To encourage deeper, more restful sleep, set up a ritual that you follow every night of the week. Not sleeping well can make it hard to pay attention or remember new information. Sleep can be in short supply during menopause, but Maki says that a good night’s rest can improve fuzzy thinking and brain fog. A small study published in Supportive Care in Cancer in July 2021 involving 73 post-menopausal women with breast cancer found that those who engaged in more physical activity performed better on several tests of memory and brain function than those who exercised less.Īlthough this isn’t proof that exercise can ward off memory loss associated with menopause, it’s believed that physical activity also increases the production of chemicals that promote the repair of existing brain cells and the growth of new ones. Getting physical isn’t just good for your body. Talk with your doctor about your medical history before starting hormone therapy.

Some women should not take estrogen, because it brings an increased risk of certain types of cancer or other medical complications. Maki explains that hormones may be able to “fool the body into thinking it’s premenopausal.” (In surgical menopause, the ovaries are removed before a woman goes through natural menopause.) A 2009 review conducted by Maki and a colleague found some evidence of the beneficial effects of estrogen on verbal memory among naturally post-menopausal women age 65 and younger (but not those older), and consistent evidence of a benefit for surgically post-menopausal women.

Timing is apparently important for cognitive benefits, though. Maki doesn’t suggest using hormones solely for memory loss, but says that if you start using them for relief of severe menopausal hot flashes, you may also see a memory improvement. It may help to steer clear of hot flash triggers such as heat, smoking, caffeine, spicy foods, tight clothes, and stress, according to the Cleveland Clinic. In a study conducted by Maki and her colleagues and published in March 2020 in Menopause, women performed worse on several assessments designed to evaluate verbal memory and had evidence of changes in brain function as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during hot flashes.īased on these findings, reducing the severity and frequency of hot flashes may help women preserve their memory and other brain functions during menopause, although more research is needed, according to Maki. Women who experience many hot flashes during menopause may be particularly susceptible to a loss of verbal memory (the memory for words). So is there anything you can do to improve your memory now? Yes! There are quite a few things to try. For example, sleep disturbances caused by menopause symptoms appear to contribute to brain fog. Estrogen contributes to language skills, attention, mood, memory, and other brain processes, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and a decrease in estrogen can have an effect on brain function.įluctuating levels of estrogen also cause such symptoms as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, depression, and mood swings, some of which can also negatively affect cognitive function. Memory problems in menopause may be related to the decline in estrogen that occurs at this time. In a study published in January 2021 in the journal Menopause, Maki and her colleagues found that in the more than 400 women studied over several years, about one-third experienced a clinically significant decline in memory following menopause, but that even in those women, the level of decline was not indicative of dementia. But these cognitive changes are typically small and well within normal range. Some women become very frightened, believing they are developing dementia, Maki says. Common complaints include drawing a blank on the names of people you just met or forgetting what you walked into a room to do. Maki says that many women with menopause-related brain fog tend to forget recently learned verbal information and have trouble concentrating. Indeed, studies show that some 60 percent of women in perimenopause and menopause report declines in cognitive (thinking and memory) performance.ĭr.

Memory loss is a common complaint among women at this time of life, says Pauline Maki, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and psychology and the director of women’s health research at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Whether you are just starting perimenopause or are already post-menopausal, you may feel like your memory isn’t what it used to be.

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