Mental Pause

I left my 523 Swift office to run some errands. I had to buy office supplies at Costco and then I ha to pick up work orders from the lock shop and deliver it to conference services on campus. Upon making a left on Highway 9, I kept on going on 9 as if I were heading home until I realized I had gone past Costco about a mile. Talk about absent minded, I was like a horse with blinders heading for the barn!

I turned back and once I got to the parking lot I realized I had left the purchase order on my desk! Double whammy mental pause.

Memory Loss and Menopause

Though our memories usually work pretty efficiently most of the time, we have all experienced lapses in what we can remember. Memory loss is a natural part of aging. But menopausal women often complain of "brain freeze" or the inability to retrieve certain information when they need it. You may have noticed that you have trouble finding that word you want to use or that you can’t remember the name of your new coworker. Slight memory loss is a normal sign of menopause, but there is no clear consensus as to what causes short term memory loss.

It was once thought that fluctuating levels of estrogen were to blame for fuzzy brains during menopause. Estrogen does play an active role in memory. Estrogen stimulates neurotransmitters, which allow parts of your brain to communicate with one another. Estrogen also helps dilate blood vessels in the brain, increasing the flow of red blood cells that help the brain to function. During female menopause, your estrogen levels decrease. In the past, efforts to stave off menopause memory loss called for estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). However, it appears that estrogen actually does little to improve memory.

Because estrogen doesn’t play a major part in memory loss or gain, researchers have been looking for other reasons for your brain’s fuzziness during menopause. It seems that symptoms of menopause may contribute to your forgetfulness.

Menopause is a time of extreme stress for many women. Weight gain in menopause, hot flashes, mood swings – they all contribute to massive amounts of tension. Menopause depression can lead to difficulty retaining and retrieving information. Lack of sleep combined with poor nutrition can make it extremely hard for your brain to keep up.

Excerpt from Epigee's Women's Health http://www.epigee.org