Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : January 15, 2021 11:17 AM IST
Depression, anxiety, and hot flashes are other common side effects of menopause.
If you're transitioning into menopause, you're likely to become a bit more forgetful or have more difficulty processing complex concepts. This is because menopause can affect a woman's cognitive performance, suggests a new study. Contrary to previous findings, the new study also claimed that memory decline may continue into the post-menopause period.
Multiple large-scale studies have described menopause as a sex-specific risk factor for cognitive dysfunction independent of ageing and other menopause symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and hot flashes. But these studies suggested that difficulties in memory and processing may resolve in the post-menopause period. Also, they did not characterize the duration of cognitive changes taking place between premenopause and perimenopause (around menopause).
The latest study, published online in Menopause, concluded that menopause stage is a key determinant of cognition and that cognitive declines/cognitive impairment persist into post-menopause, affecting primarily learning and memory. In addition, subtle declines in attention were found to continue into the post-menopause period, reported news agency ANI.
The difference in results relative to the duration of cognitive decline could be due to the fact that this newer study included more low-income women with multiple risk factors for cognitive dysfunction, including the presence of HIV, the researchers noted. The new study included more than 440 primarily low-income women of colour, including women with HIV.
Previous studies have identified an array of risk factors including HIV, poverty, low education, substance abuse, high levels of stress, limited access to quality healthcare, mental health problems, and medical comorbidities that can compromise cognitive function.
The new study, which is considered to be the first to assess changes in cognitive performance across menopause stages, specifically showed cognitive declines in learning, memory, and attention from premenopause to early perimenopause and from premenopause to post-menopause. Many of these changes could lead to a clinically significant level of cognitive impairment, the authors noted.
For years, experts have been advising people to follow four steps to keep cognitive skills from declining as they age: a healthy diet, regular exercise, socializing, and challenging your brain.
If you follow all these four practices, you may even reverse lost mental capacity, suggested the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) in 2016.
Some studies have suggested that following a Mediterranean diet may protect against cognitive decline. This eating pattern encourages eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds, and olive oil, while including moderate amounts of fish, poultry, and dairy products, limiting red meat. Mediterranean diet is associated with lower the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI). It also appears to slow the progression to dementia in people who have the condition.
There is some evidence suggesting that moderate consumption of alcohol, red wine in particular, may reduce the risk for cognitive decline and dementia. But experts do not recommend drinking alcohol to prevent cognitive decline.
Getting consistent, good-quality sleep is another way to prevent cognitive decline. Sleep is crucial for learning and memory formation. Lack of sleep can impair your ability to focus and learn efficiently.
