Jeanette Hunter · Executive Function Coach
Executive function during perimenopause and menopause
If you have noticed that your memory, focus, or ability to organise yourself has become significantly harder in recent years, and you are in your late thirties, forties, or fifties, it is very possible that perimenopause or menopause is playing a significant role. Many women reach this stage without any support for the cognitive changes they are experiencing.
Coaching cannot change your hormones or reverse the transition you are going through. What it can do is help you understand what is happening, explore what might make things more manageable, and build strategies that work for how your brain is functioning right now.
This is true for everyone, and it is often particularly pronounced for women who are also neurodivergent, where existing executive function challenges can become significantly more noticeable during these hormonal shifts. If you are going through any of these hormonal changes, this page is for you, whatever your gender. The language here tends to reflect how most people search for this topic, but the experiences described are shared by women, trans men, non-binary people, and others navigating the same hormonal changes.
This might sound familiar if...
You walk into a room and have absolutely no idea why you went there, more frequently than you ever used to.
Words that you know perfectly well simply will not come when you need them.
Your concentration has become unreliable in a way that feels genuinely alarming if you do not know what is causing it.
You feel emotionally reactive in ways that do not feel like you, and find it harder to regulate your responses than you used to.
Tasks that used to feel manageable now feel genuinely overwhelming, and you are not sure why.
You are more disorganised than you used to be and cannot seem to get on top of things the way you once could.
Sleep disruption is making everything harder, and the cognitive effects of tiredness are compounding everything else.
What is happening
Why perimenopause and menopause affect executive function
Oestrogen plays a significant role in supporting cognitive function, including memory, processing speed, and the ability to focus and regulate emotions. During perimenopause, oestrogen levels begin to fluctuate unpredictably before eventually declining. During menopause, they drop more consistently. Both of these hormonal shifts can have a direct and noticeable effect on executive function.
The result is often described as brain fog, but it is more specific than that. What many people experience is a genuine change in working memory, the ability to hold information in mind, sustained attention, emotional regulation, and the capacity to plan and organise in the way they used to.
This is a physiological response, not a personal failing and not an inevitable slide. Understanding what is happening neurologically is often the first step towards feeling less frightened by it, and towards finding practical ways to work with it.
If you are also neurodivergent
ADHD, autism, and the menopause transition
For women with ADHD or autism, perimenopause and menopause can bring a particularly significant shift. Oestrogen has a regulatory effect on dopamine, which is already differently processed in ADHD brains. As oestrogen declines, many women with ADHD find that symptoms they had previously managed reasonably well become significantly harder to handle, sometimes for the first time in their adult lives.
For autistic women, the menopause transition can affect sensory tolerance, flexibility, and emotional regulation in ways that compound existing challenges. It is also a period during which many women receive a late autism diagnosis, having masked successfully for decades and finding that their capacity to do so has reduced.
If this resonates, executive function coaching that understands both the hormonal and neurodivergent dimensions of your experience can be particularly useful.
What's going on
Which executive functions are most affected
The executive functions most commonly affected during perimenopause and menopause include:
What could be different
What coaching can open up
Coaching does not hand you a fixed set of answers. The aim is to help you explore what might work for you, drawing on your own insight and ideas first, with input and strategies from me at relevant points in your coaching journey, and all within a neuroscience-based framework. What that looks like is different for everyone, but common areas people explore include:
Working with memory changes
Exploring what helps reduce cognitive load and support memory when it is less reliable than it used to be.
Emotional regulation
Understanding why emotional responses may have shifted and exploring what helps you feel more steady.
Managing energy differently
Exploring how to structure your days around how your energy and focus actually work right now.
Self-compassion and understanding
Reframing what is happening as a physiological transition rather than a personal decline.
Explore further
You might also find these helpful
A NOTE ON POSSIBILITY - NEUROPLASTICITY
What neuroplasticity means for you
For a long time, it was believed that the brain was largely fixed by adulthood. We now know that Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new connections and adapt, continues throughout life.
It does take longer in adults than in children, and it requires consistent, repeated practice rather than a single step. But, it is possible! The strategies we co-create in coaching aren’t just workarounds (although you may choose to make some environmental adaptions) they’re ways of gradually rewiring how your brain approaches the things that have always felt hard.
Understanding your executive functions is where that process begins.
Curious about what executive function coaching could offer you?
A free discovery call is a good place to start. No commitment, just a conversation about where you are and what might help.
The content on this page draws on established research into hormones, cognition, and executive function. Key sources include:
Greendale, G.A., et al. (2009). Effects of the menopause transition and hormone use on cognitive performance in midlife women. Neurology, 72(21), 1850-1857.
Hampson, E. (2018). Estrogens, aging, and working memory. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(12), 109.
Sherwin, B.B. (2003). Estrogen and cognitive functioning in women. Endocrine Reviews, 24(2), 133-151.
Mishra, G.D. and Kuh, D. (2012). Health symptoms during midlife in relation to menopausal transition: British prospective cohort study. BMJ, 344, e402.
Chapman, L., Gupta, K., Hunter, M.S. and Dommett, E.J. (2025). Examining the link between ADHD symptoms and menopausal experiences. Journal of Attention Disorders.
This page reflects general research findings and is intended for informational purposes. It is not a substitute for medical advice. If you have concerns about cognitive changes during perimenopause or menopause, speaking to your GP is a good first step.
