Understanding Menopause and Mood Swings
Why Does Menopause Affect Your Mood?
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Menopause and mood swings are things many of us feel when we reach midlife. Empty Nest Syndrome, divorce, being widowed, or becoming a caregiver are life changes that happen to many of us in middle age. In addition, hormone changes can play a role. Some of the more common ones are estrogen, progesterone, and serotonin.
Can hormones affect mental health? Let’s take a look at what research says about depression hormonal imbalance.
Common symptoms include irritability, anxiety, depression, and more. The role of diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management are essential in helping us feel the best we can during this transition phase of our life, emotionally and physically. We will take a look at these treatments, but we will also discuss the role of hormone replacement and mental health counseling. But first, let’s talk about how long these mood swings may take for each of us.
How Long Do Mood Swings Last During Menopause?
The time between perimenopause vs. postmenopause is about 10-11 years and it is individual when each of us experiences these. An article from the Mayo Clinic, mentions that women may be at more risk for mood swings during perimenopause which can include increased irritability and depression. They mention sleep disruptions that happened during hot flashes during the night may be a factor.
Hormonal Changes and Their Effect on Mood in Middle-Aged Women
What hormones make you emotional?
Can unbalanced hormones cause depression? Changes in hormone levels during perimenopause can impact levels of depression, anxiety, and irritability and it can affect menopause and mood, as well.
You may wonder, why do hormones affect mood. Here is a little bit more about how all of this works.
You may wonder, is it depression or hormonal imbalance? Does hormone imbalance cause depression? In a 2019 research study looking at middle-aged women, lead author Dr. Hadine Jaffe found a relationship between hormone changes and temporary mood changes during this transition.
The study also found that women who suffered from anxiety and depression in the past were more vulnerable to having it during perimenopause/menopause.
1. Estrogen: The Mood-Regulating Hormone
How does estrogen affect mood? Estrogen is a powerhouse hormone that plays a major role in brain function, particularly mood regulation. It affects several key neurotransmitters, including serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
The importance of these neurotransmitters and brain health helps us see the role of estrogen and emotions.
Estrogen and Serotonin:
Let’s discuss more about the link between hormones and mood as it pertains to serotonin and menopause. Estrogen affects mood by helping increase serotonin production (the “feel-good” neurotransmitter) and boosting the number of serotonin receptors in the brain.
When estrogen levels drop during menopause, serotonin levels also decline, which can lead to irritability, anxiety, and estrogen depression.
Research shows that estrogen influences serotonin, which affects mood. A study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that women with fluctuating estrogen levels are more likely to experience mood disturbances.
This is one reason why many women experience low moods, anxiety, or even panic attacks during perimenopause.
2. Progesterone: Can progesterone make you emotional? Dr. Jaffe found some relationship between progesterone levels and mood.
Many of us assume it is the changes in hormones that affect mood that happens during menopause but there are many other reasons for mood swings during menopause also.
For some women, especially when they have had depression in the past.
Other Factors influencing mood fluctuations
This article in Psychology Today does a great job highlighting other causes of depression and anxiety for middle-aged women. These include:
- Great sense of loss: This can be due to children growing up and moving away, losing parents or your spouse, divorce, loss of friendships, or career loss/changes.
- Women in middle age often experience higher rates of pain or chronic health conditions.
- Middle-aged women may also feel that their best years are behind them, feel invisible to society because of their loss of youth, and feel that the end of their lives is closer. These concepts are difficult for most of us to accept and manage.
Common Psychological Symptoms of Menopause
Menopausal Anxiety: Why You Feel More Stressed Than Usual
Could hormones cause anxiety?
Dr. Stephanie Faubion, who is the director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and also the medical director for the North American Menopause Society, shares her thoughts on hormonal anxiety symptoms in a recent interview. She suggests that instead of low estrogen and anxiety being the issue, these feelings of peri, menopausal, and post menopausal anxiety levels may increase due more to hormone fluctuation.
These fluctuations may also provide a link between menopause and panic attacks.
Menopause and anxiety attacks may also be attributed to increased cortisol levels. that happens as we get older also. So as we get older it may be more important than ever to reduce stress.
I will share a few tips for some menopause anxiety relief along with ways to help with depression and irritability when we talk about natural remedies for menopause mood swings below.
Depression and Menopause:
In addition, to anxiety, these same hormonal changes and fluctuations can increase the incidence of depression in middle-aged women. These shifts in hormones along with those stressful life events that we discussed earlier contribute to the increased levels of depression. A history of depression and genetics can escalate the likelihood of depression.
Incorporating lifestyle changes can help improve depression in many women experiencing a change of life. However, it may be time for medical and psychological care if symptoms persist or are severe.
Anger, Frustration, and Irritability
Hormonal changes and fluctuations may also lead to perimenopause irritability, menopause anger, and even rage. Practicing self-care and self nurturing yourself may help.
Let’s talk about some lifestyle changes that can help you cope with these hormone fluctuations and menopause mood swings.
Natural Remedies for Menopause Mood Swings
Are you wanting to learn how to balance hormones during menopause and want to start with lifestyle changes, here are a few things that may work for you. What we eat, moving more, and reducing stress can help.
Let’s talk more in-depth about each of these.
Best Foods for Menopausal Mental Health
The best diet for menopause mental health to help manage hormone fluctuations is an anti inflammatory diet that includes lean protein, colorful fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, and seeds.
Here is some additional information on Nutrition and Mental Health During Menopause :
- Omega-3 fatty acids from salmon, other fatty fish, walnuts, and flaxseeds. For vegetarian women, an algae omega-3 supplement is a good source if you do not eat fish. This research study showed that omega 3 fatty acids with menopausal depression.
- Magnesium-rich foods such as leafy greens and nuts
- Foods that contain phytoestrogens like soy and flaxseeds.
- Some supplements can be helpful like vitamin D and B12 if you can’t get enough in your diet.
Citation: Maki, P.M., et al. (2018). Dietary Interventions for Menopause-Related Symptoms. Am J Clin Nutr.
Other Lifestyle Changes to Support Mental Well-Being
In addition to eating well, exercise, destress and sleep can help elevate mood and may help the body feel more in balance.
- Regular exercise like yoga, walking, and strength training can be a natural Exercise as a Natural Antidepressant. The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) recommends regular exercise to reduce anxiety and depression. Research in Menopause found that strength training and aerobic exercise improve mood and cognitive function.
- Stress reduction methods like meditation, deep breathing, and mindfulness can help us manage our moods. A 2020 study on mindfulness and menopause in the Mindfulness, it found that meditation and deep breathing reduce stress and improve emotional resilience in menopausal women.
- The lack of sleep makes most of us feel worse and for women with hormone fluctuations, sleep is a critical piece of our health. Here are a few sleep hygiene tips that I hope will help you get the rest that you need.
Sometimes lifestyle is not enough to help with anxiety, depression, and irritability so we need to reach out for professional help.
When to Seek Professional Help
Signs That Mood Swings Need Medical Attention
If after lifestyle, intervention, you have persistent sadness, suicidal thoughts, and severe anxiety, it is time to seek medical and psychological menopause depression treatment. These treatments may include anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, therapy, and even hormone treatment.
In case of emergency, it is important to call 911 or the suicide hotline.
Although herbal remedies like St. John’s Wort and black cohosh may help some women reduce depression and balance hormones, they may interact with other mood disorder medications so it is important to discuss taking these with your physician.
Treatment Options for Menopausal Mood Disorders
HRT (hormone replacement therapy) may help with hormone fluctuations. Can HRT help with depression?
If mood disorders are more linked to hormone fluctuations, short HRT may be helpful. If depression, anxiety, or irritability is the situation and has also been a problem in the past, other medical interventions along with lifestyle change may be the best treatment.
Menopause and Mood Swings: Manage Your Anxiety and Depression
I hope that this article helped you with some good lifestyle habits to manage menopause and emotions. Even though fluctuations in hormones and mood may happen, We see hormones affecting moods but we have a variety of tools to help. If one of these ideas that you try does not help, try another one. If changing your lifestyle doesn’t help, you may temporarily need HRT or a mood medication working closely with your doctor and therapist.
Do hormones affect emotions? Science has shown that in some people that they do, women with a history of depression and anxiety in the past are more likely to be affected. How do hormones affect emotions? Much of it is due to the hormone effects of neurotransmitters which are brain chemicals.
As a registered dietitian nutritionist working with middle-aged women, mood and hormones is an important topic! If you would like to know more about some of the ways that you can improve hormone health, check out my article on balancing female hormones.
You may also love my free 5-day class on ways to Reduce Inflammation. Click to join on any blog page! I also am putting the final touches on my hormone-balancing course called the Midlife Glow stay tuned for more details coming soon!