Is It Brain Fog or Just Dopamine?

It Started with a Glitch: Tracking the Midlife Chemistry Shift No One Talks About

🧠 Inside the Playbook: August Edition

Welcome to My Health & Fitness Playbook - a private log of what I’m testing, noticing, and learning in real time. This is my space to document the shifts no one prepares you for, and the protocols I’m using to stay grounded, sharp, and fully present in midlife.

If you are reading this, you are part of the most engaged corner of this community and I’m deeply grateful to share this space with you.

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It started with a glitch.

Not a dramatic collapse but more like just a lag, like my brain was buffering mid-sentence. I’d sit down to write and the words would hover somewhere behind a curtain, refusing to step forward. My mind, usually quick and hyperlinked, felt… muted.

I wasn’t exhausted. I wasn’t burned out. But I wasn’t entirely myself either.

So I called in my best detective: my doctor, who happens to be brilliant at functional health for midlife women. We decided to run the full investigation.

And when I say full, I mean full.

I spat into tubes at awkward hours. I peed into containers (refrigerating them, which my family loved). The phlebotomist drew enough blood to keep a vampire happy for a week. I was pricked, prodded, and handed a bill to match. Sadly, none of it covered by insurance.

We checked everything: hormones, nutrient levels, inflammatory markers, neurotransmitter metabolites. We were looking for clues in the chemistry.

When the labs came back, the patterns were there: estrogen trending in a certain direction. Dopamine regulation shifting just enough to explain why motivation and mental fluidity felt a shade slower.

It made sense of what I’d been feeling but couldn’t quite put words to. In women, estrogen quietly fine-tunes the brain’s dopamine circuits - the same ones that drive focus, motivation, and reward¹. When it starts to fade in midlife, that fine-tuning slips… and the spark you used to take for granted can feel just out of reach.

My female longevity stack grew from there. Some pieces came directly from my doctor’s recommendations; others are tools I’ve layered on after digging into the science myself and weighing what’s worth testing. It’s an evolving framework that’s rooted in data, and shaped by my curiosity.

One part of that stack and the focus of today’s post is the dopamine regulation layer. It’s where I decided to start, partly out of curiosity, and partly because the shifts here are quieter, harder to pin down… which makes them all the more interesting to track.

Here’s what I’ve been testing—and why. ↓

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Why this post is behind the paywall

Most of my writing is free, because I believe knowledge especially about the business of women’s health should be shared widely. But this series - My Health & Fitness Playbook - is different.

It’s deeply personal. I’m sharing what I’m actually trying in my own body: the shifts I’m noticing, what I’m experimenting with, and what I’m tracking in real time. That kind of honesty requires a more intentional space.

And it’s built for trust, not scale. It’s a living record of what it means to stay sharp, grounded, and clear through a high-functioning midlife and that’s something I want to share with the most engaged part of this community.

If you’re not ready to upgrade, no pressure. The rest of my writing will always be free. But if this work resonates and helps you feel more seen in your own journey, thank you for supporting it.

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What I am Trying

Magtein (Magnesium L-Threonate)

Magnesium comes in many forms, but Magtein is the only one that crosses the blood–brain barrier. In theory, it can increase synaptic density and support learning, memory, and mental clarity. In practice? That’s what I wanted to find out without turning my life into a controlled lab study where I live in white light and eat precisely weighed kale.

I am supposed to take it three times a day: morning, mid-afternoon, and before bed. On paper, it’s simple. In reality?

• Morning dose: easy - folded right into my coffee ritual.

• Evening dose: also easy - part of my wind-down routine.

• Midday dose: a complete orphan. It doesn’t have a natural home in my day. I miss it more than I hit it. I tried stacking it to lunch, but that habit loop isn’t formed yet and until it is, this pill sits like the neglected middle child of my supplement family.

So far, the effects are subtle: slightly easier to slide into deep work, a touch more consistency in sleep onset. Nothing dramatic but sometimes midlife gains aren’t fireworks but smaller shifts you only notice when they go missing.

The science:

A 2010 Neuron study in animals showed Magtein improved learning, working memory, and short-term recall². Not saying what’s good for the lab rat is good for me, but sometimes rodent research is how we get the good stuff. Small human trials suggest it may support executive function and sleep quality, especially in older adults³. The evidence isn’t massive, but it’s enough to justify a personal trial.

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Creatine Monohydrate

I originally started creatine for strength training. But the more I read about its role in brain energy metabolism particularly for women, the more it seemed like a low-cost, high-upside addition.

I began with a loading phase. I took 20g a day for a week, split into four smaller doses. Think of it as creatine “speed dating” for your muscles and brain: an intense week of introductions before settling into a long-term relationship at 5g a day. Now, my maintenance looks like this:

• Daily: 5g (about 1 teaspoon) in the morning

• Heavy workout days: occasionally 10g, split into two doses

Mentally, I’m still waiting for the lightbulb moment. Physically, though? I’m lifting heavier, moving slower, and eyeing my cardio sessions like a lab experiment because nothing says “future-proofing” like nudging your VO₂ max north.

The science:

Creatine helps produce ATP, the energy currency in both muscle and brain. Women often have lower baseline creatine levels than men, and some studies suggest it can improve mood, cognitive performance under stress, and recovery from mental fatigue. A 2021 Nutrients review outlined its potential neuroprotective role, especially in female brains⁴. I liked the odds enough to keep it in my stack.

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Why Start Here?

Because dopamine isn’t just about mood. It’s about the ability to initiate, to focus, to follow through - or the mojo as I like to refer to it. As estrogen declines in midlife, dopamine signaling becomes less efficient, and for women with high cognitive demand in their work, that subtle slowdown is noticeable.

Supporting dopamine pathways doesn’t mean chasing constant stimulation. It means keeping the machinery running smoothly so you can do your work, your thinking, your life with less drag and fewer “why did I walk into this room again?” moments.

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What I’m Watching

• How easily I can start deep, focused work

• Afternoon dips in energy and motivation

• Workout recovery and satisfaction

• Sleep onset

• That elusive “mental fluidity” that makes writing, thinking, and decision-making feel light

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If you want me to take you through my entire Female Longevity Playbook; the sequencing, the science, and the tweaks that are making the biggest difference, let me know in the comments. If enough of you are curious, I’ll open it up as a special deep dive.

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Next Month in the PlayBook

Next month, I’m pulling back the curtain on what happened when I started hormone therapy: the shifts I expected, the ones that blindsided me, and the changes I still can’t explain. I’ll share the exact sequence I use, how I monitor my response, and the adjustments I am making along the way.

If dopamine regulation is the silent machinery, hormone therapy is the voltage running through the whole system and I can’t wait to show you how the two interact.

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As always, thank you for being here.
This space exists because of you.
See you next month, inside the Playbook.

Disclaimer & Disclosure

This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or medical advice, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Opinions expressed are those of the author and may not reflect the views of affiliated organisations. Readers should seek professional advice tailored to their individual circumstances before making investment decisions. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

1. Becker, J. B. (1999). Gender differences in dopaminergic function in striatum and nucleus accumbens. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 64(4), 803–812.

2. Slutsky, I. et al. (2010). Enhancement of Learning and Memory by Elevating Brain Magnesium. Neuron, 65(2), 165–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2009.12.026

3. Liu, G. et al. (2016). Magnesium L-threonate prevents and restores memory deficits associated with neuropathic pain by inhibition of TNF-alpha. Neuroscience Letters, 624, 20–26.

4. Smith-Ryan, A. E., et al. (2021). Creatine supplementation in women's health: A lifespan perspective. Nutrients, 13(3), 877. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030877