The Cognitive Effects Of Menopause At Work

Women have been shown to experience cognitive deficiencies during menopause, particularly regarding working memory, attention, slower processing speeds, and verbal memory.

During menopause, the ovarian hormone estradiol, the primary form of estrogen that works in the brain, diminishes. This is important because estrogen directly affects the central nervous system, which is directly linked to brain function.

In a study of women's health across the UK, of women between the ages of 40 and 55,peri-menopausal women made up 44% of the cognitive health complainants, and 41% of postmenopausal women had the same complaints. 

Menopause can affect how brain cells are generated and how they connect with each other. These processes impact parts of the brain that are critical for memory. Menopause also lowers glucose levels in the brain, which is the primary fuel for brain cells. The brain then looks to other metabolic sources to provide the necessary energy to function — but without proper understanding and knowledge of what's going on, most women are unaware and unable to tap into those other metabolic sources.

One of my clients, whom I will call Sheila for privacy, is a high-level executive in the entertainment industry. Before meeting me, she was experiencing menopause, but like more than 70% of women with menopause today, she didn’t know she wasn't aware that her symptoms were menopause related.

First, she was barely getting any sleep. She experienced severe insomnia and was getting up numerous times throughout the night. When she started having night sweats, she assumed she was fighting off a flu bug but eventually went to the doctor when the night sweats didn’t go away. Like many women I speak with every week, her lab results returned negative, and she was advised to get more sleep and to take melatonin, which did not help.

Sheila shared that the scariest thing for her was when she’d speak with a client or colleague and would forget what she was discussing mid-sentence. She found that she constantly asked people to remind her of their conversations, and she noticed her verbal memory was declining.

At one point, she even thought she might be experiencing early dementia or Alzheimer’s. 

At that time, she was 44 years old, so the thought of menopause was nowhere on her radar. She had always thought of menopause as an older women’s issue.

After nearly a year of struggling through work and going into the office less often, she decided to resign from her job while she still had the respect of her colleagues and the industry. 

Luckily Sheila was introduced to the idea of her symptoms being menopause related. Once she learned about the numerous symptoms of menopause, she realized that she was experiencing more than half of the symptoms on the list. 

She got some support that made managing her symptoms easier and gave her the confidence NOT to resign from her job. A few months later, a client of mine introduced her to me, and I was able to help her put strategies into place at work to help her better manage her symptoms - which led her to hire me to put in place a menopause training and policy at her workplace. She says it helped her colleagues and employees and improved their work relationships.

Estrogen affects various brain parts involved in language and judgment, learning, registering, and retrieving information. This explains why there’s such a change in cognitive function throughout menopause. In addition, a diminished cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health level may also indirectly affect brain health.

Symptoms such as forgetfulness, delayed verbal memory, reduced verbal processing speed, and impaired verbal learning are common cognitive deficits during peri-menopause.

Some good news is that studies have also found that cognitive function returns to normal for many women during post-menopause. The bad news is that peri-menopause can last 4-10 years, if not longer. Unfortunately, by then, many women dealing with undiagnosed or untreated menopause may have quit or been let go from their jobs. 

I want you to imagine for a moment that you are losing your memory, forgetting what you’re talking about mid-sentence, constantly feeling exhausted and confused, and thinking you may even be experiencing early-onset dementia or Alzheimer's. You also aren’t getting adequate help from your healthcare provider, and you are struggling with mental, physical, and emotional symptoms all alone.

By putting training and policies in place at work, employers can help ease the minds of employees struggling with menopause so they can focus on work while improving their menopause symptoms. You can also include access to support and treatment options as part of your policy so that valued employees can get earlier individualized treatment that can delay the onset of cognitive deterioration during peri-menopause and menopause both in and out of the workplace. 

#MrMenopause #menopauseatwork #menopauseintheworkplace #menopausesymptoms #menopausesupport #workplacewellness #cognitivehealth