud, etc.

“It’s a very dynamic process,” says Redar. “If something isn’t working or an environment continues to feel uncomfortable, look closer at what’s actually going on in that space. Then, make one small change to the way you’re interacting with others in that environment and see if that helps.”

Pace yourself

Creating supportive environments is an ongoing process. MCI and Alzheimer’s affect everyone differently. So, a strategy that helps today may need to be adjusted as your abilities and needs change.

“Resist the urge to overhaul everything at once,” cautions Redar. “Observe what’s happening, make one change at a time and adjust from there, if you need to.”

An occupational therapist can be especially helpful if you’re having difficulty figuring out what’s contributing to your challenges. They’ll talk to you about your needs, identify any barriers you’re facing and take a closer look at the spaces where you spend your time.

The goal isn’t to create a “perfect” environment. It’s to create one that helps you continue participating in the routines, hobbies and relationships that matter most to you.