Why your Mitochondria Matter in Menopause!
Do you ever watch those programmes on TV that trace a person’s ancestry? Or perhaps you’ve had your own ancestry traced.
If so, then the ability to do this is thanks to your mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and so on and the number and size of tiny organelles called mitochondria.
A mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA test) traces a person’s matrilineal or mother-line ancestry using the DNA in his or her mitochondria. mtDNA is passed down by the mother unchanged, to all her children, both male and female.
You may have heard about your mitochondria, but perhaps you haven’t thought about them as you’ve moved through menopause.
Brain fog and fatigue are often the hallmarks of how women are feeling during and after menopause, whether they are on Menopause HRT or not.
After a number of conversations with Practitioners on my certified courses and with the thousands of women who have joined me over the past decade, I know that fighting your fatigue and fog is important to you.
It was the same for the university women I was presenting to this week – most of those attending couldn’t understand why they were in a ‘fog of fatigue’ as they had arrived in their menopause transition, so I talked to them about their might mitochondria.
The major role of mitochondria is to convert nutrients in your food, into Adenosine Tri Phosphate (ATP) – this is your energy molecule. Mitochondria are everywhere throughout your body, but the organs that use up a lot of energy hold the most of these tiny, but crucial organelles. These organs are:
- your brain and nervous system
- your heart
- your liver
- your muscles
Mitochondria are inherited from our mother via the egg, which is why genetic tracing can be used to trace ancestry from the maternal branches of families. When it comes to our health during menopause, we never think about the health of our mother when we were born do we?
But maternal health and their exposure to toxins over their lifetime influences your health as you move through your life too.
This is because the health and fitness of your mother when you were born, determines the baseline number and size of your mitochondrial cells throughout your body and in your brain.
Many women complain of forgetfulness around the time of the menopausal transition and because of the association between episodic memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease, this ‘forgetfulness’ symptom (aka brain fog) is of course worrisome.
However, forgetfulness is a common symptom at other important stages of a female’s life, including during puberty and pregnancy, when hormonal changes are occurring.
Hence, with the menopause transition going on for around 8-10 years as women move from perimenopause to postmenopause, we must include some nutrients in our diet and make some lifestyle changes, that are fundamental to helping your mitochondria to function better at this time of life, so you have more energy to get everything done that you want to, in your day.
Banishing brain-fog and fatigue means thinking about your marvellous mitochondria.
These tiny organelles are getting older as you move through menopause, so you have to look after them, especially the main organs which use up a lot of energy every day – your brain, your muscles, your heart and your liver.
Professor Zoltan Sarnyai (that’s him in the image below) is a neuroscientist researching mental illness at the Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience at James Cook University in Australia. He’s a very clever guy.
It was his presentation at a Lifestyle Medicine conference that bought my attention to the link between our menopause hormonal changes, brain-fog, fatigue, stress and our mighty mitochondria.
Most importantly, he too, recognises that there are specific lifestyle solutions to help preserve the brains’ mitochondrial health with age, and to reduce brain fog during menopause.
Hormones and Mitochondria: The Science Behind Menopause Brain Fog
There are millions of mitochondrial cells around the body and they have multiple and crucial roles in cell maintenance, energy production, survival and wellbeing.
Mitochondria also play an essential role in the generation of steroid hormones including the female sex hormones. As such, female sex hormones are, in turn, able to modulate or modify mitochondrial activities. (Lejri et al. 2018).
We already know that a large amount of oestrogen in the female body is released from the ovaries. But as it’s released it circulates throughout the body, and directly crosses the blood-brain barrier to act upon the cells within the brain.
In the brain, oestrogen has a number of roles:
- it helps with cerebral blood flow
- it preserves and maintains nerve transmission.
- it acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.
This is why our menopause transition becomes a perfect storm for disruptions to our brain function and cognition. Oestrogen acts directly upon mitochondria in the brain. (Del Río et al., 2018).
It makes sense then, that as women move through menopause, our brain mitochondria are affected in ways that promote inflammatory changes which in turn can disrupt the transmission of your brain nerves.
Changes to the function of mitochondria, also impacts your energy levels, because mitochondria that are inflamed and which are ageing, don’t produce as much of the ATP energy molecule …. especially if you don’t give them the necessary nutrients that help with energy production.
Which is why, it’s no surprise that from peri-menopause to post-menopause, if women aren’t changing their lifestyle, including their diet, then they can be plaqued with a forgetfulness, fog and fatigue.
And as Professor Sarnyai so rightly reminds us, one of the major impacts on brain fog is also stress (both current and past). This has a long-lasting and negative impact on brain mitochondria.
Lifestyle Solutions for Managing Menopause Brain Fog and Fatigue
High levels of daily stress, including not sleeping, creates higher levels of inflammation in the brain’s mitochondrial cells.
These inflammatory changes may lead to a number of symptoms, including:
- fatigue
- brain fog and depression
- memory loss, lack of motivation and feelings of over-whelm
- pain and soreness in muscles
- headaches and migraines
- poor sleep
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar to you now that you are in or past your menopause transition?
This is what Professor Sarnyai reminded me about – the link between our ageing mitochondria and inflammatory changes and why we have to look after our brain, not only throughout our life, but also, during and after menopause.
Whether you have chosen to go on menopause HRT or not, there are specific lifestyle solutions you can implement too. I will tell you about these below, so please keep reading!
What can I do to reduce my menopause brain fog with lifestyle solutions?
- MANAGE STRESS – “whatever happens with stress in the brain, happens to the body” mentioned Professor Sarnyai. It’s a reminder that focusing on strategies to manage stress is important, including physical stress from over-exercising. If you are doing too much high intensity exercise day after day, then this can cause over-loading on your mitochondrial function, because your liver, heart and muscles may be becoming depleted of energy production in the mitochondria, especially if you are doing a lot of higher intensity exercise and not sleeping. Mitochondrial recovery during sleep acts as a core “mitorestorative” phase, driven by certain processes such as mitochondrial fusion, mitophagy (cellular waste clearance), and the restoration of cellular oxygen balance.
- INCLUDE OMEGA-3 FATS and EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL – In each of the different MyMT™ programmes, I’ve modified the Mediterranean Diet specifically to allow women to obtain the key nutrients they need for reducing their symptoms for each stage of menopause. With the brain and nervous system mitochondria using up a lot of energy, we need to ensure that the mitochondria get the correct nutrients.
Omega-3 fatty acids from fish optimise mitochondrial function as they integrate directly into the mitochondrial membranes where they are involved in energy production. Omega-3 fatty acids are known as ‘essential fatty acids’. They are not made by mammals and must be obtained from dietary sources. Seeds and nuts are also plant sources of omega-3 as well.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is also important to reduce your brain fog and fight your fatigue. Around 20 mls daily. It contains two compounds, oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol. Both these compounds have been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier, allowing them to directly exert their effects within the central nervous system, helping to reduce inflammation and brain fog. Furthermore, oleuropein binds to oestrogen receptors in the brain acting to help nerve pathways function more effectively. [Malliou, 2023].
- ADD CITRUS AND SUNSHINE to your DAY –
Getting some safe sunshine on your skin is also important to banish the brain-fog and fight the fatigue – something that I find hard to achieve with a New Zealand winter at the moment.
Sunlight directly fuels your mitochondrial energy (ATP) production. Red and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths penetrate the skin and tissues, interacting directly with your mitochondrial enzymes to produce energy.
Don’t ignore citrus either! The role of Vitamin C on energy production in your body is vital to understand and something that I teach women on my programmes. We all learn to love our citrus!
Vitamin C from citrus supports mitochondrial energy production. It is needed to assist transporting healthy omega-3 fats into your mitochondria. As we get older, it also helps to reduce inflammation, and citrus bioflavonoids aid in your metabolic health and respiration too.
- EXERCISE AEROBICALLY– oxygen is stored in mitochondrial cells, hence your brain mitochondria require a lot of oxygen. Exercising aerobically, whereby you aren’t completely out of breath, helps your brain health. How we develop more mitochondria and improve their function as we age, is through daily aerobic exercise.
- MINDFULNESS MATTERS in MENOPAUSE – 80% of all nerves in the brain need glutamate in order to transmit nerve impulses but chronic stress negatively impacts glutamate production. Glutamate is important to memory, cognition, and mood regulation and both exercise and mindfulness have a strong impact on brain glutamate levels. (Pal, 2021).
- STAY CONNECTED … social isolation affects brain mitochondrial health but positive social interaction helps to buffer stress. That’s why I have the private coaching community for women on my programmes. They never know who they are going to meet!
Understanding Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Menopause Brain Fog
Menopause hormonal changes, stress, poor nutrition, and ageing, disrupt mitochondria’s many functions.
This is why longevity and health researchers are finding that when it comes to our metabolism, energy production, immune health repair and regeneration, our tiny mitochondria matter more than we think.
Mitochondrial dysfunction appears in a wide range of brain and other health disorders and during menopause, mitochondrial dysfunction can accelerate.
Over the last decade, accumulating evidence has suggested a causative link between mitochondrial dysfunction and ageing and yes, declining levels of oestrogen has a role to play in this. [Henderson & Brinton, 2010; Lejri et al, 2018;
Whilst millions of women find relief from their menopause brain fog and mood swings with oestrogen replacement medications and/or anti-depressants, and whilst there seems to be a window of opportunity in peri menopause to take Menopause-HRT, making changes to our lifestyle to help maintain healthy mitochondria is important, as Professor Sarnyai reminds us as well.
Numerous changes occur around the body during and after menopause. These changes are perfectly normal … until they aren’t and start to impact your quality of life.
That’s the purpose of the 12 week programmes that I’ve designed for you. I hope you can join me on whichever programme suits you, or start easy with my Masterclass on Menopause webinar. I tell you about it in the video below.
Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD)/ Member: Australasian & British Societies of Lifestyle Medicine
References:
Arida RM, Teixeira-Machado L. The Contribution of Physical Exercise to Brain Resilience. Front Behav Neurosci. 2021 Jan 20;14:626769. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2020.626769.
Bennett, S. (2016). Mighty Mito: Power up your mitochondria. Amazon Books: Santa Monica: USA
Berger M., Juster RP., Sarnyai Z. (2015). Mental health consequences of stress and trauma: allostatic load markers for practice and policy with a focus on Indigenous health. Australas Psychiatry. 23(6):644-9. doi: 10.1177/1039856215608281.
Bjørklund G, Dadar M, Pen JJ, Chirumbolo S, Aaseth J. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): Suggestions for a nutritional treatment in the therapeutic approach. Biomed Pharmacother. 2019 Jan;109:1000-1007. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.10.076. Epub 2018 Nov 5. PMID: 30551349.
Eyre HA, Lundin R, Falcão VP, Berk M, Hawrot T, Leboyer M, Destrebecq F, Sarnyai Z, Reynolds C 3rd, Lavretsky H, Kolappa K, Cummings J. Brain Health Is a Determinant of Mental Health. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2023 May; 31(5):379-381. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2023.02.005.
Fadó R, Molins A, Rojas R, Casals N. Feeding the Brain: Effect of Nutrients on Cognition, Synaptic Function, and AMPA Receptors. Nutrients. 2022 Oct 5;14(19):4137. doi: 10.3390/nu14194137. PMID: 36235789; PMCID: PMC9572450.
Filler, K., Lyon, D., Bennett, J., McCain, N., Elswick, R., Lukkahatai, N., & Saligan, L. N. (2014). Association of Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Fatigue: A Review of the Literature. BBA clinical, 1, 12–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbacli.2014.04.001
Henderson, V. W., & Brinton, R. D. (2010). Menopause and mitochondria: windows into estrogen effects on Alzheimer’s disease risk and therapy. Progress in brain research, 182, 77–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(10)82003-5
Kwon, D. (2021). Could Mitochondria Be the Key to a Healthy Brain? Scientific American. Publ. June 18th, 2021.
Lejri, I., Grimm, A., & Eckert, A. (2018). Mitochondria, Estrogen and Female Brain Aging. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 10, 124. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00124
Malliou, F., Andriopoulou, C. E., Kofinas, A., Katsogridaki, A., Leondaritis, G., Gonzalez, F. J., Michaelidis, T. M., Darsinou, M., Skaltsounis, L. A., & Konstandi, M. (2023). Oleuropein Promotes Neural Plasticity and Neuroprotection via PPARα-Dependent and Independent Pathways. Biomedicines, 11(8), 2250.
Melhuish Beaupre LM, Brown GM, Braganza NA, Kennedy JL, Gonçalves VF. (2022). Mitochondria’s role in sleep: Novel insights from sleep deprivation and restriction studies. World J Biol Psychiatry. 23(1):1-13.
Micheli, L., Bertini, L., Bonato, A., Villanova, N., Caruso, C., Caruso, M., Bernini, R., & Tirone, F. (2023). Role of Hydroxytyrosol and Oleuropein in the Prevention of Aging and Related Disorders: Focus on Neurodegeneration, Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction and Gut Microbiota. Nutrients, 15(7), 1767. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15071767
Menopause Brain Fog: Frequently Asked Questions
Menopause brain fog refers to cognitive symptoms such as memory lapses, forgetfulness, and mental fatigue that occur during menopause. These symptoms are often caused by hormonal shifts and changes in mitochondrial function in the brain.
Yes, many women experience brain fog in peri menopause due to fluctuating hormone levels and stress-related impacts on brain mitochondria. This often presents as reduced concentration, forgetfulness, and mood changes.
Menopause-related brain fog can be caused by declining estrogen levels, stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, and mitochondrial dysfunction, all of which affect cognitive performance.
Yes, managing stress, eating a Mediterranean-style diet, staying socially connected, getting regular aerobic exercise, and avoiding alcohol can all help reduce menopause brain fog.
For some women, estrogen therapy may help relieve brain fog. However, lifestyle strategies to support mitochondrial health are also highly effective, especially during peri menopause.
