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You feel like you’ve lost your mental edge, or you just aren’t as sharp as you used to be. Maybe you take a bit longer to remember the right word. Or you can’t remember things like you used to. You are not alone. Brain fog – or more correctly, problems with concentration and memory loss – are something many women struggle with during menopause.
For many woman, this can be one of those scary moments as they transition into perimenopause. Especially if they don’t know to expect it, and aren’t prepared with the tools to manage it during this transition time. The good news is that for most women, this is temporary – and once hormone levels have settled down in post-menopause, memory and concentration levels go back to a more normal level.
2 out of 3 South African women in menopause say they have experienced brain fog in the past 12 months (Source: Daliah SA Menopause Benchmark Study, 2022)
Why brain fog happens?
As with many of the other symptoms associated with menopause, our hormones have an impact on how our brains work. There is still a lot that science hasn’t yet been able to explain, but what we do know is that oestrogen has an impact on how our brains use glucose – the food that fuels our brains. When oestrogen levels change during perimenopause and menopause, this can reduce the performance of our brains, leaving us feeling a little fuzzier than before. Some women have even described it as feeling like their brains were “a ball of cotton wool”.
Other hormones such as cortisol and testosterone can also have an impact on how our brains perform, both of which undergo changes during the stages of menopause. Its safe to say that you are not going crazy – and your brain fog probably has a biochemical cause.
In addition to the impact of hormones on our brain chemistry, there are a number of other common menopause symptoms that can impact how well our brain functions. Lack of proper sleep, anxiety, depression, tiredness, hot flushes or night sweats – these can all impact how well our brains perform and add to that overall foggy feeling.
What you can do
Here are a couple of things that you can do to help manage brain fog during menopause.
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Disclaimer: This information is for general educational purposes, and should not be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any health condition or problem.