Memory Loss and Menopause Memory loss numbers among the many frustrations that women are experiencing in their perimenopausal and menopausal years. Along with irritability, apathy, a foggy state of mind and a loss of performance on the job, women are looking at menopause as a potential culprit for memory loss. Doctors have often associated estrogen loss with memory loss. Since estrogen is a stimulator of brain activity, raising the level of brain chemicals, actually protecting the brain cells, then it follows that a loss of estrogen once a woman enters her menopausal years would lead to a loss of mental acuity. Therefore, many women have turned to Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in order to combat the menopausal symptoms, including memory loss. However, new opinions and new studies are surfacing, refuting whether menopause, and the ensuing loss of estrogen, is even a factor: A recent study of 700 Taiwanese and Chinese women found that there was no decline in memory and cognitive skills over an 18-month period. However, though the women were between the ages of 40 and 54, only 23% had begun to experience symptoms of menopause during that time period. None were on hormone replacement therapy, and none had had hysterectomies. Since the women were only tested twice, at the start and the end of the 18-month timeframe, and since only a few of them (23%) had become menopausal, experts found the conclusions reached in this study to be premature. Another study published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical
Neurosciences in May of 2003 arrived at a different theory. Conducted
over 12.8 years with 361 estrogen-free, post-menopausal women, the
research stated that if the women had never given birth, and if
they had experienced menopause later in life, then they were relatively
free from memory loss. |
The women were chosen not only for different ethnicities, but also for their varied levels of health, education and income. They were tested once a year, in the four groupings of premenopausal (predictable menstrual periods during the past year); early perimenopausal (having a menstrual period in the previous three months, with less predictable menstrual periods during the past year); late perimenopausal (no menstrual periods in the previous three months, but within the past year) and postmenopausal (no menstrual periods in the past year). Every year for the next six years, the women took two memory tests: • A test of perceptual speed, with the women having to identify as many matching figures as possible in 90 seconds. Within all the groups except one, there was no pattern of decline.
The exception was in the postmenopausal group, where perceptual
speed decreased significantly. The inherent problem with this project was that it only tested working memory and perceptual speed. Other tests of brain functioning, such as verbal and short-term memory tests, may be more affected by hormonal changes. Another study suggests that menopause may only have a negative effect on short-term verbal memory, and that long-term memory remains unaffected. Many women argue to the contrary, blaming menopause and lack of
estrogen for their memory loss, and have found that by using HRT,
there actually seems to be less cognitive decline. Perhaps a placebo?
Perhaps not. |
Andrew J. Weil believes that although estrogen loss affects the mind, there may be other problems that cause the loss of memory, including depression, hypothyroidism and stress, such as children becoming teen-agers and parents dying. He cautions that HRT is not necessarily a cure-all, and that each woman needs to be examined, her individual history studied, along with a battery of tests in such areas as language, memory, both short and long term, problem-solving and visuospatial skills. Weil also suggests other remedies for memory loss that have nothing to do with reaching for a drug: • Visualize a list of chores, associating them with geography, i.e., your driveway is "call the dentist," the elm tree down the street is "feed the dog," etc. Mentally rehearsing the list will lock itself into the mind. • Take ginkgo, a natural herb that stimulates the flow of red blood cells to the brain. • Regular exercise. • Learn something new. • Keep intake of alcohol to a bare minimum, e.g., one glass of wine a few days per week. • Eat berries. Researchers have found that a blueberry-rich diet can reverse short-term memory loss. • Diffuse stress, either with yoga, mediation or both. Given all the studies, opinions, refutations and more studies,
could this lead the menopausal woman, diligently researching in
order to make an informed choice, read more, stress more, and ultimately
experience even more memory loss? Since knowledge is power—probably
not. Return to the "Menopause Articles page. " |
