Episode 24: Your Brain and Your Body: How Menopause Can Change Everything

Menopause changes everything. Not only do many women experience some of the more common – but temporary – symptoms of menopause, like hot flashes and mood swings, but there are some surprising ways menopause impacts our bodies in much deeper ways. We know, for example, that bones can get thinner and weaker with the drops in estrogen, and just about everything gets drier. But menopause affects our brain health and functioning in ways we are only starting to understand.  

Our guest on this episode, Dr. Gayatri Devi, is a leading authority on brain health, and discusses with us the innermost workings of our hard-working and extraordinarily complex brains, explains how menopause impacts our brains, and gives us her best tips on keeping our brains sharp for life.

Dr. Gayatri Devi’s entire career is focused on promoting brain health. She established her premier center for neurologic wellness, education, and research in 1999. A peer-chosen Super Doctor®- in the top 5% of New York City neurologists, she is board-certified in Neurology, Pain Medicine, Psychiatry, Brain Injury Medicine, and Behavioral Neurology. Widely published, Dr. Devi is an Attending Physician at Lenox Hill Hospital | Northwell Health and Clinical Professor of Neurology at Downstate Medical Center. Her research focuses on the optimal treatment of stroke, cognitive loss, and pain (Curriculum Vitae). Her approach to Alzheimer’s was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Devi became Director of the Long Island Alzheimer’s Disease Assistance Center at 29, after seven years of post-graduate residency training in Neurology, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Neurology, at Downstate and Columbia University. Selected as Chief Resident, she held her residency record in national examinations, scoring at the 97th percentile in the US. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American College of Physicians for her research and community outreach. Key prior roles include Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at NYU; Assistant Professor of Neurology at Columbia University; Clinical Core Co-director of the Taub Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Columbia; President of the American Medical Women’s Association and the National Council on Women’s Health; Director of the NY Memory and Healthy Aging Services. She has received numerous awards for her work including Distinguished Visiting Professor in Women’s Health at Weill Cornell Medical College. Featured on the BBC, CBS, NY Times, NPR, TIME, and the WSJ, Dr. Devi has authored several books, most recently “Spectrum of Hope: An Optimistic and New Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.” She is neurologic consultant to the NY State Committee for Physician Health and the NFL Players Association, and is on the Board of Overseers of SPS at Columbia University. Dr. Devi loves New York City- her home for over thirty years, and is a NYC Parks Enforcement Patrol Mounted Auxiliary. She received her MD from Grace University and her MS from Columbia University.

• Gayatri Devi MD PC | Park Avenue Neurology: nybrain.org

• The North American Menopause Society: https://www.menopause.org/

• No Pause in Menopause Roundtable - A weekly series during October and November discussing all things menopause.

  • November 4th: Disease risk and menopause: What you need to know to keep your whole body healthy

  • November 18th: The SEX talk: Is it possible to have an exciting sex life when we hit menopause? (Hint: the answer is YES!)

• Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives, by Daniel J. Levitin

• National Osteoporosis Foundation: nof.org