How to stop the wheels falling off when brain fog and Christmas collide.

December can make even the most organised of us feel like we’re losing the plot. The gift buying, meal planning, endless Christmassy events, and dare we say somewhat strained visits with relatives?!

Now add in some hormonal forgetfulness, word finding problems, mental fatigue and a distracted fuzzy feeling you can’t shake, and you may just have a festive fiacso on your hands… not to mention finding your pigs in blankets still in the freezer in January and an unwrapped gift in the back of the wardrobe the following July.

In November, discussions around brain fog came to the fore when journalist, Zoe Kleinman opened up on social media about her need to hold notes when reporting live on the BBC and she received a huge response from women having similar experiences at work (read the BBC article).

What is brain fog?

As you may know, brain fog is a general umbrella term rather than a specific symptom of peri/menopause. It includes several cognitive changes like memory lapses, forgetting words and names, feeling you’re on a ‘go-slow’ mentally and lacking your usual sharpness of thought.

Hormones play a huge role in brain function and help regulate our mood, memory, focus, and even how efficiently our brain cells burn fuel. When hormone levels drop as they do during perimenopause and menopause, it can affect the connections between different parts of the brain, how quickly our brain cells repair and can even affect blood flow in our brain. In reality, these effects can show up in all manner of ways, such as calling your partner the dog’s name, leaving your keys in the door, and turning up on the wrong day for an appointment.

So remember, it’s not “just you”, it’s your brain reacting to real hormonal shifts taking place in your body.

Read more about brain fog and brain health at menopause in our resource our brain fog and brain health guide.

The interplay with mood and emotions

Brain fog can coincide with changes to your mood and emotions and it may feel like the two feed off each other and negatively affect your wellbeing as a result. It’s common to feel frustrated by a perceived inability to do things as well as you usually do, which can spill over into a general irritability including with those around you. The mental fatigue and foggy feeling may lower your mood further and affect how much pleasure you get out of activities you enjoy like films or books when you can’t remember characters’ names or plot points.

Christmas seems to be a pressure point for many peri/menopausal women that are already struggling with low mood, anxiety or stress and overwhelm because of the additional mental load, social occasions that stretch us out of our comfort zone, perhaps loneliness or relationship problems coming to the fore and many other reasons.

Our booklet on Mood and Emotions has lots of advice and tips to look after yourself that are especially relevant for this time of year. Or have a read of our blogs about your relationship or managing low mood.

How to stop brain fog ruining your Christmas!

Firstly, make sure you have the basics covered well…these are the midlife equivalent of lining your stomach before a big night out!

• Sleep and rest: Your brain needs time to repair and reset. Prioritise good sleep, try and stick to helpful going to bed and waking up times as much as possible. Maybe try a magnesium supplement if you don’t take one already. 
• Move your body: Exercise boosts blood flow to the brain, lifts mood, and sharpens memory. Even lighter movement like walking or kitchen disco dancing can help. 
• Useful food: A balanced diet rich in veggies and good fats, and low on processed foods gives steady energy for your brain. Brain-friendly foods include oily fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and leafy greens.
• Stay hydrated: Dehydration not only causes brain fog but headaches, fatigue, and poor concentration. So keep swigging your water bottle, don’t rely solely on tea and coffee and remember alcohol dehydrates you!
• Plan and structure: Chronic stress keeps your nervous system in fight-or-flight mode. When cortisol (the ‘stress’ hormone’) stays high, memory and focus can suffer. Give yourself extra time to complete tasks, pace your plan of events and activities bearing in mind your limits for overwhelm. Outsource your memory load to diaries, lists, apps and reminders in whatever form works best for you.
• Be kind to yourself: This is a big one. Reflect on the expectations you put on yourself at Christmas, ask for help from others, let go of little things, consider changing up the traditions so they are less demanding of you. And most importantly, give yourself a break, talking to yourself with kindness and compassion. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you’re doing your best.

You could also try tracking patterns of your brain fog as it is often influenced by sleep quality, stress levels, menstrual cycle (if you still have a cycle), workload, diet, and other hormone changes. See if there are some tweaks you could make to your routines if there are identifiable triggers that exacerbate your brain fog.

If you want to keep the neurons firing, try learning a new skill like a language or musical instrument, take up a creative hobby or listen to some stimulating audiobooks or podcasts – anything that gets your brain thinking in new ways.

Can hormones help brain fog?

Research doesn’t give us a direct and clear ‘yes’ on this one as yet, but HRT can certainly help the symptoms that contribute to brain fog such as hot flushes and poor sleep. This is why we say HRT, with the possible addition of testosterone, may help with some of these cognitive symptoms of menopause, perhaps not directly but indirectly, contributing to an overall improvement in mental wellbeing and performance.

You may like to follow experts such as Pauline Macki who has studied the effects of HRT on the brain for the last two decades.

What works for one woman may not suit another of course, which is why it’s always important to talk through your symptoms with a health professional experienced in menopause and take the time to find the right type of hormones, at the right dose, via the best delivery method for you. It’s not necessarily about getting “back to normal” but about finding a balance that seems manageable while your brain transitions.

So with the right combination of healthy lifestyle habits, hormone therapy if you choose, and a whole lot of self-love, it’s totally possible for you to have a Christmas that isn’t about perfection but is immeasurably more enjoyable for you and your family.

Last updated: May 2026