How Hormones Can Impact Anxiety and Depression
It’s already November. November! Two more months of 2021. I was looking at my work and social calendar for the rest of the year and started feeling those first few twinges of stress and anxiety. These feelings are common of course. And even more common during the holidays.
It’s important that we think proactively about what our bodies go through during stressful times. If our hormones are imbalanced, we will be even more susceptible to anxiety and depression. So let’s take a look at how hormone imbalances can impact anxiety and depression and what we can do about it.
The two main hormones
Estradiol, a major estrogen produced in the ovaries whose main function is to mature and then maintain the reproductive system, actually gives a lot of feedback to the neurotransmitters. Serotonin is your happy neurotransmitter. So if we're low with estradiol at all that could affect our feelings of happiness.
Progesterone, a steroid hormone that plays important roles in the menstrual cycle, gets broken down into metabolites that are anxiolytic (or anxiety reducing) and sleep enhancing. So if your progesterone is low you may feel extra anxious or have trouble sleeping. Since lack of sleep is one of the highest distresses that your body can have, we definitely don’t want to give your body reason to not get the rest it needs.
Looking at the whole picture
What's very important and what we assess here at Designer Drugs on all of our lab values is the progesterone to estradiol ratio. Because even though both of those do great things on their own, if they're out of balance, we're not going to get the “feel good” that we want you to have.
Let’s set you up for success - and no stress!
If you are curious about your hormone levels and want to make sure you are heading into this holiday season with all the swagger your body deserves, give us a call or click here to schedule a consultation. I would be so happy to help you through these last few weeks of 2021 and start 2022 feeling calm, happy, and balanced!
Tanya Manoni is a Chattanooga-native but earned her BS in chemistry and PharmD at the University of Utah. She brings with her years of experience in compounding and pharmacy corporate management. Tanya's professional interests include not only BHRT, women’s health, and dermatology, but also nutrition and fitness, in which she became interested while playing NCAA Division I college soccer. While living in Utah, Tanya earned her level 1 certification in avalanche search and rescue, and she continues to enjoy snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking. She lives in Chattanooga with her husband and two kids, so you will find her running between soccer fields and dance studios in her free time.