The Physiology Behind Mood Changes Part I Perimenopause is a time of drastically changing female hormones.
Even before women notice changes in their menstrual cycles, the hormones, estrogen and progesterone are shifting.
This is often why women do not realize they are in perimenopause.
Their menstrual cycles may appear as normal and regular as always, but behind the scenes, hormonal changes are underway.
Most women do not know that even though they are menstruating, they may not be ovulating, throwing their hormones, and subsequently their moods, out of balance.
So, what does the onset of perimenopause have to do with our moods? Estrogen and progesterone are the primary female hormones that undergo major shifts with the onset of perimenopause.
These hormones, while responsible for female sex characteristics (the female body and procreation), are also highly influential in our moods.
They affect our feelings of calm, anxiety, nurturing, romance and productivity.
We can see that when the hormones shift, so will women's moods.
As we will learn in Part II, it is during ovulation that calming progesterone is produced and released.
With ovulation being so unpredictable, women's moods are vulnerable to unpleasant shifts.
Meanwhile, estrogen levels are vacillating wildly.
In a given day, estrogen levels may be high and low...
a number of times.
Vacillating estrogen levels are notorious for increasing anxiety and decreasing patience and tolerance.
Declining estrogen levels are influential in reducing the desire to nuture, in making women feel less driven and productive and disrupting replenishing sleep.
This is the very unpredictable nature of the perimenopausal transition and why women often feel they are on emotional rollercoasters.
The Physiology Behind Mood Changes Part II In perimenopause, women begin having annovulatory cycles (cycles in which no ovulation takes place).
When women are in their late thirties, their ovaries begin to rid themselves of their eggs by releasing more and more eggs each month.
Eventually, as women progress through their forties, there are a diminished number of follicles available for ovulation each month, until there are no egg follicles left at all.
These changes in the menstrual cycle do not follow a linear pattern.
A woman may have months of normal cycles followed by a stretch of irregular cycles.
There may be cycles in which she does ovulate followed by any number in which she does not.
There may be cycles in which she feels she is ovulating, but there is actually no egg follicle maturing.
Some women have a pattern of one month normal, and the next irregular.
Any type of pattern is possible.
Regardless of whether or not she ovulates, she may still menstruate.
How does this affect our mood? It is during ovulation that progesterone is produced and released.
When there is no ovulation, there is no production of progesterone.
Progesterone is the 'feel good' hormone; it is the calming, soothing antidote to the very energizing (and sometimes stress-inducing) estrogen.
So, with no ovulation, there is no progesterone, leaving women without one of their most calming hormones.
This may result in women feeling stressed, high-strung or very much on edge.
Even before women notice changes in their menstrual cycles, the hormones, estrogen and progesterone are shifting.
This is often why women do not realize they are in perimenopause.
Their menstrual cycles may appear as normal and regular as always, but behind the scenes, hormonal changes are underway.
Most women do not know that even though they are menstruating, they may not be ovulating, throwing their hormones, and subsequently their moods, out of balance.
So, what does the onset of perimenopause have to do with our moods? Estrogen and progesterone are the primary female hormones that undergo major shifts with the onset of perimenopause.
These hormones, while responsible for female sex characteristics (the female body and procreation), are also highly influential in our moods.
They affect our feelings of calm, anxiety, nurturing, romance and productivity.
We can see that when the hormones shift, so will women's moods.
As we will learn in Part II, it is during ovulation that calming progesterone is produced and released.
With ovulation being so unpredictable, women's moods are vulnerable to unpleasant shifts.
Meanwhile, estrogen levels are vacillating wildly.
In a given day, estrogen levels may be high and low...
a number of times.
Vacillating estrogen levels are notorious for increasing anxiety and decreasing patience and tolerance.
Declining estrogen levels are influential in reducing the desire to nuture, in making women feel less driven and productive and disrupting replenishing sleep.
This is the very unpredictable nature of the perimenopausal transition and why women often feel they are on emotional rollercoasters.
The Physiology Behind Mood Changes Part II In perimenopause, women begin having annovulatory cycles (cycles in which no ovulation takes place).
When women are in their late thirties, their ovaries begin to rid themselves of their eggs by releasing more and more eggs each month.
Eventually, as women progress through their forties, there are a diminished number of follicles available for ovulation each month, until there are no egg follicles left at all.
These changes in the menstrual cycle do not follow a linear pattern.
A woman may have months of normal cycles followed by a stretch of irregular cycles.
There may be cycles in which she does ovulate followed by any number in which she does not.
There may be cycles in which she feels she is ovulating, but there is actually no egg follicle maturing.
Some women have a pattern of one month normal, and the next irregular.
Any type of pattern is possible.
Regardless of whether or not she ovulates, she may still menstruate.
How does this affect our mood? It is during ovulation that progesterone is produced and released.
When there is no ovulation, there is no production of progesterone.
Progesterone is the 'feel good' hormone; it is the calming, soothing antidote to the very energizing (and sometimes stress-inducing) estrogen.
So, with no ovulation, there is no progesterone, leaving women without one of their most calming hormones.
This may result in women feeling stressed, high-strung or very much on edge.