It’s part of life, part of ageing, part of being a woman.

The best option for women is to keep a ‘this too shall pass’ or something similar to a ‘close your eyes and think of England’ kind of attitude while going through it.

American actor Halle Berry’s famous words in a press conference in 2024 outside the Capitol Hill building, “I am in menopause, OK?” got the world’s attention.

In the medical world, menopause has always just been a side note.

Women have learnt to bear it; doctors are trained to ignore it.

So let’s look at some facts.

Whether it is peri- or post-menopause, brought on naturally with the passage of time, or suddenly due to medical interventions, it is a monumental biological transition.

One of the many vital systems in the body is shutting down.

The system shutting down is, of course, the reproductive system, the one responsible for producing extremely vital hormones since birth, and this next part should be in all caps, directly related to not just reproduction but brain, heart, bone, and musculoskeletal health among others.

How can this profound event not affect the mind and body? Two hormones — oestrogen and progesterone — are depleted as women enter menopause.

Let’s only discuss oestrogen for now, as it is the more vital of the two.

And let’s start with one aspect of its role: oestrogen and the brain.

Simply put, oestrogen or more accurately, estradiol, gives energy to the brain.

When oestrogen is depleted, brain energy is depleted.

According to research, by the time women reach post-menopause, almost 30 per cent of their brain energy has been depleted.

Neurons slow down, potentially leading to brain fog, poor memory, word retrieval problems, low mood/ depression, heightened anxiety, and panic attacks, among other debilitating symptoms.

Women have learnt to bear it; doctors are trained to ignore it.

It’s a neuro-endocrine event in its full glory.

And before one attributes some of these symptoms to the emotions ignited by the depravity of our world leaders these days — a valid reason indeed for the frequent bouts of grief and....