Living through transition

Women’s concerns about their cognitive functions are legitimate and valid.

If a woman approaching or past menopause feels she is having memory problems, no one should brush it off or attribute it to a jam-packed schedule or worse, to “just being a woman”.

Some cognitive slippage is indeed common

during the perimenopausal and early postmenopausal years.

In most cases these issues are short-lived and go away over time. While your brain may feel off or muddy for a while, when the transition passes, typically the clouds clear and the fog lifts.

Our latest studies reveal that in many cases the perimenopausal declines in brain energy eventually stabilise, too – and that women’s brains have the ability to adjust to menopause and carry on. Not to put too fine a point on it, but even during this phase, women outperform men on those very same cognitive tests measuring memory, fluency and some forms of attention. That’s true both before and after menopause. During the menopause transition, cognitive scores may take a dip, bringing women’s performance effectively within men’s range. In other words, the average menopausal woman performs just as well as the average man of the same age, who is not, of course, in menopause. (Take that, Darwin!)

With all that said, here’s an important caveat:

These findings represent an average effect.

If your MMSE score has gone down from 30 or so to 24 or lower, that is an unusual change that needs further evaluation. If your cognitive issues during menopause negatively impact your daily life and don’t seem to improve over time or with treatment, whether it be medications or lifestyle modifications, you might want to seek out a neurologist or a neuropsychologist. For instance, if you are three to four years postmenopausal and you are still having serious concerns, this would be a good time to be tested, even if just for peace of mind.