When Menopause Pauses Learning
Ingrid Berman once said, "Happiness is good health and a bad memory," which sort of suggests that a healthy woman going through menopause (a time when memory seems muddiest) should be elated. And wouldn't it be wonderful if that were true--if hot flashes, sleep disturbances and sexual dysfunction could, in fact, brighten your day?
Unfortunately, the opposite is true. We know this because years of research have shown that menopause-related memory loss is often associated with depressed mood. It makes sense: forgetfulness is frustrating, especially when it seems to come on relatively sudden.
What researchers have recently figured out though, is that memory loss from menopause is a lot more than just foggy thinking and verbal slips. Menopause may, in fact, bring on temporary learning problems, where a woman going through this transition finds herself unable to learn new things like she used to.
The reason behind all of this is, like almost everything else in menopause, related to a drop in estrogen. Normally, estrogen in the brain helps mediate the function of neurotransmitter chemicals that are involved in memory and learning.
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