A study confirms the popular belief that men forget more than women, though the reason behind this remains a mystery.

It's very common for men to forget birthdays, anniversaries, an important date or even important information. Though many claims have been made about men forgetting more than women, a recent study conducted by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim is the first to confirm this belief.  

"It was surprising to see that men forget more than women. This has not been documented before. It was also surprising to see that men are just as forgetful whether they are 30 or 60 years old. The results were unambiguous," Professor Jostein Holmen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim said in a press statement.

For the study, researchers asked a set of participants nine questions related to their memory capabilities. The participants were asked how often they had problems remembering things, whether they had problems with remembering names and dates, if they could remember what they did one year ago and if they were able to remember details from conversations. Men reported memory problems in eight of the nine questions asked.

The researchers noted that women also have trouble with their memory but not as much as men. They find it most difficult to remember names and dates. The memory problem accelerates with age though the rate is faster in men than in women. Another fact discovered during the course of this study was that educated men tend to forget less than uneducated men. Also, people who suffer from anxiety and depression are more forgetful than other people belonging to the same age group.

Since this problem accelerates with age, the authors of this study plan on conducting further studies to see if self-reported forgetfulness at a younger age increases the risk of dementia with old age.

"That was the reason why we included these questions. It is important to emphasize that we still don't know what clinical importance these problems with remembering have. But we might know this in a few years. Problems with remembering at a younger age might not have any importance either. I know this from my own experience, but now I know that I am not alone," the authors concluded.

Findings of the study were published in the journal BMC Psychology.