{"id":149475,"date":"2025-10-28T11:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T11:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/149475\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T11:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T11:55:13","slug":"this-is-what-happens-to-your-brain-during-menopause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/149475\/","title":{"rendered":"This is what happens to your brain during menopause"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">(<a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/health\/article\/perimenopause-age-symptoms-brain\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">What is perimenopause? Your brain may hold a clue<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cMenopause is not just a hormonal process, it&#8217;s also brain-transition process. There are documented structural changes going on in the brain,\u201d says Ang\u00e9lica Rodr\u00edguez, a graduate student at Puerto Rico\u2019s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/phsu.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ponce Health Sciences University<\/a>, who presented a review of this research at the annual conference of The Menopause Society in Orlando, Florida, last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA hsDdd cBQOR tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE GpQCA lZur BOsoU YMZw dihEb srtah LmIPo JzlZQ VbrfA zZsl kjmkg OwbFk QuuaM tOHqz GfDiz rCJMb HxCWP \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/subscribe\/kids-magazines?cmpid=int_org=ngp::int_mc=website::int_src=ngp::int_cmp=holiday2025::int_add=kids_articlepromo\" aria-label=\"LIMITED TIME OFFER\" aria-describedby=\"\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl \" data-testid=\"prism-image\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGK-NGLK-15018-BB-600x400.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A decade ago, women primarily mentioned hot flashes and night sweats at their appointments, but in recent years \u201cwe&#8217;ve started to hear more of these symptoms from patients,\u201d Shaw says, noting this is likely fueled by the increased research as well as greater societal openness about the array of changes menopause brings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Still, many questions remain, because menopause neuroscience remains underfunded, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.psych.uic.edu\/profile\/pauline-maki\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pauline Maki<\/a>, a longtime researcher on women\u2019s cognition at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told clinicians at the conference.<\/p>\n<p>Areas involved with memory are physically shrinking\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Rodriguez\u2019s review examined five major studies published between 2020 and 2024. One in the journal Scientific Reports involved several different types of brain imaging in more than 150 women. It found that the volume of the brain\u2019s cortex\u2014the area involved with memory, information processing, and other cognitive functions\u2014as well as the white matter connecting the neurons <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-021-90084-y\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">do decline during perimenopause<\/a>. Blood flow in the brain also diminishes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(What is perimenopause? Your brain may hold a clue.)\u00a0 \u201cMenopause is not just a hormonal process, it&#8217;s also&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[5194,159,52168,868,18,87847,87844,135,48616,87845,19,17,18340,19618,87846,87843],"class_list":{"0":"post-149475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-alzheimers","9":"tag-brain","10":"tag-brain-fog","11":"tag-dementia","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-forgetfulness","14":"tag-gray-matter","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-hormones","17":"tag-hyperintensities","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-memory","21":"tag-menopause","22":"tag-shrink","23":"tag-white-matter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115451666575270438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}