How Do Hormones Affect Memory?
Hormones can affect your memory as much as your mood. When you experience frequent outbursts of anger or find yourself crying randomly, you may want to look at your hormone levels. If you have a difficult time remembering what happened yesterday or further back in your past, your doctor may recommend looking at your inflammatory and hormone levels. When hormones affect memory, you'll may experience “brain fog”. Learn more about the symptoms of brain fog, and possible treatments.
How Do Hormones Affect Memory?
Hormone level fluctuations can change the way your brain works with your neurons and other cells. Each brain cell can produce neurotransmitters, chemicals which spread information between cells and to different parts of the body. If your body does not produce sufficient levels of hormones (i.e., thyroid hormone), the neurotransmitters cannot function properly. Your memory span and ability to concentrate will be negatively affected.
Brain Fog as a Symptom
One of the more common symptoms you might experience is brain fog. Have you ever sat down to send an email on the computer and suddenly forgot what you wanted to write or to who? Brain fog can also affect the way you act around your home. Some people find that they’ll walk into a room only to forget why they entered that room in the first place. Brain fog can manifest itself in other ways. Some of those symptoms can include:
Forgetting how to do basic tasks around your home
Suffering from memory loss
Having a difficult time accessing your favorite memories
Not feeling as sharp as you did in the past
Finding yourself feeling confused most of the time
Some women have such severe brain fog that they actually worry they might have Alzheimer's dementia. While an early onset of dementia can strike people in their 30s and 40s, it typically affects people later in life. If you experience frequent episodes of brain fog, you should consult an integrative physician about your hormones and level of blood inflammation.
Signs and Symptoms of Memory Problems
In addition to brain fog, some people experience speech patterns changes and problems speaking. You cannot put together a string of words to form a sentence or you forget basic words used every day. There may be changes in one’s thought patterns. One will have a great deal of difficulty completing a task because you aren't sure how to do all the steps or how to follow those steps in your mind.
Some other symptoms of memory problems include:
Spatial knowledge: Symptoms include forgetting how to get to a place that you’ve traveled to dozens of times before. You may not remember the name of those places either.
Time issues: Do you sometimes forget about special events such as your anniversary or a loved one's birthday? Changes in the way you tell and sense time can be a sign of a hormone imbalance.
Distracted thinking: Even if there aren't any distractions around you, you may have a difficult time focusing on something as simple as talking to another person.
It's extremely important that you understand the symptoms of memory problems, and how those problems can relate to your hormone levels.
Causes of Hormone Fluctuations
The most common cause of a hormonal imbalance is tied to increasing liver congestion and systemic inflammation. Women's bodies produce more estrogen during their younger years than they do in peri-and post-menopause. Once you pass child-bearing age by age 45 and earlier, a women’s body will slow down on its production of sex hormones. Liver congestion will cause poor metabolism of sex hormones and cause them to be transformed into toxic forms.
Stress is another common cause of a hormonal imbalance. Have you ever been through a rough few weeks at work and found yourself taking out on your anger at home? Those outbursts can leave you feeling even more stressed, which will make you feel worse. Your body temperature and sleep cycles can change the way your body produces hormones too. If you are too hot or too cold, you might not produce as many hormones as you need. Those who do not get enough sleep consistently (~ 7 to 8 hours a night) can suffer from hormone problems.
Treating a Hormonal Imbalance
When it comes to treating your problem, you can choose between complementary forms of healthcare and more conventional treatments. Meditation, Tai Chi, and yoga are two of the more complementary treatment methods. Yoga and Tai Chi allows you to work your whole body at the same time that you focus on your breathing and form a connection between your mind, body, and spirit. As you meditate, you can reduce your stress levels and elevate your mood.
Alcohol consumption (more than 2 drinks per week), red meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, refined sugar, and processed foods cause dramatic damage to brain function and trigger hormone imbalances.
Dr. Payal Bhandari, M.D., anti-aging integrative functional medicine specialist at Advanced Health, has more than 20 years of experience working with patients with hormone imbalance and brain fog. Dr. Bhandari provides personalized treatments designed to help the entire body through understanding the root cause linked to cellular function, the microbiome, nutrient deficiencies, and toxin exposures. By personalizing treatment for each individual, Dr. Bhandari helps a person's body naturally increase its hormone production and experience less cognitive malfunction. Learn more at www.sfadvancedhealth.com.
AUTHOR
Dr. Payal Bhandari M.D. is one of U.S.'s top leading integrative functional medical physicians and the founder of SF Advanced Health. She combines the best in Eastern and Western Medicine to understand the root causes of diseases and provide patients with personalized treatment plans that quickly deliver effective results. Dr. Bhandari specializes in cell function to understand how the whole body works. Dr. Bhandari received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology in 1997 and Doctor of Medicine degree in 2001 from West Virginia University. She the completed her Family Medicine residency in 2004 from the University of Massachusetts and joined a family medicine practice in 2005 which was eventually nationally recognized as San Francisco’s 1st patient-centered medical home. To learn more, go to www.sfadvancedhealth.com.