Menopause’s Effect On The Brain

By Author: Anton Bluman
Total Articles: 65
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The life phase may be an important risk factor in developing dementia.

Across the United States, roughly six million adults 65 and over have Alzheimer’s disease. Almost two thirds of them are women a discrepancy that researchers have long attributed to genetics and women’s longer life spans, among other reasons. But there is growing consensus that menopause may also be an important risk factor for the development of dementia later in life.

Women going through the life phase, which is clinically defined as the end of fertility, face as many changes in the brain as in the ovaries, said Dr. Lisa Mosconi, a neuroscientist and director of the Women’s Brain Initiative at Weill Cornell Medicine. While the vast majority of women will weather these changes without long term health consequences, about 20 percent will develop dementia in the decades that follow.

The female brain is rich in estrogen receptors, particularly in regions that control memory, mood, sleep and body temperature, all of which “work beautifully when estrogen is high and consistent,” Dr. Mosconi said. Estrogen is also vital for the brain’s ability to defend itself against aging and damage.

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