---
title: "Menopause Society Annual Meeting 2026 Takeaways"
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lastmod: "2026-11-02T15:47:26.000Z"
---

Menopause Care Is Whole-Body Care: What You Need to Know

Perimenopause and menopause are about more than hot flashes, and hormone therapy is only one part of care. This is a time when your body's needs change, and a good plan can help you stay strong, sharp, and independent.

### Why This Stage Matters

Menopause is a turning point for your heart, bones, muscles, and metabolism. Some risks speed up during this transition. The good news is that knowing your numbers early gives you the chance to change the path you're on.

Our goal is independence, resiliency and prevention : staying strong, steady on your feet, resilient to injury, and metabolically healthy for the long run.

Your Muscles and Bones

After menopause, muscle mass drops by about 1–1.5%. Muscle strength and function can decline too. This is called sarcopenia, and it becomes much more common as perimenopause progresses.

Bone loss is fastest in the last years of perimenopause and the first year after your final period. Over the transition, you may lose around 10% of your bone density.

Routine bone density (DEXA) scans usually don't start until age 65. If you have risk factors, it's worth asking about earlier screening so we can plan ahead.

### Exercise: It's Never Too Late

You can see benefits no matter where you start. Research shows that strength training can increase muscle and reduce body fat. This happens when we consider the nutritional needs of building protein (aka your body's protein needs).

Aim to do both types of exercise:

Strength training builds muscle and bone and improves how your body handles blood sugar.

Aerobic exercise (walking, cycling, swimming) supports heart health, blood pressure, cholesterol, and thinking skills.

Studies like LIFTMOR suggest that combining the two is better for bone than either alone.

### Stress, Sleep, and Mood

Estrogen and progesterone help regulate your mood, sleep, and stress response. As they change, your body can become more sensitive to stress and slower to recover.

Stress and menopause symptoms feed each other. Stress can make hot flashes, poor sleep, anxiety, brain fog, and mood swings worse. Those symptoms then add more stress.

Life is often changing at the same time: your career, your family roles, your identity, and the needs of aging parents. 

Creating a plan that considers these factors, obstacles and stress resiliency need to be a part of the conversation.

### Brain Fog and Memory

Many women (about 40–60%) notice memory or focus changes, often in early perimenopause. This is common, and for most women, testing shows thinking skills stay in the normal range.

The brain you bring into menopause influences the brain you bring out. Sleep, exercise, stress, and past life experiences all play a role, and many of these can be improved.

What about hormone therapy? Research is reassuring in some situations:

If menopause happens early because of surgery, hormone therapy may protect memory.

Estrogen alone has shown no evidence of harm to thinking.

Starting combined hormone therapy later in life (after 65) may carry cognitive risk.

The current position of the Menopause Society remains: Menopausal Hormonal Therapy (MHT) should not be used for dementia prevention.

### Heart Health and Hormone Timing

Heart disease risk climbs during the menopause transition. Standard cholesterol numbers don't tell the whole story. We also look at apoB and lipoprotein(a), which give a clearer picture of your risk.

Timing matters for hormone therapy. It appears to be safest and most beneficial for the heart when started earlier, before artery plaque builds up. Starting later, when arteries may already be diseased, is not helpful. This applies to starting therapy, not continuing it.

Being clear on your individual risk - both 10-year and 30-year- can help us paint a picture on what strategies should be in place. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women in the US, and menopause is an inflection point - this needs to be screened and a part of every menopause or perimenopause intake.

There was MUCH more covered, but we'll leave it at these key points for now. 

If you're entering this transition or have questions about it, I want to cut the noise and make a clear plan for you. Book a discovery call to learn more.

In Health,

Dr. Ashley Damm, ND MSCP

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