10/11/2025
🚨 Breaking News in Menopause & Brain Health 🚨
If you’ve ever walked into a room and forgotten why you’re there… you’re not alone.
A new systematic review and meta-analysis in Psychology and Aging (Oct 2025) looked at 26 studies with 9,400+ women to uncover what’s really happening with cognition in perimenopause.
📊 Key findings:
• Perimenopause — that years-long hormonal transition before the final period — is linked to measurable changes in attention, memory, and executive function.
• Compared to premenopausal women, those in perimenopause scored moderately lower on objective tests.
• Compared to postmenopausal women, results were mixed:
◦ Objective measures (like reaction time) were often better in perimenopause.
◦ But subjective symptoms — forgetfulness, word-finding issues, “brain fog” — were worse.
• Studies using STRAW+10 criteria (the gold standard for staging) provided the strongest data.
🧠 What this means:
Fluctuating estrogen and progesterone directly affect brain regions like the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex — the centers for learning, memory, and attention. That “foggy” feeling is real, not imagined.
💡 The good news:
For most women, these cognitive changes are temporary and reversible. Once hormones stabilize postmenopause, many regain mental clarity.
✅ Protect your brain:
• Prioritize sleep (memory consolidation)
• Exercise (boosts BDNF, a brain growth factor)
• Manage stress + blood sugar
• Talk with your clinician about hormone therapy if appropriate
We’re moving past the stigma of “menopause brain.” This is science — and understanding it brings validation, care, and hope.
Reference:
Bangle A, Williams D, Walters J, Nguyen L. Cognitive functioning in perimenopause: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging. 2025 Oct 9. doi:10.1037/pag0000946. PMID: 41066270
