Ten years younger: HRT can combat menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, mood changes and loss of sex driveHormone replacement therapy can rejuvenate the brain, say researchers.
Tests suggest the drugs make the brains of women in their 50s and 60s work more like those of younger women.
The study showed women taking HRT were better able to carry out tasks involving fine motor co-ordination, compared with those of a similar age who were not.
Around one million women in the UK take hormone replacement therapy, which replaces sex hormones such as oestrogen when natural supplies start to dwindle in the 50s.
It can combat menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, mood changes and loss of sex drive.
The Durham University researchers hope their study will pave the way to testing whether sex hormones can make the brain more resistant to damage from strokes or other injuries.
Studies have shown that women tend to use both halves of their brain more equally compared to men, who tend to have a more dominant side.
The Durham researchers, whose findings were published in the academic journal, Hormones and Behavior, suggest this may be partly because of the level of sex hormones.
Sixty-two post-menopausal women were split into three groups – one taking hormone therapy with only oestrogen, one with a combination of oestrogen and synthetic progesterone, and one without HRT.
They were asked to tap buttons with their fingers in certain orders of varying difficulties.
The women had to complete any given sequence five times on each hand within ten seconds.
An example of a relatively complex sequence would be index finger, ring finger, middle finger, small finger.
Researcher Dr Ulrike Bayer said: ‘Right-handers usually perform better with their dominant right hand compared with the left hand.
Brain food: Tests suggest HRT drugs make the brains of women in their 50s and 60s work more like those of younger womenWhen both hands perform more equally, it is a sign that the two brain halves are interacting more and this was found to be more pronounced in women taking hormone therapy.’
Many women stopped taking HRT after research from the Women’s Health Initiative study in the U.S. in 2002 found a slight increase in breast cancer.
Guidance to doctors says women should take HRT for the shortest time possible, but that it is effective against symptoms of the menopause.
Dr John Stevenson, chairman of Women Health Concern charity, said many women found they had better cognitive function when they started taking HRT.
He said: ‘There is a genuine effect bringing about these improvements, it is not a placebo effect as this new study helps to demonstrate.
‘As well as obvious symptoms caused by oestrogen deficiency such as hot flushes and night sweats, there are subtle impairments to brain structure and brain function.
But it seems to be reversible if HRT is taken at an early stage in the menopause.’
source: dailymail
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