Lack of Concentration - How Hormonal Imbalance at Menopause Causes Confusion

Menopause can adversely affect your ability to concentrate. It may become even more difficult to focus than before, you may also feel disorientated and experience a general state of mental confusion that is all-too-common at this mid-life transition.

These symptoms can be further exacerbated for women who have undergone a hysterectomy. Women find themselves often worrying whether or not they have forgotten to turn the iron off, or maybe they frequently forget to turn off the television before departing for work.

Menopause closely correlates with some decline in mental functions such as memory loss and the ability to clearly concentrate. Your ability to recall certain events and the ability to focus is often affected due to crucial hormonal imbalances in your system.

Estrogen regulates many female processes and plays a role in working with the neurotransmitters in the brain, sending signals to and from; in effect estrogen is responsible for maintaining healthy memory. Lost levels of this vital female hormone will quite simply affect your brain's ability to function.

Couple this with the fact that menopausal woman are already undergoing stressful situations with numerous midlife transitions such as aging parents and children leaving home, and often women find themselves in very challenging situations.

Excessive stress can cause forgetfulness and you might feel distracted by the new range of responsibilities you have to face as you move into this next phase of life. Depression and fear over facing issues such as long-term illness, death and living alone can also result in difficulty in focusing, feelings of disorientation and mental confusion.

Remember, your concentration may be affected, but it is not as a result of getting older. It is the result of the hormonal imbalance and that can be helped significantly with natural, bioidentical hormones.

Refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol -- both of these can significantly increase menopause symptoms. Consume hormones that speed up bodily processes, like the over-the-counter drug DHEA. DHEA is short for dehydroepiandrosterone and is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands as well as by the brain and the skin, and is the most abundant steroid in the human body.

It has been reported that by the time we reach the age of 80 our DHEA level is only 15% of what it was when we were 25. Researchers say DHEA may prove to protect against cancer and heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol and preventing blood clots.

Recent studies also demonstrate that DHEA improves memory, strengthens the immune system, prevents bone loss and may even protect us from diabetes and autoimmune disease. It has been shown to fight fatigue and depression as well as enhance feelings of well being and increase strength. If all this sounds too good to e true, DHEA has also been reported to alleviate symptoms of menopause, reduce body fat and even enhance libido.