How hormone fluctuations can lead to mood swings

How hormone fluctuations can lead to mood swings

People often wonder whether mood swings are due to too much hormone (excess) or too little hormone (deficiency). While any of these situations can cause mood swings, it is often large fluctuations in hormone levels that lead to pronounced mood swings. How do these hormonal highs and lows come about and how can you help prevent this mind-body rollercoaster?

Our moods and hormones are influenced by the stress and emotions we feel on a regular basis. While the solution of “…i.e. get rid of anxiety, depression, or anger” may come to mind, this is the opposite of what we want to do when we are trying to resolve mood imbalances. The biggest factor in hormone imbalance, aside from the natural decline in hormones as we age, is the suppression of stress and emotions. We don't always let ourselves feel what we're going through, and when the body has to resist processing emotions or stress as it naturally wants to, the effects of these feelings on health can become chronic.

Say you have a bad day, including work traffic, some social conflicts with friends, terrible treatment from your boss, and when you get home you can't relax or sleep at night. You also have no appetite, but you tell yourself to be strong and muscular through this day and the next. Cortisol levels rise to cope with your stress, but when you turn off your mental response to daily pressures, your body also turns off and obeys your mind by blunting the nervous system's response to what is happening in your world. Cortisol and hormone levels then go through manic and depressive highs and lows as your body and mind are not allowed to naturally process the emotions that arise for you.

What happens next? Mood swings. If the emotions were dealt with as they arise, they would not build up so much in the body and the release needed would not be as great. However, by suppressing emotions, the body reacts more like a volcano when the feelings finally surface - they erupt! The body does not enjoy extreme health effects and functions better when you work with the homeostasis (or balance) that it is trying to maintain. It may seem counterintuitive, but suppressing emotions doesn't keep things calm, cool, or collected like we might imagine in the moment.

Which hormones are affected by the highs and lows of stress and cortisol levels? Estrogen and progesterone are the most common in women, while testosterone is the most affected in men. In addition, the thyroid and pancreatic hormones also react, which can lead to some thyroid and blood sugar imbalances. What do all these changes do to the body? More mood disorders. This can become a vicious circle.

Given the close relationship that mood has with hormones in the body, the best healthy lifestyle choice is to ask yourself every now and then, “How am I feeling?” Recognize that your mind has the unhelpful ability to command you not to feel, and that this habit, even though it feels like it makes life easier in the moment, is not healthy. This is a challenge for everyone. The more you allow your natural emotions to exist and recognize that they are normal, the more balanced your hormones and moods will feel.

Inspired by Aarti Patel