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• Posted March 16, 2026

Loneliness, Social Isolation Impact Brain Health Among Women Entering Menopause

Loneliness can impact a woman’s brain health as she begins menopause, a new study says.

Loneliness and social isolation are both linked to the cognitive decline a woman feels as she begins to transition into menopause, researchers recently reported in the journal Menopause.

Further, women experiencing both loneliness and social isolation are at greatest risk for brain decline, researchers found.

Moderate to severe loneliness combined with social isolation increased a woman’s risk of cognitive decline by eightfold, while mild loneliness nearly tripled her risk in combination with social isolation, the study found.

“Our study revealed that loneliness and social isolation were not only independently associated with subjective cognitive decline but also exhibited a joint relationship in perimenopausal women,” concluded the research team led by senior researcher Ping Li, a professor at the Shandong University School of Nursing and Rehabilitation in China.

“These findings highlight the importance of psychosocial factors in cognitive health during the menopause transition,” researchers added.

For the new study, researchers tracked more than 900 women in perimenopause — the time leading up to menopause. Typically, it occurs between ages 45 and 55.

During this period, estrogen levels start to fluctuate and women start experiencing symptoms like hot flashes and sleep problems.

Participants filled out online questionnaires to gauge their feelings of loneliness, while their social isolation was calculated using a scale that measures the size of a person’s social networks.

Researchers compared those results to women’s self-reported level of brain power, including memory, attention and processing speed.

Both loneliness and social isolation contributed to cognitive decline, alone and in combination, researchers found.

“This suggests a synergistic relationship, where the emotional deprivation associated with loneliness and the lack of social resources caused by social isolation may jointly constitute a compound burden on cognitive health through different but mutually reinforcing pathways,” researchers wrote.

Loneliness might affect brain health by promoting inflammation related to anxiety or depression, researchers speculated. Likewise, social isolation might reduce the amount of brain stimulation a person receives.

“The findings of this study highlight the importance of psychosocial factors in cognitive health during the menopause transition and may inform the development of multidimensional psychosocial interventions targeting persons at risk for subjective cognitive decline during this time,” Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society, said in a news release. Faubion was not involved in the study.

More information

The Women’s Brain Health Initiative has more on how menopause affects the brain.

SOURCES: The Menopause Society, news release, March 11, 2026; Menopause, March 11, 2026