Menopause & Midlife Research
Humans peak in overall functioning in midlife
Some positive news about getting older! While reasoning, memory and speed of processing of information tend to peak between the ages of 18-22yrs, this study found that overall functioning peaks in midlife around the age 55-60yrs. This includes things like emotional intelligence, moral reasoning and financial literacy. It is suggested this period of midlife may be the best time for roles such as in leadership and where emotional intelligence is important.
Gilles E. Gignaca, MJ.(2025) Humans peak in midlife: A combined cognitive and personality trait perspective. Intelligence, September, 101961.
Self-compassion in weight managment
Being kind to oneself when times are difficult and stressful may help people who are struggling with their weight management. In those studies where participants practised self-compassion, there were improvements in eating behaviours, physical activity behaviours and weight loss. Even more importantly these improvements were maintained in follow ups of those in the physical activity study.
Brenton-Peters et al. (2021). Self-compassion in weight management: A systematic review. Nov:150:110617. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2021.110617. Epub 2021 Sep 16.
Sleep quality and postmenopause
Many menopausal women report that sleep is one of the biggest things they struggle with.
This study of Indonesian women found that while stress and menopause symptoms together had the most impact on sleep quality, age, education level, anxiety level, and whether women had good social supports were also found to be important considerations to explore. This finding would make sense to a lot of menopausal women!
Susanti HD et al. (2025). Unraveling the factors shaping sleep quality among postmenopasual women in Indonesia. Sleep Science, 18(4):387-396.
