As defined by neuroscientist, nutritionist, and affiliate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical Faculty, Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., in a mindbodygreen podcast episode, reproductive hormones play a large function in defending our brains from injury (such because the amyloid plaques related to Alzheimer’s illness). 

“The interactions between the mind and the reproductive organs are actually essential for mind well being and mind getting old—particularly in ladies,” she says. “We have a tendency to think about testosterone [and] estrogens as concerned in copy, having children. However in actuality, these hormones have loads of results inside our brains.” 

“Particularly, they actually push our neurons to carry glucose to make vitality. So in case your hormones are excessive, your mind vitality is excessive. However then what occurs to testosterone is that it does not fairly decline that a lot over time; whereas for girls, estrogens just about plummet when ladies undergo menopause,” Mosconi shares. 

It’s this plummet in estrogen that leaves ladies’s brains particularly weak after they hit menopause of their 40s or 50s. “If you happen to consider these hormones as having some sort of superpowers for the mind, ladies lose the tremendous energy across the time that menopause hits, proper? And the mind is left just a little extra weak,” Mosconi says.

Like menopause, having your uterus or ovaries eliminated (i.e., a hysterectomy or oophorectomy) additionally leads to a drastic drop in estrogen ranges. Different durations of hormonal fluctuations—similar to puberty and being pregnant—affect estrogen ranges as properly, which explains why some hormonal well being elements go away ladies at greater threat whereas others assist shield their brains.