The Many Facets of Menopausal Brain Health with Dr. Sarah McKay (Episode 174)

Hit Play Not Pause

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

4.9 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2024

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

Enroll in our Navigate Menopause Course - https://www.feistymenopause.com/navigate-menopause

Subscribe to the Feisty 40+ newsletter: https://feistymedia.ac-page.com/feisty-40-sign-up-page

Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopause

Hit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099

Support our Partners:

Hettas: Use code FEISTY20 for 20% off at https://hettas.com/

Midi Health: You Deserve to Feel Great. Book your virtual visit today at https://www.joinmidi.com/

Nutrisense: Go to nutrisense.io/hitplay and use code: HITPLAY to get $125 off

Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

Paradis Sport: Use code: FEISTY20 for 20% off any single item at https://paradissport.com/

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to Hit Play, Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
0:14.6	I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help
0:21.2	you feel and perform you best no matter what your hormones are doing.
0:25.0	This show is a production of Live Feisty Media.
0:31.1	Hello, strong feisty women.
0:33.3	I hope you all are well.
0:35.7	So hang with me here during the intro this week because it's going
0:39.6	to be more detailed than usual because we're talking brain health. And it's a big
0:44.4	important topic that just really deserves more space, context, and nuance. This week's guest
0:50.3	is neuroscientist, Dr. Sarah Mackay, the author of the Women's Brain Book.
0:55.8	I wanted to have Sarah on for this conversation because she devotes her professional life to
1:00.5	studying women's brain health along with the related research, and she always does bring
1:04.7	a lot of nuance to the conversation that I really appreciate. Sarah explains all of the
1:10.0	factors that influence midlife and menopausal
1:12.3	cognitive health. And we talk a whole lot about Dr. Lisa Mascone's work because Dr. Mascone is the
1:18.7	seminal researcher in this space. And as many of you, I'm sure know, has a new book, instant bestseller
1:24.6	out called The Menopause Brain. I have it. I've read it. I highly recommend it.
1:30.4	Since we reference her work a lot here, I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to provide clarity
1:35.1	and context on her work to set the groundwork. In 2021, she, Dr. Musconi, dropped a groundbreaking brain scan
1:43.6	study in scientific reports that shows that
1:46.9	our brains physically change during perimenopause, physically change.
1:51.9	And I'll just read Dr. Mascone's own summary of her work that she put in Instagram here
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Hit Play Not Pause, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Hit Play Not Pause and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.