4 Ways to Work Through Your Menopausal Brain Fog
Like it or loathe it the menopause is a natural stage of life for women.
While some women go through perimenopause and menopause with relatively little or no symptoms this is certainly not the case for everyone.
For me, the biggest issue was brain fog. I felt I could barely remember my name on some days! We can laugh this off and make excuses, but brain fog is real and can manifest into a problem when mental clarity and memory recall can cause women to feel vulnerable in the workplace.
According to Jill M. Goldstein, PhD, Contributor for Harvard Health University she states; “In addition to chronological aging, women undergo reproductive aging in early midlife: menopause, during which they experience a depletion over time of ovarian hormones such as estradiol, the primary form of estrogen that works in the brain”.
There can be a serious balancing act that plays out with planning any exercise regime we want to implement. Tiredness and in some cases exhaustion can sweep over women leaving them so depleted exercise goes out the window.
I hope my tips below can support you in some way at least to combat brain fog and take your power back for your life.
1. Eat a well-balanced diet.
When doing my own research on what foods would support my health during menopause, I found that many experts suggest that healthy fat from nuts, avocadows, coconut oil, wild salmon and eggs were an invaluable part of a healthy menopause diet.
Research carried out in 2021 for digital health magazine Healthline suggests that Vitamin B12 supports healthy brain function, and a vitamin B12 deficiency can actually bring about brain fog.
The well-documented Mediterranean diet is another recommendation and one I am personally fond of. There are some great books that contain easy-to-follow recipes which to me is more beneficial than just coming across a list of healthy food choices.
2. Getting enough good sleep.
I would also include here getting enough rest. Listening to your body is so important, you don’t need a gadget to tell you to listen to your body, you just need to practice resting when your body gives you the signal!
Ensuring your sleep environment is conducive to good sleep is absolutely a must. Bearing in mind that light, noise and temperature affects our sleep, being mindful of these factors is extremely important.
Having phones in the bedroom is a definite no-no.
With menopause, hot flashes can make it harder to sleep. That combined with low levels of the hormone estrogen can make women more susceptible to having to go to the toilet more at night also.
Some people swear by lavender, whether that be diffusing the essential oil of lavender or using a lavender pillow. Any woody oils like Cedarwood support balance of your nervous system if lavender is not for you.
3. Exercise
When it comes to exercise and menopause trying to fit it in when you are exhausted and not feeling up to it can add another stressor to your already stressed-out life.
For me, the simplest and most effective exercise is a walk somewhere in nature.
Nature has a natural balancing impact on our well-being. A great tip I was given a couple of years ago was the art of mindful walking. Sometimes our heads can be so full when we leave the house that we find we are at the end of the woods and barely remember how we got there!
If you try the art of mindful walking it is about surrendering to the mind clatter and just “being”.
This can be a concept many of us find very hard to do. But it’s simply letting go of our thoughts and using our senses in a conscious way e.g. smelling the leaves in the woods, hearing the noises of any animals or birds, feeling the softness of the grass, etc.
I remember people saying that the birds seemed to be signing louder at the beginning of the Covid lockdown here in Ireland. I often wondered was it because suddenly we were forced to just stop all the things we had been doing. So many people took to walking outdoors and being more mindful of their health during that time.
4. Looking after your Brain Health
As well as keeping our physical body healthy it is also important to look after our brain health.
I found that keeping my brain active was a great way to support my focus. I have always loved word searches. There is nothing more satisfying than finding all those words in the puzzle! I found a great website that has a multitude of games you can choose from.
What I particularly love about this online word puzzle is that they are timed. Nothing like a challenge to get the brain to tick over!!!
Next to word searches, I am particularly fond of crosswords. Because I find I don’t buy newspapers as much anymore I love that I can do these crosswords online. Again the added clock keeps me on my toes!!!
Whatever symptoms you are going through during the perimenopause or menopause time of your life, know that this too shall pass and that these times are necessary initiations into our wisdom years and that we are, and always are, valued members of the community we live in.