WASHINGTON.-Several years ago, when she was 51, Jeanne Chung began to fail memory. “I was noticing recurring events, like forgetting certain words at the same moment,” says Chung, the CEO of a health company. So to train and keep her brain in shape, she started doing crossword puzzles.
But their memory gaps were not caused by brain damage or degenerative disease: At 54, Chung now knows they were triggered by the changes that accompanied her transition to menopause.a very common experience among women, according to specialists.
“During the menopausal transition, women can experience brain fog or problems with memory and concentrationsays Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health. Those annoying symptoms, Faubion explains, They usually begin when a woman is in her early 40s and continue until the menstrual cycle stops and menopause sets in, usually shortly after age 50.
A study conducted in 2022 compared MRIs of the brain of menopausal women with those of premenopausal women. The results revealed that the former had more brain lesions of the so-called “white matter hypertensities” than premenopausal women. Previous research suggests that these injuries may be related to cognitive problems and diseases such as Alzheimer’s. As alarming as it sounds, Faubion says that memory problems caused by menopause they do not necessarily increase the risk of dementia.
Doctors aren’t sure why menopause affects the brainbut most likely the culprits are hormonal changes that occur in that period of the woman’s life. “During the transition, estrogen and progesterone levels skyrocket either way,” says Louann Brizendine, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and author of a book on the changes of midlife women. “When estrogen is high, the brain and other tissues receive a ‘shower of estrogen,’ which is responsible for mastalgia and memory problems.” And those hormonal changes can cause many symptoms, including cognitive problems.
Faubion says that menopause-induced memory problems usually resolve when the transition is complete, after age 50, and that they don’t necessarily increase the risk of developing dementia in old age.
When that hormonal seesaw stops, symptoms improve, Brizendine adds. But even if these symptoms are transient, they can still cause disasters in the quality of life and well-being of women.
Amy Beckley, a 42-year-old pharmacist from Boulder, Colorado, used to keep a mental to-do list. “Now I have to write everything down,” she says, adding that when her memory short-circuits, she forgets about her work meetings and what she has to buy before going home. “It is a very frustrating feeling, and at times I feel stupid.”
If these memory lapses are frequent, women begin to worry about their health. But they don’t have to suffer in silence, says psychiatrist Anna Glezer, a women’s health specialist in Burlingame, California. When the menopausal transition is turbulent, women are often told to “accept” that process, she says. But that suffering and discomfort are unnecessary, because the symptoms can be treated, adds the specialist.
Here are some medical tips for dealing with cognitive problems resulting from menopause or perimenopause:
First you have to rule out depression or anxiety
In some cases, word-finding difficulty, forgetfulness and brain fog are caused by untreated mood disorders, Faubion says.
Studies show, for example, that perimenopause increases the risk of depression, while menopause predisposes certain women to developing anxiety disorders.
In turn, other research suggests that depression and memory problems can coincide, especially in middle age.
In addition to cognitive and memory problems, signs of depression can also include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and irritability. And unlike a bad mood, those symptoms don’t fade away, complicating personal and work life, Glezer points out.
Although it is a universal experience for women, the menopausal transition does not have to be limitingFaubion points out. When mood is the cause of forgetfulness and other cognitive problems, psychotherapy, medication and physical exercise can help, says the specialist.
Although memory problems during menopause are stressful, they usually don’t last forever, Brizendine says. “The female brain sometimes even gets stronger.”
The psychiatrist recommends that her patients do “brain crunches,” that is, exercises that activate brain regions such as the cerebellum, which deals with problem solving, memory, and emotion regulation. These exercises can be 10 or 20 minutes of walks, yoga, or movements with the toes, practices that activate the function of the cerebellum.
According to Brizendine, research suggests that games are also beneficial for cognition in adults. Dancing to the rhythm of our favorite song or solving crosswords and puzzles also help to sharpen the mind.
Reverse the negative discourse of “constant PMS”
Menopause is often described as “a reverse puberty” or “a constant PMS,” says Brinzedine. Unfortunately, these negative connotations cause many women to hide the problems it causes them.
“For many women, talking about forgetfulness or hot flashes can feel the same as talking about taboo topics like gastrointestinal episodes.
One way to reverse that negative speech is recontextualize the experience. Brizendine encourages women to view this stage of life as a “refresh,” a time where creativity and vitality can be renewed.
Find support against isolation and sadness
Memory problems, such as not being able to follow certain conversations or remembering a colleague’s name, can be embarrassing, which is why some women withdraw from social life. “Sometimes it makes me sad to think that my memory problems make others suffer,” says Beckley.
Anything that isolates us from others, says Brinzedine, can lead to feelings of depression and loneliness. And without social support, the big life change that is menopause can be embarrassing.
To alleviate these feelings, the psychiatrist suggests that women share their feelings and their daily problems with their trusted loved ones, but also with other women who are going through menopause.
By Juli Fraga
(Translation by Jaime Arrambide)