Estrogen facilitates higher cognitive functions by exerting effects on brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Estrogen induces spinogenesis and synaptogenesis in these two brain regions and also initiates a complex set of signal transduction pathways via estrogen receptors (ERs).
The drop in estrogen levels that occurs with menopause brings declines in the volumes of “gray matter,” the cellular matter of the brain, in key brain regions that are also affected in Alzheimer's disease.
Depression and anxiety affect women in their estrogen-producing years more often than men or postmenopausal women. Estrogen is also linked to mood disruptions that occur only in women -- premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and postpartum depression.
Behavioral evidence from these mouse models suggests that estrogens can have both feminizing and defeminizing effects on the developing brain mechanisms that control sexual behavior.
In the central nervous system (CNS), estrogen has been shown to increase cerebral blood flow, provide anti-inflammatory effects, promote neuronal synapse activity, and exert both neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects on tissues in the brain.
Regardless of whether a woman's estrogen levels are low or high, the imbalance can contribute to cloudy thinking. For women, maintaining a balance of estrogen can reduce the feelings of brain fog.
As your body's estrogen levels decrease, which happens before and during menopause, estrogen can no longer participate in brain function as it normally had. This can cause occasional lapses in brain function, resulting in short-term memory issues.
Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all affect sexual desire and arousal. Having higher levels of estrogen in the body promotes vaginal lubrication and increases sexual desire. Increases in progesterone can reduce sexual desire.
Estrogen facilitates higher cognitive functions by exerting effects on brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Estrogen induces spinogenesis and synaptogenesis in these two brain regions and also initiates a complex set of signal transduction pathways via estrogen receptors (ERs).
Increasing evidence suggests estrogen and estrogen signaling pathway disturbances across psychiatric disorders. Estrogens are not only crucial in sexual maturation and reproduction but are also highly involved in a wide range of brain functions, such as cognition, memory, neurodevelopment, and neuroplasticity.
Women with too much estrogen often experience anxiety and have panic attacks. There's a difference between anxiety and worrying about the things that most people do. Anxiety is more of a general feeling while worries are about specific things.
Natural and synthetic estrogen may cause the following common adverse effects: breast tenderness, nausea, vomiting, bloating, stomach cramps, headaches, weight gain, hyperpigmentation of the skin, hair loss, vaginal itching, abnormal uterine bleeding, also known as breakthrough bleeding, and anaphylaxis.
Low estrogen levels can lead to irritability, anxiety, and depression. Your moods can change quickly and vary greatly, from laughing to crying within minutes.
For example, estrogen increases the concentration of an enzyme needed to synthesize acetylcholine, a brain chemical that's critical for memory. Estrogen also enhances communication between neurons in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is important for verbal memory.
Instead debating nature versus nurture as the progenitor of superior intelligence, a Canadian scientist suggests that perhaps we should be looking for a hormonal source.
Thyroid hormone deficiency, even of short duration, may lead to irreversible brain damage, the consequences of which depend on the specific timing of onset and duration of the deficiency. Too high (hyperthyroidism) – difficulty sleeping, irregular heartbeats, anxiety, thinning hair, and weight loss.
Dopamine. There is increasing evidence to support the importance of neurotransmitter regulation and its impact on brain development and intelligence during hominin evolution (Raghanti et al., 2010).
Dr. Kristina Durante of The University of Texas at Austin and colleagues found that young women felt more attractive when they had high levels of an estrogen known as estradiol, and they acted on those feelings.
Researchers think oestrogen may cause the body to make more antioxidants, protecting brain cells from damage. This could explain why the sudden drop in women's oestrogen levels following menopause seems to make them more vulnerable to Alzheimer's.
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. Hot flushes or night sweats often improve within a few weeks.
The drop in estrogen and progesterone that occurs at the end of a women's menstrual cycle may cause anxiety and other mood symptoms. This is similar to the drop experienced during perimenopause, the time during which your body makes the natural transition to menopause.
Estrogens affect areas of the brain that are not primarily involved in reproduction, such as the basal forebrain cholinergic system, the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, the caudate-putamen, midbrain raphe and brainstem locus coeruleus, and the spinal cord.
Also, if brain fog is due to things like fatigue or mood changes, then estrogen may help reduce these symptoms which, in turn, helps reduce brain fog. For example, hormone therapy can help relieve night sweats that keep many women up at night and can cause foggy, tired thinking.