What is “brain fog” and why might you experience it long before menopause?

One of the most worrying things about brain fog (also sometimes referred to as mental or mental fog) is that many women suffer from it without even realizing the cause.

“Many women who go through menopause – a period that can last around seven years – start to have difficulty remembering words or concentrating on multiple tasks at once,” Davey told the BBC.

“They can struggle with verbal fluency, which women tend to be good at,” she says.

Speaking to the BBC, Pauline McKee, professor of psychiatry, psychology, obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and former president of the American Menopause Association, said: We wanted to buy it. “

“It also affects our ability to tell stories or start a conversation and then remember what we said later,” she added.

This problem is more widespread than previously thought.

“We found significant clinical deterioration in our studies, with 10 percent of women scoring much lower than expected for their age,” says Prof Makki. The difference is still there.

According to Davey, “About 60 percent of perimenopausal or perimenopausal women experience cognitive changes to varying degrees, but this can still be proven by medical examinations.”

. sensitivityaestrogen

One of the main problems is that the brain contains estrogen receptors, many of which are located in the hippocampus, a region of the brain that repairs and recovers certain types of memory.

“When there is a sudden drop in estrogen level, part of the activity of the hippocampus is affected,” says Davey.

She says studies in participants whose ovaries were removed (the glands that produce most estrogen) showed that cognitive abilities improved once estrogen supplements were prescribed to women.

But why don’t all women suffer from perimenopause?

The answer is simply because each woman’s sensitivity and response to estrogen changes is different.

By the way, it was British physician Edward Tilt who coined the phrase “brain fog or mind fog” in the mid-19th century, apparently to refer to what his patients described to him in the Victorian era, this from which they suffered. during menopause, and who They said they couldn’t remember where they left their wallet, for example, or forgot how to get home.

“It’s not just estrogen,” says Rebecca Thurston, MD, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. “You also have to take into account other factors, such as disturbed sleep.”

“During this transition to menopause, up to 60% of women have reported memory-related sleep problems,” says the researcher.

The problem of insufficient sleep interferes with the renewal of memory, as is the case with hot flashes: a sudden feeling of intense heat that spreads throughout the body, causing the skin to redden and sweat profusely.

In addition to the profound effect on sleep (some women not only wake up in the middle of the night with hot flashes, but have to change their pajamas and bed linen due to the profuse sweating), hot flashes are really a problem in their own right.

“We thought hot flashes were just a mild symptom that women had to put up with, but now we’re seeing these symptoms are associated with cardiovascular risk,” says Thurston.

Mood swings, anxiety, and depression, which increase during perimenopause, also affect memory.

If these symptoms are so common, why are they not well known?

There seems to be a lack of awareness because talking about menopause is still taboo in many cultures.

Karen Frick, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told the BBC: “The problem is that the process can take place over many years and women may not even know they are perimenopause. it is therefore easy to attribute these symptoms to other factors. “

What is that Syndrome Menopause?

Source from the UK National Health Service.

“Women in their 40s tend to be very busy, they may have a job and have to do their homework, or they have children of all ages, they may have parents who need care from them, so they are likely to attribute that to that, “says Frick. Either they have cognitive problems or the stress they are under.

On the other hand, “a lot of professional women are afraid to talk about it. Women work hard to achieve certain things in their careers and they don’t want to be seen as old or weak.”

Experts consulted by the BBC agree on the need for rigorous studies on the cognitive decline associated with menopause and, most importantly, to create awareness that will save millions of women around the world from unnecessary suffering.

“As a first step, it is important that women do not panic because they think they have Alzheimer’s disease. This is unlikely to happen to them, it is normal.”

Although the results of the studies are mixed, there are indications that mental fog is a temporary condition and subsides as the brain gets used to working with little or no estrogen.

But if hot flashes keep you awake through the night, it’s a good idea to see your doctor, who may recommend hormone replacement therapy in some cases, especially in younger women, as the benefits outweigh the benefits. on the risks.

Professor Davey agrees that many women respond well to this treatment, and its use declined dramatically after the publication of a controversial study nearly two decades ago that linked hormone replacement therapy to breast cancer, a finding that has then been challenged.

“Modern hormone replacement therapies are more accurate than ever before, and there are multiple forms of estrogen that can be beneficial in many cases,” says Frick.

For women who have milder symptoms or who choose not to take hormone therapy, there are other measures that can help improve cognitive performance.

“Exercising, stimulating the brain through games or mental exercise, following a strict sleep regimen, limiting alcohol intake, and eating a healthy, moderate diet are all known to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause. “