What Does Menopause Do to Your Brain? A Neuroscientist on the New Research

What does menopause actually do to your brain? If you've been told it's the start of a slow decline — foggy, forgetful, shrinking — this conversation will change how you see the next chapter.

Kelly sits down with Dr Sarah McKay, Oxford-trained neuroscientist and author of The Women's Brain Book and Brain Health For Dummies, to unpack what the research really says about menopause and the brain. Sarah explains why hot flushes start in the brain's thermostat, what a new longitudinal study found about grey matter across puberty, pregnancy and menopause, and why the brain fog so many women feel often doesn't show up on cognitive tests.

They also get into what the evidence does — and doesn't — say about HRT, brain fog and dementia risk, when forgetting words or names is worth a chat with your GP, and why Sarah believes the midlife brain may be at its most flexible.

You'll leave with a calmer, evidence-based way to think about your brain through menopause — and the one place Sarah says to start.

What You'll Learn

• What actually happens in the brain during menopause — and why hot flushes are really your brain's thermostat overreacting
• What a new longitudinal study found about grey matter across menopause — and why "no change" is great news
• Why menopause brain fog can feel so real yet rarely shows up on cognitive tests, and what might be driving it
• What the evidence actually says about HRT, brain fog and dementia risk — and why the honest answer is "we don't know yet"
• When forgetting words or names is worth a GP chat — and when it's just a busy brain under pressure

Full show notes and links

vitopia.ai/podcast/menopause-and-the-brain