The hottest topic in town: Menopausal Hotties...

Brain fog

Brain fog = Menopausal memory loss.

Nope, it’s not a myth, it does exist; but fear not hotties, all is not lost.

We hotties will always find a solution, or alternatively just chuck it in the ‘f*ck it bucket’ - that’s if you can remember where you left it…

Now joking aside, I’m sure many of us can relate to some of these foggy moments:

• You’re in mid flow conversation with a friend or colleague, and lose your thought halfway through a sentence. Oh how I hate that! Especially when it messes up your joke-telling skills. Sound familiar?
• Do you have a permanent supply of Post-It notes scattered around like fairy dust as reminders and extra ones to remind you what you wanted to remind yourself of? You can’t find your glasses even when they are on your head.
• Or forget where those pesky keys and phone are? You know I’m sure they have a life of their own, grow legs and hide just for the sheer hell of it!

Those damned fluctuating hormones mess with our memory and cognitive function.

Hormones - got to love them and hate them. Now remind me what we were talking about. Let me just check my notes. Ah yesss. Menopausal brain fog.

Personally my biggest, most dreaded foggy episodes revolve around names. I literally come out in a cold sweat (making a welcome change from the hot flushes).

Picture this - you're standing there, minding your own business, when you spot a friend or colleague coming towards you, big smiles, quick hug and you start chatting away like there’s no tomorrow. So far, so good.

But wait for it… Heart stops as you spy another person you know coming over to join you. Yes, you’re pleased to see them but oh noooo WTF?! You suddenly realise you need to introduce them to each other, but that foggy blanket has come in thick and dense from out of nowhere, and now you can’t for the life of you remember either of their names. Sh*t! This is a tricky one. All you can think of is, how the hell am I going to navigate this?

I’ve tried several, possibly not so bright, ways, but hey ho, not to worry though as I’ll probably forget all about the trauma soon enough as it gets swallowed up into the fog.

• How would you deal this scenario?
• What’s your most dreaded foggy moments?

Hmmm but can we help ourselves? Whoop whoop, yes apparently we can..

I’ve been reading recently about things that are reported to help with alleviating or even clearing our fog. Exercises and techniques such as using memory training exercises, like mindfulness, meditation and relaxation.

The cat and cow yoga poses are also supposed to be good for memory, with exercise being reported as having lots of benefits.

These all sound helpful, intriguing and definitely worth a go. Now just remind me to make a Post It note to remind myself and I’ll report back in another couple of issues.

I’d love to hear your tips too. Every little helps.

A good friend said she used to write things down, but by the time she got the pen, she forgot what it was she was supposed to be writing. Now she just records voice messages and videos on her phone - genius! Thanks to Julie M for that great tip.

In true hottie warrior-style, let’s unite as we develop our own bigger and brighter internal fog lamps and systems which will shine a light, guiding us through even the densest fog.

Or we simply filter stuff like a computer deciding what to save, file or delete in order to focus on what’s truly important.

We don’t have to be multi-tasking Ninjas. Let’s get better at delegating instead. After all, some of our fellow men and women have had selective memories or participation for years, and it’s never seemed to be a disadvantage to them. Heck, it’s more likely to be seen as an advantage.

Thinking about this, but not too hard, it seems that perhaps menopausal brain fog could simply be nature’s way of selective engagement, and help us conserve physical and/or mental energy. Let’s try to take time for ourselves too. Just to be fabulous, enjoy what we have, and not focus on what we can’t see.

Happy filtering fellow hotties…

Next month’s issue we shall be getting hot under the collar, as we flush out the hot stuff…

Love Julie

xxx