That ageing feeling

The ageing process is usually described as a gradual, long drawn-out decline of one’s physical and mental faculties. In my case, however, it seems to be more a series of plateaus interspersed with alarmingly steep steps taking me down very swiftly towards the depth. Either that or I’m in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. This constant searching for someone’s name, for the right word to describe something (rather off-putting for someone who is supposed to be a translator), for a particular object which I had in my hand barely five seconds ago: is this in the nature of things, or is it something more serious than that?