Hi there, i understand your fears, given your family history. Let me see if I can give you some basic information so that you can do your best to modify your risk factors for Alzheimer s. No by far, AGE and GENETICS play the most important role in the development of the disease. But there s really nothing you can do about that, so lets get to the modifiable risk factors. 1) Anything that is bad for your heart is bad for your brain.. specifically the blood vessels in your brain. So things like High Cholesterol, High blood pressure and smoking all damage the brain and increase the risk of Alzheimers. Now there are some claims in certain circles that smoking may have some mitigating effects on the development of the disease. But then again, cutting your foot off would have a mitigating effect in an infection in your toe. So all in all, I don t think it s worth it 2) Regular exercise. There have been plenty of twin and cohort studies showing that the development of Alzheimer s is delayed or prevented by people who do regular cardiovascular exercise. Now remember, you must make sure you clear an exercise regime with your doctor BEFORE you start one. 3) There have been a few studies which show that maintaining a good close social circle and staying intellectually active helps delay the onset and prevent the onset of the disease. So do yourself a favor, call that old high school friend and discuss that new book that you ve been reading. 4) Avoid Head Trauma.... yea.. literally a no-brainer... As far as diagnosis goes (the difference between forgetting and actually having the disease). A complete medical history is your first step. Then your primary doctor will want to do mental status testing, a physical and neurological exam and maybe tests (such as blood tests and brain imaging) to rule out other causes of dementia-like symptoms. The diagnosis is a clinical one, so a neurologist would eventually need to get involved and interpret all the testing. Also, you have to remember, forgetting things is just ONE of the symptoms, and not even a very important one. Problem solving issues, like being unable to think your way through common life challenges, etc is a every important component to the disease. I hope this helps. If you want to discuss this further with me or any of the neuro specialists on the site, use our Ask a Specialist option and we will get back to you right away. Take care Vinay