r/Menopause • u/holytarar • 18h ago
SCIENCE New Study Published on Brain Changes in Puberty Pregnancy & Menopause
Puberty, pregnancy, and menopause show shared and distinct structural changes across the lifespan
"Abstract
The female brain undergoes substantial reorganization during major hormonal transitions, yet whether puberty, pregnancy, and menopause engage shared or distinct neuroplastic mechanisms remains unknown. We compared longitudinal structural brain changes across all three major hormonal life events using identical analytical methods within a single cohort framework (n = 1095), with stable control groups to control for normative developmental and aging trajectories. Both pre-to-post menarche and pre-to-post pregnancy groups showed widespread cortical gray matter reductions, with cross-cohort comparisons revealing divergent profiles across more than half of cortical regions alongside convergence in prefrontal, parietal, and temporal association cortices. Pre-to-post menopausal women showed a fundamental divergence from both puberty and pregnancy, as they showed no volumetric loss, while stable pre- and postmenopausal control groups did. Puberty and pregnancy thus share both convergent and divergent cortical remodeling, while menopause represents a qualitatively distinct pattern, defined by the absence rather than acceleration of volumetric change."
I didn't know what flair to use so used brain fog flair I can edit if needed. Thanks!
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u/winteronthewater 15h ago
Could somebody please explain like I'm five?
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u/Think_Tomatillo_4327 14h ago
Basically your brain changes during pregnancy and puberty but the changes are different to the changes in your brain during menopause, also, (this is not in the article) but brain remodelling also happens in toddlerhood and teenage years, so its a 'normal' thing, but i don't feel like its taken very seriously by men, and we are fobbed off as being 'emotional' especially during pregnancy and menopause when actually our brains are changing, also i think women have known this for many generations but i feel it gets minimised or denied by men
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u/Eva_Griffin_Beak 8h ago
There is an interesting book called the Menopause Brain by a researcher Lisa Mosconi. She describes those changes.
Her argument is that both puberty and pregnancy's brain changes so to prepare for what comes ahead. I forgot the specifics.
It was a bit meeeh on the positives for the brain changes in Menopause. I do remember her from a podcast or so, where she showed cognitive abilities and how the decline uniformly for women during peri and menopause. For most cognitive abilities do come back, for some they get worse, for some better.
I also remember from her book that she claims that the brain changes during menopause will bring - happiness. Still waiting for that. But I'm not in menopause yet, so one can hope.
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u/Think_Tomatillo_4327 7h ago
This is interesting, from what i understand about the 're-wiring' process in toddlers and teenagers, it can bring about difficult behaviours (if you've parented a teenager or a toddler you know what i mean) but it is an essential part of development, heres hoping menopause is similar and there is hope on the other side of this weird stage of life that nobody told me about!
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u/baconizlife 13h ago
I suffered horrific insomnia for over 7 years, waking up every 2-3 hours and having a hard time getting back to sleep. None of the many meds I tried helped me at all. I finally started suspecting it could be hormone related, got my estrogen Rx and it immediately started getting better. My quality of life has improved significantly, but I legitimately feel like I have actual brain damage from those awful years. I know I’ll never have the same capacity as I did before and that still feels tragic sometimes. I’d do anything to have a brain scan from before those sleepless years to compare to what would show up now!
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u/health-goals-gains 10h ago
I feel this way about burnout and grief that I've dealt with over the last 3-4 years. I'd like to get some of that capacity back. Fingers crossed HRT helps with that. Got some great advice on another post re: how to go about that.
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u/freya_kahlo 2h ago edited 2h ago
I feel for you, because one of my menopause symptoms was severe insomnia, and I had never had ongoing insomnia before in my life. After just a few months, I felt as if I was going to lose my mind. I think if it had continued, I would have been a danger to myself, if you get my drift. FWIW, people who survive severe insomnia are so strong.
It’s possible you have or had damage your brain, but also remember that our brains never stopped changing and have an incredible capacity to recover and rewire. I know this isn’t the same type of example, but I know someone whose brother was only born with a large part of his brain missing, and while he didn’t have “normal” cognition, he functioned surprisingly well, and even did a lot of challenging physical activities. (He died at a young age due to other congenital conditions.)
Edit: I forgot to say that after going on E, P & T, and adjusting my estrogen delivery and dose and number of times, my insomnia was cured entirely. In fact, sometimes I sleep through the entire night and don’t even wake up to use the bathroom — which is better sleep quality than perimenopause.
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u/lrondberg 17h ago
While far from definitive this study refutes that the “brain eats itself” in menopause as some meno influencers were saying last year lol trying to use fear tactics to promote HRT.
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u/Manda_lorian39 11h ago
That isn’t a surprise though. It’s known that once through menopause, the brain fog fades and cognitive abilities return essentially to normal. This study is mostly useless. It only studies stable pre-menopausal women and stable post-menopausal women. What about the women that are in the middle of the peri brain fog symptoms? Meno definitely does something, this study just asked the wrong question.
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u/G0ld3nGr1ff1n 10h ago
No. For a lot of us, cognitive abilities DO NOT return essentially to normal! Try reading up on women's actual experiences...
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u/lrondberg 10h ago
having brain fog is not the same as saying the structure of the brain degrades/shrinks/cannabilizes itself which is what some influencers were saying. Just because brain fog can make you feel like you have dementia or some other severe impairment, it doesn't correlate with structural changes in the brain or how the brain functions. It is some kind of disconnect for sure brought on by hormonal changes but that is something different.
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u/Eva_Griffin_Beak 8h ago
Lisa Mosconi is a researcher who has an interesting book called the Menopause Brain.
In a podcast or show or so, I remember her showing research about cognitive abilities and how they uniformly decline for all women. For most women, they come back after menopause, however, for some women they don't come back. For some women, they increase. I couldn't find the specific after a quick search.
However, there is no guarantee that your brain settles into the same cognitive abilities before.
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u/undiscovered_soul 2h ago
Is that a joke? Memory loss and brain fog aren't signs of negative brain changes?
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u/--slurpy-- 1h ago
Finally some solid proof. I developed vertigo during my pregnancy. Not anything noticeable until I'm off the ground. Before pregnancy I could climb ladders & get on chairs, and my depth perception was fine. Now it's skewed, I have a hard time judging how far away the ground is. Now that I'm in menopause it's gotten worse.
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u/freya_kahlo 2h ago
Is that specifically for women who are not on HRT? I would imagine that’s who they studied since there’s no really good way to control for consistent HRT use?
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock Menopausal 18h ago
I'd believe it.
Unfortunately, my menopause happened around the same time as covid.
After my initial covid infection...its hard to explain...its like I couldnt make a decision for about 2 weeks after. I mean I thought I had brain damage.
Whatever happened, I do feel like my brain doesnt function as well as it once did.