Women going through menopause may question whether what appear to be frequent memory lapses are connected to the change of life. For the first time, medical researchers have determined the answer is "yes."
 

A new study published online in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society, confirms with objective tests that what menopausal women say about their memory lapses is absolutely true.

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Past studies of hot flashes and memory problems have been inconclusive. But the new research, conduced by scientists from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University in Chicago, subjected 68 menopausal women to a battery of eight tests of attention and recall. The women, who had at least 35 hot flashes a week, also completed questionnaires about their menopause symptoms, mood, and memory.
 

The results showed women who said they had trouble with memory really did, based on objective measurements. In addition, those who had more trouble with hot flashes did worse on the tests. Women with more hot flashes also struggled longer with memory problems than those without.
 

The study was funded, in part, by the National Institute of Health’s Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.