Manage menopause mood swings with confidence and calm.
Mood & Anxiety Support for Menopausal Women in Ohio
Mood swings, increased anxiety and stress, and even depression are all common symptoms women in perimenopause and menopause experience.
Many women think that they’re “losing their minds” or something is wrong with them when it’s actually due to fluctuating hormones.
You can feel like yourself again, even during these life transitions, and regulate your mood and care for your health in every way. Learn more in the following sections.
Regain Emotional Balance in Midlife
Perimenopause and menopause come with a rollercoaster of symptoms, including ones that can affect your emotional and mental health. Although emotions are complex, there are biochemical factors that can cause your mood to go up and down.
These experiences you’re having during this time go beyond your typical “bad day.” Menopause mood swings, irritability, rage, anxiety, stress, and depression can be symptoms during your journey, so it’s important to understand the links between your hormones and your mood.
Generally speaking, your mood is directly managed by your hormones and neurotransmitters, which you can learn more about in the next section. When you do experience sudden mood changes, drops in energy and mood, and/or sleep difficulties during perimenopause or menopause, it can be incredibly confusing, frustrating, and exhausting.
Mood changes can range from mild to severe, and it’s vital to your overall health and quality of life to be able to manage your symptoms and be aware of your emotional and mental health. Let’s discuss how you can reduce your menopausal symptoms during this transition.
Why Mood Swings Happen During Perimenopause
Understanding the Hormone–Brain Connection
Sleep, Nervous System, Gut-Brain Axis
UNDERSTANDING THE HORMONE–BRAIN CONNECTION
Estrogen’s Role in Mood Regulation
Estrogen is the main hormone that affects your overall mood. It works with neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine that manage your mood, sleep, and cognition.
The drop in estrogen production in the body during perimenopause and menopause influences your body’s regular functioning, including the biochemical elements that regulate mood and emotional well-being.
Both estrogen and neurotransmitters work together to create a balanced hormone-brain connection; hormonal fluctuations are one of the main reasons why this balance can be disrupted.
Progesterone’s Effect on Your Mood
The hormone progesterone does not have as strong an impact on your mood as estrogen, but there are more indirect factors that progesterone affects that can contribute to mood changes.
Progesterone influences your body’s ability to get a good night’s rest and has a calming effect on the body. Hormonal disturbances and changes in progesterone production can affect your sleep, increase anxiety, and cause restlessness, especially during the nighttime. Lack of sleep can lead to mood swings and more stress.
Most symptoms experienced during perimenopause and menopause are linked in a cause-and-effect cycle (e.g., lack of sleep due to hormonal changes leading to increased stress and mood swings, and vice versa), which can worsen symptoms if not managed properly.
SLEEP, NERVOUS SYSTEM, GUT-BRAIN AXIS
The Gut-Brain Axis Connection and How It Impacts Mood
Our gut is a powerhouse of activity that goes beyond regular digestion: It also produces neurotransmitters like serotonin, and even creates more neurotransmitters than the brain!
The gut plays a huge factor in mood regulation as well, and the reduction of microbial diversity in the gut during menopause can also affect emotional and mental health.
This is one of the reasons why we always recommend our clients to focus on lifestyle changes to help reduce perimenopause and menopause symptoms naturally.
What you eat matters more during this time because it can help greatly in creating balance in your gut health. For example, foods rich in probiotics such as yogurt and sauerkraut can help influence serotonin and cortisol levels.
Your Nervous System and How It Ties Into Your Mood Regulation
Both the central nervous system (CNS) and autonomous nervous system (ANS) can be impacted by hormonal fluctuations, causing mood dysregulation and instability, brain fog and memory lapses, heart palpitations, increased anxiety and stress, hot flashes, and night sweats.
The CNS is directly affected by the estrogen hormone, which is neuroprotective, and neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. The ANS manages involuntary body functions and emotional responses/reactivity and houses the sympathetic (fight-or-flight response) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest/calming) systems.
When hormone production changes, the ANS’s fight-or-flight response can be heightened, increasing stress sensitivity, emotional reactivity, and overstimulation.
It’s important to practice stress management regularly during this time. Other possible natural ways to help with mood swings due to perimenopause or menopause is by using herbal supplements like St. John’s Wart.
Sleep Quality and How It Relates to Your Mood and Stress Levels
To improve mood during perimenopause and menopause, your sleep matters. The quality of sleep and how many hours you get at night to feel fully rested and energized are two key factors to helping you regulate your mood, balance your hormones, and reduce your symptoms.
When you are experiencing sleep difficulties because of fluctuating hormones or you’re having night sweats or restlessness, the lack of sleep can create more stress in your body and increase the risk of mood swings and changes.
Fatigue and brain fog can also contribute to stress hormone levels (cortisol) and lead to drastic changes in your mood and emotional health.
Creating a bedtime routine that supports your sleep can help you renew your sleep cycle and sleep better at night. For example, drinking caffeine-free sleeptime herbal tea an hour before bed, sleeping earlier, and turning off electronics an hour before sleep can make a difference to your sleep quality.
Changing lifestyle habits outside the bedroom can also assist with alleviating your symptoms and improving your mood while reducing the intensity of stress and anxiety and the risk of depression. Some lifestyle habits to change or reflect on include your diet (e.g., are you consuming more stimulants and sugar that can keep you awake at night?), your activity levels, and supplements to help with menopausal symptoms.
Functional Medicine Approach to Mental Wellness
With the right whole-body approach that addresses more than physical symptoms, you can alleviate the symptoms you’re experiencing and reduce menopause mood swings and the risk of mood disorders and conditions such as anxiety and depression.
Symptoms, including ones that affect your emotional health, can be managed with both natural and medical solutions. At Bonza Health, we offer functional and lifestyle medicine options to create personalized plans to cater to your needs and your unique perimenopause or menopause journey.
Supplements
Hormone Therapy for Mood Swings and Mental Health
Vitality Code
Natural supplements can do wonders for your health and well-being during perimenopause and menopause.
Our curated list of premium supplements, approved and personally used by Dr. Bonza, can help you manage your symptoms and health as you transition into your midlife journey.
Hormone Therapy for Mood Swings and Mental Health
Hormone therapy for women over 40 who are dealing with perimenopause or menopause symptoms like fatigue is an effective option to help reduce those symptoms and restore energy.
Dr. Sarah Bonza offers FDA-approved hormone therapy. She creates a personalized, whole-body plan to ensure that you have everything you need to begin your journey, including preventative medicine evaluations, such as supplement recommendations and Functional Medicine Testing. Advanced screenings such as breast MRI and bone density testing can be arranged with Dr. Bonza as well.
Discover the 3-step system to help women navigate these changes.
This is a free-to-watch webinar that dives deep into perimenopause (menopause women are welcome, too!) and Bonza Health’s exclusive program, the Vitality Code, which covers the key aspects of menopause management.
We hope you found the information on this page helpful and gained insights for your own health and well-being!
Take the next step and work with Dr. Bonza and the Bonza Health Team to help you manage mood swings, mood disorders, and more.
FAQs
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Although we work with women everywhere in the U.S., our medical services are only for the states of Ohio and Michigan. If you are a resident in Ohio, please contact us if you have any questions.
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Yes, we do! We cover both perimenopause and menopause in our consultations, health and wellness programs, etc.
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Please note that perimenopause and menopause symptoms are very similar, but the experiences can be vastly different for each woman. You may have lighter symptoms during perimenopause, but the symptoms may be more intense during menopause.
Common symptoms for perimenopause include:
Irregular or missed periods
Weight gain/appetite changes
Brain fog/concentration challenges
Hot flashes/night sweats
Sleep difficulties
Breast tenderness
Intense PMS symptoms
Increased stress or anxiety
Risk of depression
Mood swings
Common symptoms for menopause include:No period for 12 months
Vaginal dryness, decreased libido, weakening pelvic floor
Muscle loss, weight gain, appetite and metabolic changes
Risk of bone loss, which can lead to osteoporosis
Brain fog, difficulty remembering or focusing
Thinning skin and dryness, hair thinning or hair loss, nail brittleness
Hot flashes/night sweats
Sleep disturbances
Losing fullness in breasts
Increased stress, anxiety, depression
Mood swings
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Yes, we do! We’re happy to provide more information on perimenopause and menopause. Here are some helpful links:
Bonza Health Shop
Dr. Bonza’s Health Essentials
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!