Anxiety can be such a tough experience and while there are commonly multiple factors that may be involved, your hormones can have a huge influence on anxiety levels!
Low progesterone (in relation to estrogen levels) is a really common hormone imbalance and the main one I see that contributes to anxiety - especially if you have developed anxiety later in life or it seems to be getting worse for reasons that you can’t understand. This imbalance can develop at any time but during perimenopause - usually experienced in women during their 30’s and 40’s - it is especially common.
Hormone imbalances can develop over time especially from ongoing stress, use of contraceptive medication such as the Pill, post pregnancy, and continued exposure and accumulation of hormone disrupting chemicals such as BPA.
Progesterone is one of your most vital hormones - not just for holding pregnancy to term - but for our mood and level of calm!
Progesterone acts as an
anti-anxiety
anti-depressant
diuretic to reduce fluid retention
supports fat metabolism
balances estrogen levels to protect against hormonal disease and cancer
improves libido
supports thyroid function and
supports sleep
Is it any wonder we feel terrible when our progesterone levels are low?!
Use of the Pill is most worrying for womens health as it works by preventing you from ovulating. The ONLY way we can make Progesterone is each month when we OVULATE!
The Pill prevents us from making our monthly dose of feel good progesterone - you can see how this will have detrimental effects on how good you feel over time! The synthetic hormones in the Pill are NOT the same as your natural hormones, and the Pill also depletes B vitamins which are essential for energy, metabolism, skin and hormone balance.
While the pill can help with symptoms and is convenient it’s also ideal to look at other contraceptive options or how you can regulate your hormones naturally - the pill ‘regulates’ your hormones by shutting them down! So while this may help in the short term it’s not ideal for your long term health and truly restoring hormone balance.
If you have irregular periods or anovulatory cycles and are not ovulating each month you will also be missing out on progesterone - so working with a practitioner to regulate your cycles is a great idea.
After menopause you can still experience hormonal imbalance and it is even more important to work on stress management and adrenal health, as your adrenals take over the job of producing your sex hormones once your ovaries have retired. High stress can worsen menopausal symptoms by placing extra pressure on your adrenal glands - and they can only do so much! If they are busy producing cortisol during ongoing stress, they will have less reserves to be producing your other sex hormones.
If you are not taking contraceptive medication you can test your hormones - ideally on day 21 or about a week after ovulation - this is when your progesterone is at its highest. Working with a qualified Naturopath can help you test and restore hormone balance and improve the underlying reasons that may be contributing to your anxiety.
