“Falling estrogen and progesterone levels can trigger mood swings that make you less able to cope with things you'd normally let roll off your back,” says Payne. “For some women, these hormonal dips can set off a depressive episode, especially for those who've gone through major depression in the past.”
Estrogen plays a significant role in mediating moods. This means that the more estrogen you have in your body, the more “moody” you might be. The first signs of hormonal changes often include feeling more “sensitive” to yourself and others, or moods that seem “bigger” than usual.
Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men. It has been proposed that the ovarian hormones estrogen and progesterone contribute to the higher incidence of this potentially debilitating disorder. Depression can also be accompanied by a loss of cognitive performance.
Serotonin. Serotonin is another hormone that affects mood, appetite and sleep. It is also a neurotransmitter, which means that it transmits messages between nerve cells.
Women with low estrogen, on the other hand, may suffer from bad moods, anger, resentment, aggression or reclusiveness. Moods increase when low estrogen levels are raised in many cases. This can be due to supplementation, the end of a menstrual cycle point, or healthy foods that will even out your hormonal balance.
Estrogen bolsters learning and memory through the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain on which estrogen and progesterone both act. The hormone also protects emotional well-being—when estrogen plummets in menopause, anxiety and depression often result.
You may feel sad, anxious, or frustrated. Shifting hormone levels and night sweats may disrupt your sleep. This can cause fatigue, which may make mood swings worse. Thinning tissues may cause discomfort.
Lower levels of estrogen have links to irritability, fatigue, stress, forgetfulness, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating. The impact of these changing hormone levels may not only have a direct cause-and-effect relationship with depression, anger, and anxiety. Hormone shifts may also intensify these feelings.
Estrogen: Estrogen also influences the production of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and GABA. Too much or too little estrogen can alter neurotransmitter levels and lead to feelings of depression.
Biologically, there may be a reason women cry more than men: Testosterone may inhibit crying, while the hormone prolactin (seen in higher levels in women) may promote it.
Researchers have established that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain.
There is evidence that some women experience unpleasant mood symptoms (such as irritability, depressed mood and anxiety) while receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT) while taking the progestin / progesterone component of the HRT.
Fluctuations with progesterone levels can do the same thing to emotions by changing the brain chemistry which can lead to depression. Estrogen becomes the dominant hormone which can cause cortisol levels to rise and increase feelings of anxiety.
Neurological effects
Estradiol medication can cause depression, mood swings, irritability, anger, dizziness and headaches.
When it comes to happiness, in particular, the primary signaling chemicals include: Serotonin. Dopamine. Endorphins.
Estrogens have important effects on aggressive behavior, as well as other related social behaviors such as copulation and communication.
The main benefit of HRT is that it can help relieve most menopause and perimenopause symptoms, including hot flushes, brain fog, joint pains, mood swings and vaginal dryness.
Common symptoms of low estrogen include: painful sex due to a lack of vaginal lubrication. an increase in urinary tract infection (UTIs) due to a thinning of the urethra. irregular or absent periods.
And people who are expressive of the estrogen/oxytocin system tend to be intuitive, imaginative, trusting, empathetic, and contextual long-term thinkers. They are sensitive to people's feelings, too, and typically have good verbal and social skills.
In addition to regulating the menstrual cycle, estrogen affects the reproductive tract, the urinary tract, the heart and blood vessels, bones, breasts, skin, hair, mucous membranes, pelvic muscles, and the brain.