Women’s brains are finally getting the research attention they deserve! While we sort out the role hormones play in our current and future cognitive health, it’s important to remember that estrogen is just one player in a lifelong host of factors impacting your brain, including education, intellectual engagement, diet and nutrition, exercise and fitness, hearing loss, head injuries, sleep, stress levels, community, purpose, and much more! Hormones are part of the picture, but don’t outweigh everything else. There are many actions we can take to improve cognitive function and brain health, whether or not we also use hormone therapy. We dive into it all this week with neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay.

Dr. Sarah McKay is an Oxford University-educated neuroscientist and educator. She is the director of The Neuroscience Academy and author of The Women’s Brain Book: The Neuroscience of Health, Hormones and Happiness. Dr. McKay teaches coaches, therapists, teachers and other professionals how to thoughtfully apply insights and tools from neuroscience to their work. You can learn more about her and buy her book at drsarahmckay.com

Resources

Menopause impacts human brain structure, connectivity, energy metabolism, and amyloid‑beta deposition study here.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of menopause hormone therapy on risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia study here. 

Sex-specific associations of serum cortisol with brain biomarkers of Alzheimer’s risk study here.

Hormone Replacement Therapy Could Ward off Alzheimer’s Among At-Risk Women research here

Trends in Intracranial and Cerebral Volumes of Framingham Heart Study Participants Born 1930 to 1970 study here. 

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