Menopause Brain Fog Is Real

I don’t know about you, but I’m losing patience with my not so laser focused brain lately.

"Menopause is a function of the brain that plays havoc with a woman's body and her outlook on life. Indeed, all of these erratic emotions and symptoms can make a woman feel crazy if she is not reassured that they are normal." Maria Shriver’s forward in The Menopause Brain

We all know that brain fog is real during menopause because we are experiencing it firsthand, but until recently, we didn’t know just how real.

My personal hero, neuroscientist and best selling author of The Menopause Brain, Dr. Lisa Mosconi, has recently published a groundbreaking study on the effects of the decline in estrogen on the menopausal brain.

Why is this such a big deal? It’s a major step for women’s health. We know that estrogen is good for memory and cognitive function but no one has ever proven it, until now.

Dr. Mosconi’s research is the first of its kind to map out hormones in the brain. We are finally beginning to understand what’s happening in women’s brains as they transition through menopause.

Brain imaging studies were conducted on women’s brains during perimenopause, menopause and post menopause and show dramatic physical changes in structure, connectivity and energy metabolism.

The brain wants estrogen and her study shows a strong association between estrogen in the brain and cognitive performance. This is HUGE.

We now understand that estrogen receptors in the brain don’t shut down after menopause, as previously thought. Instead, the female brain makes more estrogen receptors in the perimenopause and postmenopausal periods, indicating the female brain is hungry for estrogen during this hormonal transition.

The study showed that gray matter volume is reduced in areas of the brain involved in attention, concentration, language and memory.

Declining estrogen can affect decision-making, attention, multitasking and language; and even the brainstem, which includes some structures regulating sleep-wake cycles.

We now have proof that our brain is literally changing during menopause. But don’t worry, for most women, the effects of brain fog and memory seem to be temporary.

I continue to be excited by the strides being made in women’s health. Thanks to amazing doctors like Lisa Mosconi, we are inching our way toward understanding just how complex the female brain and body really is.

Enjoy la la land for now and know that you have a medical excuse to bask in your brain fog.