Welcome back to BrainBeat, the podcast dedicated to exploring the world of brain health where, this week, host Dr. Heidi Rossetti is joined by Dr. Pauline Maki, a leading researcher on women's brain health from the University of Illinois. Together, they explore the menopausal transition, unpacking what science says about how fluctuating hormones impact memory, mood, sleep, and cognitive aging. This essential episode separates evidence-based fact from common fiction surrounding menopause and cognition.

The discussion details measurable cognitive changes, particularly a temporary dip in verbal memory, and Dr. Maki explains how physical symptoms like hot flashes and sleep loss are directly tied to brain health and memory. She goes on to clarify the confusing data on hormone therapy and dementia risk, highlighting its appropriate uses while cautioning against its use solely for prevention. The conversation also stresses the critical health disparities faced by Black and Brown women, who often endure more severe and prolonged symptoms, underscoring the need for personalized care.

Episode Highlights:

[00:00] How Menopause Affects Cognition and Memory

[06:52] Distinguishing Menopause Symptoms from Alzheimer’s Disease

[09:05] The Truth About Hormone Therapy, Cognition, and Dementia Risk

[13:04] Managing Symptoms: The Link Between Hot Flashes, Sleep, and Brain Health

[19:36] Critical Health Disparities in Menopause for Black and Brown Women

[24:05] Building a Resilient Brain: Proactive Lifestyle Strategies

[30:17] The Future of Menopause Research and Personalized Treatment

Key Takeaways:

"There's really one domain of cognitive abilities that changes longitudinally as we as women transition from being premenopausal to perimenopausal…That's our ability to listen to verbal material, to encode it, and then... recall what you learned verbally."

"The science that I've been doing over the past 15 years links hot flashes themselves with declines in verbal memory, with changes in brain circuitry underlying memory performance.”

“The more hot flashes women have, the more Alzheimer's disease biomarkers they have in their blood."

"Black and brown women who live in poverty... showed persistent declines into the post-menopause.”

"Menopause is an opportunity to build resilience in our brains.”

"The good news about menopausal hormone therapy is that it's effective for treating, we think, cognitive issues related to sleep deprivation because it does improve sleep in women whose sleep is disrupted by hot flashes."

"Evidence suggests that 40% of our risk of dementia is under our control with those lifestyle factors. And so that's really good news for women."

Links: 

BrainWise | Brain science for healthy living