Older women who suffer from memory loss can benefit from hormone therapy, according to new research.

Postmenopausal women in the study received either combined estrogen-progestin hormone therapy or a placebo for four weeks. Then the women, who ranged in age from 50 to 60, were given no hormones for four weeks followed by another month of treatment. Those taking hormone therapy showed more brain activity during a visual memory test than women who not on hormone therapy, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Health System.

Researchers say many women suffer memory declines during and after menopause partially because of the major hormonal changes they experience. The study appears in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.