How Do Women’s Hormones Affect Anxiety?
One in three women are likely to develop an anxiety disorder over the course of their lives. Being the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disease in women, it’s important to go over how female hormones—specifically—trigger anxious emotions.
While the biology is clear about what’s happening, it doesn’t exactly explain which caused which first: the anxiety or the hormonal change?
Anyone can suffer from a hormonal imbalance, however, because women experience more hormonal changes throughout the course of their life than men, there is inherently more risk of developing unhealthily high, low, or fluctuating levels when these changes occur.
Let’s break down the science.
Hormonal Changes in Women
Mood swings are common during changes in a woman’s reproductive cycle: premenstrual symptoms (PMS), postpartum “blues”, and premenopausal mood disturbances are all examples of this. While these symptoms are strong and obvious to most women, they’re not of much medical concern until they become more severe or last longer than the transitional phases do.
When women end their menstrual cycle, their body experiences a drop in the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, which can cause mood disturbances like increased anxiety. A similar change in levels also happens when women’s bodies prepare for menopause.
The Relationship Between Low Testosterone and Anxiety
We know from research that low testosterone levels are linked with excessive feelings of worry and panic, while the presence of oxytocin (a “love” hormone) is linked with feelings of relief or calmness. You may be wondering why we’re focusing on testosterone instead of estrogen. That’s because when your body produces stress hormones in response to a threat, it can get in the way of testosterone production.
Testosterone is important for helping us reign in cortisol (stress hormone) levels, and when we have too little of it, we can actually overproduce cortisol, leading to anxiety even when there’s no active threat. Women’s bodies aren’t without testosterone, they just have less than men’s bodies do.
While stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are great for helping us outrun, out-think, or outfight moments of real danger, sometimes our brains release them when there is no real threat to face. Our brains still use the same neurological pathways they did when we were hunter-gatherers, so most of us are not natural at responding to modern “threats”. What that leaves us with is excess anxiety.
Help Your Hormones Help You
Great ways of regulating hormone production in women include…
Getting a healthy amount of undisturbed sleep each night. (7-9 hours for healthy adults.)
Reducing substance use that can throw off hormone levels.
Minimizing stress by implementing personal boundaries, reducing caffeine intake, and fueling your body with nourishing foods.
Exercising regularly. (Just five minutes can provide instant relief! Yoga in particular is great for anxiety because of its use of deep breathing and muscle tension relief.)
Eating a balanced diet with complex carbohydrates, fermented foods, and omega 3s.
Managing Overwhelming Feelings of Anxiety
When your mind gets trapped in an anxious spiral, you tend to get tunnel vision about whatever caused it. This is especially challenging when the cause is something out of your control, like reading something scary in the news or hearing a negative rumor about you.
Break the tunnel vision by purposely thinking of (or immediately interacting with) the things you love most. It can be even more grounding to use your five senses as guidelines.
List out three things you love…
Looking at—fluffy clouds, waves touching the shore, or a favorite painting.
Listening to—a favorite album, podcast, or rustling leaves.
Feeling—a cuddly pet, a cozy blanket, or the pleasing crunch of a carrot.
Smelling—freshly cut grass, candles, or a lemon rind.
Tasting—dark chocolate, chicken pot pie, or warm bread.
Working with a counselor is another great way to learn anxiety-busting techniques that help in moments of hormonal change. Schedule your first appointment today!