Is Your Brain Fog Becoming Embarrassing?
I sat there staring at my screen, willing to write something, but nothing came, not a sausage. My head was completely blank. I decided it must be time for a cuppa, so I went downstairs…and stood in the kitchen trying to remember what I was doing there!
Forgotten words, fuzzy thinking, poor concentration, indecisiveness, feelings of overwhelm, and a lack of mental resilience are all common symptoms of brain fog. A symptom that can affect women so strongly I’ve had several clients who feared they had early Alzheimer’s.
I believe brain fog is high on the list of reasons peri-post menopausal women can lose their confidence.
Especially in the workplace where the pressure on midlife women to sustain their effectiveness can be high.
It can feel confusing and lonely as the often insidiousness symptoms your diminishing estrogen levels can cause set in over the years.
Clients can be so relieved to hear what they are struggling with is almost certainly down to a lack of hormones rather than incompetence, some symptoms lessen overnight.
Here are some practical tips that can help reduce symptoms…
Cutting out the sugar and kicking the booze
Both reduce menopausal/hormonal symptoms across the board, so if you are eating crap and your alcohol intake is higher than it should be, then this is always a great place to start.
Adding more phytoestrogens to your diet can increase Estrogen levels, although it can take a few months to feel a difference, so be patient!
Choose foods such as:
- Legumes
- Miso
- Nuts & seeds
- Tofu
- Milled Flaxseeds
- Edamame Beans
- Good quality organic Soy Milk*
- As well as a good variety of vegetables
*Quality is key with any processed products, especially soy as around 94% is GM, so choose organic.
HRT can help
Don’t rule it out. I have recently written some articles on the latest research in HRT on this blog
Look at your to-do list
Stress leaves us unable to think straight at the best of times. Is every meeting and commitment necessary? Are you giving yourself too much to do? Do you need to slow down?
(I know being way to busy was what was making my symptoms worse)
Write things down
Use lists and reminders and don’t be afraid to say you need to look things up, you don’t need to stay quiet or feel ashamed.
Talk
The more we open up about it the better, for ourselves, our sisters and colleagues, including the males! They need to understand too!
I had one client who was so preoccupied with trying to hide what was happening that her anxiety and worry was making her worse.
Laugh about it
We decided that next time it happened she would own it, laugh it off and crack on.
Turned out her CEO hadn’t noticed, 2 of her female team admitted to having the same issues and one of the male members realised that was probably what was happening to his wife.
They decided to put a few extra checks in place and now have a pact to watch each other’s backs….as well as laugh about those meno moments!
The good news is that studies show cognitive function returns to what may be a new kind of normal in the post-menopause years.
Is brain fog affecting you?
Do you feel able to be open about it with colleagues? Let me know, you can email me privately if you’d prefer!
