This October’s World Menopause Awareness Month is a perfect time to announce the result of a recent pilot on use of an at-home brain stimulation device. The results of the study look promising showing major improvements in mood, sleep, and daily functioning for women in menopause and perimenopause…
For World Menopause Awareness Month, Flow Neuroscience, a healthcare company developing brain stimulation-based treatments, and The House of Hormones (THOH), a community for hormonal health education and support, announce results from a collaborative 10-week pilot study they conducted on brain stimulation treatment of depression in perimenopausal and menopausal women.
The study showed a 30% reduction in depressive mood and anxiety as well as up to 46% improvements in sleep and daily functioning in women using Flowโs at-home brain stimulation headset for depression.
Menopause and perimenopause are highly associated with depression: women in this life stage are up to 40% more likely to experience the condition than those without menopausal symptoms. Yet this patient group remains greatly underrepresented in depression studies.
Work Menopause Awareness Month puts a focus on an under-researched area of women’s health
โFor far too long, womenโs health has been under-researched, underfunded, and under-prioritised. Thatโs why studies like this matter so much! To see women in our own community have these results is ground-breaking,โ said Leah Christian, psychologist and CEO of THOH.
She added: โThis isnโt just about symptoms, itโs about giving women their lives back. Weโre proud to finally put real resources behind womenโs health, because women deserve support long before they hit rock bottom.โ
Outcomes of the pilot were tracked at baseline, on Week 4, and on Week 10.ย Early benefits were already visible by Week 4, with a reduction in anxiety, sleep problems, and brain fog of over 20%. By Week 10, depressive mood, anxiety, and irritability declined by 30%; sleep improved by 35%; and brain fog decreased by 31%.
The effect extended beyond symptom relief. The ability to function daily (work) improved by 46% and close relationships by 33%.
โIt really helped me by lowering my feelings of uselessness and pointlessness,โ said Caroline Kay (63), one of the study participants. โI have more patience and feel less snappy and angry โ I didnโt realise how much my naturally easy-going disposition had changed until things started to improve.โ
Depression in menopause is a complex issue
Dr. Hannah Nearney, clinical psychiatrist and UK Medical Director at Flow Neuroscience, explained why depression in perimenopause and menopause is particularly complex:
โIt is never just about low mood, it impacts sleep, cognition, relationships, and the ability to function day to day. Such complexity makes finding the right treatment extremely difficult, because most approaches only target one piece of the puzzle,โ she explained. โFor example, antidepressants, one of the most common treatments, may improve mood, but can cause side effects like anxiety, fatigue, weight gain, and sexual problems which are often already issues that perimenopausal women are struggling with.โ
Dr. Nearney added that the pilot stands out from other research because it shows promise for brain stimulation as a holistic treatment for depression in perimenopause and menopause.
โThe ability of brain stimulation to relieve so many symptoms, from low mood and poor sleep to productivity issues, shows the potential of this method to address the real-world challenges women face during middle age,โ said Dr. Nearney.
Regarding the safety of the study, no severe events occurred, and no participants discontinued treatment. Only mild side effects such as tingling were recorded.
Study showing a safe use of Flow to combat depression in menopause
In addition to being well-tolerated (91% of participants said they would continue using Flow),ย 82% said they would recommend it to other women with similar symptoms.
โWomen navigating the menopause transition deserve a one-stop treatment for depression that doesnโt have severe side effects and is capable of comprehensively improving the quality of their life,โ said Erin Lee, CEO of Flow Neuroscience. โAt Flow, weโre committed to rigorous science and to designing care that fits womenโs lives, not the other way around.โ
The study highlights the need for larger trials and signals that at-home brain stimulation could become a meaningful, non-drug option for women with menopause-related depression.
Flow previously conducted a landmark study published in Nature Medicine on the effectiveness of their device. It has been already used by more than 50,000 users in the EU, UK, Switzerland, and Hong Kong, and recently got approved in Australia.
The Menopause Friendly Employer Awards are a great initiative to encourage employers to address the issues facing their staff.
