3-Why Your Brain Forgot the Word for ‘Colander’- Menopause brain fog: what it is, why it happens, and what actually helps

In this episode:

Brain fog is the symptom that terrifies women most because it looks like early dementia. It almost certainly isn’t. I explain the oestrogen-brain connection, why your word retrieval has gone missing, the five things making your fog worse (you probably have all five running simultaneously), and the surprisingly simple protocol that helps. This is the episode to send to the woman who’s scared she’s losing her mind. She’s not.

Your One Thing this week:

Drink two litres of water today. Just water. Track how your brain feels by 5pm. If dehydration is even part of your fog, and for most women it is, you’ll notice it.

Links:

→ Grab the free 5 Riviera Standards Starter Guide: https://rivieramenopausemethod.kit.com/5-riviera-standards

→ Follow Riviera Menopause on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rivieramenopause/

If this episode helped, send it to someone who needs it.

Transcript

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I was in the kitchen, I was cooking, and I needed the you know, the thing. The thing with the holes the bowl thing you drain the pasta with. And I stood there holding it, looking at it, and my brain just would not give me the word. It offered me alternatives. My brain just went, pasta drainer, nope. Spaghetti stopper, nope. Hole bowl, absolutely not. Noodle hat, I mean technically, but no. And I stood there for probably 15 seconds, which doesn't sound long, but when you're standing in your own kitchen, unable to name a basic household object, fifteen seconds feels like a geological era. Collander. The word was colander. And I laughed. And then I didn't laugh. Because underneath the noodle hat moment there was a much quieter, much scarier thought, which was Is this the start of something? Is this how it begins? Am I losing my mind? If you've ever had that thought, this episode is for you. And the answer, spoiler alert, it almost certainly no. Pull up a chair. I'm Laura, this is the Riviera Menopause podcast, and today we're talking about brain fog. The word finding failures, the walked into a room I forgot why moments, the reading the same paragraph four times thing, the I used to be sharp and now I feel like I'm thinking through treacle thing. I want to do three things in this episode. First, I want to address the fear because the fear is the worst part and it's almost always unfounded. Second, I want to explain what's actually happening in your brain, and third, I want to give you specific things you can do about it starting today. Let's go. Let's start by naming the thing nobody wants to say. And let me just say it because I think someone needs to. You're scared this is dementia. You're scared this is the beginning of something progressive and terrible and unfixable. You've probably Googled early-onset Alzheimer symptoms at least once in the last six months, probably at 3 a.m., maybe more than once, and you haven't told anyone. Because saying it out loud makes it feel more real, and because you're worried that if you mention it to your GP, they'll do a test, and the test will confirm the thing you're dreading. I hear you. And I need you to hear this. Menopause, brain fog, and dementia are not the same thing. They do not feel the same, they do not behave the same, and the research is very clear that the cognitive changes of perimenopause and menopause are, for the vast majority of women, temporary and improvable. Temporary and improvable, let me say that again. The brain fog you're experiencing is not a permanent decline. It's a temporary disruption caused by specific identifiable changes in your body. And when you address those changes, the fog lifts. I'm not dismissing it, it's real. It's distressing, it makes you feel like you can't trust your own brain. And for a woman who's built her career and her life on being sharp, that's a particular kind of grief. I felt it. I know you're feeling it. And if you're genuinely worried, please see your doctor. That's always the right thing to do. But I can tell you that in the vast majority of cases, what you're experiencing is menopause brain fog, and it gets better. I promise you. I need you to stay with me on this because I know that the fear is loud and I know that the fear makes you want to stop listening and start googling again, but don't. Stay here. Let me explain what's actually happening, and then let's talk about what you can do because there is a lot you can do, believe it or not. So I guess the question is, why is your brain struggling right now? So let me explain what's going on because once you understand this, the fear loses a lot of its power. Your brain is full of estrogen receptors, loads of them, particularly in the areas responsible for memory, word retrieval, and processing speed. Estrogen is basically premium fuel for your brain. It supports the production of neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, which is your memory and learning chemical, and it promotes blood flow to the brain and it supports the connections between brain cells. So when estrogen levels start to decline and fluctuate, which is exactly what happens in perimenopause and menopause, your brain notices. It's like switching from premium fuel to the cheap stuff. The engine still runs, but it's not as smooth. Words get lost, thoughts get fuzzy. You read the same email three times, still don't know what it said, and you have read the instructions in that recipe book, goodness knows how many times, and you're still not sure if it says teaspoon or tablespoon. And here's the important bit, your brain adapts. Research shows that over time the brain finds alternative pathways. It learns to run on the new fuel mix, which is why for most women, the worst of the brain fog is during the transition, during the fluctuation, and it improves as the body finds a new baseline. You're not in permanent decline, you're in transition. And there is an enormous, important, reassuring difference between those two things. However, there are things making your brain fog worse. And here's where it gets practical, because while estrogen decline is the underlying driver of brain fog, there are five things that amplify it. And most menopause, all women have all five running simultaneously, which is why the fog feels so blimmin thick. Number one, poor sleep. If you listen to episode one, you know about the 3am wake ups. Deep sleep is when your brain does its housekeeping. There's a system called the lymphatic system that literally washes toxic proteins out of your brain while you sleep. If you're not getting quality deep sleep, that cleansing system can't do its job, and your brain feels it. Number two, chronic stress. Cortisol. Your stress hormone at consistently high levels actively impairs the prefrontal cortex. That's the part of your brain responsible for clear thinking, decision making, and you guessed it, word retrieval. High cortisol quite literally makes you less able to think clearly. It's not a metaphor, it's neuroscience. Number three, inflammation. When your body is in a chronic low-grade inflammatory state, which is common in menopause because estrogen was suppressing inflammatory pathways and now it's not, that inflammation reaches the brain. Neuroinflammation is one of the key drivers of brain fog. Your brain's not just foggy, it's inflamed. Number four is gut health. And I know, I know, everything comes back to gut health these days, but there is a genuine reason for that. Your gut and your brain are connected via the vagus nerve, and your gut produces a significant amount of your serotonin and other neurotransmitters. And if your gut microbiome is disruptive, which happens in menopause, your brain chemistry is affected. And finally, number five, this is the one that frustrates me the most because it's so simple, dehydration. Most women are not drinking enough water, not even close. Dehydration mimics brain fog almost exactly. Difficulty concentrating, word-finding problems, fatigue, low mood, you might not have a brain problem, you might have a water problem. Five multipliers sleep, stress, inflammation, gut health, and hydration. And here's what I want you to notice. These aren't five separate problems, they're connected. Poor sleep raises cortisol. High cortisol increases inflammation. Inflammation disrupts the gut, a disrupted gut affects the brain, and none of it works well when you're dehydrated. It's a system. Everything is a system. Right, so we know what's causing it, and what do we do about it? So here are five things that make real measurable difference to brain fog, and not one of them is a 40 supplement. First, hydration. I'm putting this first because it's the easiest and the most overlooked. Two litres of water a day, minimum. Not tea, not coffee, not the water that's technically your diet coke. Water. Actual water. H2O water. If you do nothing else from this episode, drink more water. I've seen women's brain fog reduce significantly just from this, and it's genuinely that impactful and genuinely that simple. Second, omega-3 fatty acid. Your brain is about 60% fat and it needs specific fats to function. Omega-3, particularly DHA, supports brain cell membranes, reduces neuroinflammation, and supports neurotransmitter production. Oily fish twice a week, or a good quality omega-3 supplement. This is one of the few supplements where the evidence is strong enough for me to recommend it without hesitation. Third, sleep quality, not just quantity. This means an evening wind damn routine, and I'm not talking about an elaborate spa ritual here. I'm talking about reducing bright light after 9 pm. Screens arm's length orb, ideally off. A cool bedroom, a consistent bedtime, boring, yes, effective, profoundly. Your brain needs deep sleep to clear itself. Give it the conditions to do that. And if you're anything like me and have a mild to middling phone addiction, plug your phone into charge in a different room, possibly on another floor, because when you realise that you actually have to get up to look at it, it's suddenly not so appealing when your nice warm bed is still beckoning. Fourth, anti-inflammatory eating. More colour on your plate, more vegetables, particularly dark leafy greens and brightly coloured ones, more olive oil, less ultra-processed food, less added sugar. This isn't a diet, it's a shift. You're lowering the inflammatory load on your entire body, and your brain is part of your body, so that benefits too. And fifth move. I know you're tired, I know, I know. But even a 20-minute walk increases blood flow to the brain, it reduces cortisol, and it improves cognitive function for hours afterwards. You don't need to run a marathon, you don't need to go full-on beast mode here, you just need to walk around the block regularly. The research on exercise and brain function and menopause is overwhelming. Just move, and I know it's hard to get started, but I promise you, if you start, so much will improve as a result. You will never go back. Now I want to point something out because I really think this matters. None of those five things is complicated. None of them requires a prescription. None of them costs a fortune. Water, omega-3, better sleep habits, more vegetables, a daily walk. That's the fog clearing protocol. It's not glamorous, it's not sexy, there's no superfood powder involved, and no one's going to make a TikTok about it that gets a million views. But it works consistently for most women. I also want you to notice something about that list. It's not just fixing brain fog. Drinking more water helps your energy, your skin, your digestion. Omega-3 helps your joints, your mood, your heart. Better sleep helps everything. Anti-inflammatory eating helps everything again. Moving helps everything again. When you address the foundations, you don't just clear the fog. You clear the lot. That's not a coincidence. That's how your body works. It's one system. Fix the foundations and the whole house will stabilize. Your one thing this week, and I'm going to keep this almost aggressively simple. Drink two litres of water today. Just water. Keep a bottle with you. Refill it, track it if you need to, and at 5 pm ask yourself, does my brain feel any different? That's it. Two litres, one day, see what happens. I mean, for the first day or two, you'll probably be peeing like a racehorse because your body won't adjust. But after day two, your body will adjust. See what happens. Because if dehydration is even part of your fog, and for most women it certainly is, you'll notice it. And that tiny evidence of improvement is what builds the belief that your brain is not broken. It just needs different things from you now. I want to finish by saying something that I think needs saying. The brain fog is scary, I know. It's scary because it touches your identity. You were the woman who was sharp, quick, on it, and feeling that slip even temporarily is deeply unsettling. But you're not losing yourself. Your brain is asking for specific things that it isn't currently getting. Sleep, hydration, anti-inflammatory support, lower stress. That's not a diagnosis, that's a to-do list, and it's a very manageable one. What I find really hopeful about this, and I genuinely do find it hopeful, is that brain fog, the 3am wake-ups, the energy crash we talked about last week, they all respond to the same core shifts. Fix your blood sugar, lower your cortisol, reduce inflammation, hydrate, sleep properly. And multiple symptoms improve at once. It's the same foundations, that's the whole premise of everything I teach. Next week we're going somewhere brave. We're talking about alcohol. Specifically, what that glass of wine is doing to your body now that it wasn't doing ten years ago. I'm not going to tell you to stop, but I am going to tell you the truth, and then you get to decide. So if this episode helped you feel less scared about your brain, please send it to someone who needs it. There's a woman in your life right now who's quietly terrified that she's losing her mind. She's not. Send her this. I'm Laura. This is the Riviera menopause, and your brain is going to be fine, I promise you. So for now, this is me signing off with love from Monaco. I'll see you next week.