Tag Archives: women

Can A Hormone Imbalance Really Cause Depression?

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Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

A research review by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) explored hormonal dysfunction in women as a potential cause for depression. The focus of the investigators and their subsequent report was on how the female reproductive system interacts with the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates the body’s stress response.

HPA Disruption Consequences

This mechanism can set up a biochemical environment for psychological disorders in females. It was noted that females are twice as likely as men to experience depression. Through the HP-axis, stress in women impacts the reproductive hormones, which can upset patterns of ovulation. This upset can contribute to the loss of menses and to infertility. If the inter-relationship of stress and female reproductive hormones becomes chronic, behavior and mood disorders and depression can increase significantly.

When oxytocin is suppressed due to excessive stress hormones, fertilized eggs cannot implant into the uterus. This is believed to be a primary cause of infertility in American women, owing to our highly stressful lifestyle. Depression, eating disorders, alcoholism or other addictions may also occur with the estrogen-induced disruption of normal HPA function.

The Stress-Less Cure

The key to preventing or correcting the problem as we find in many physiological conditions is to create a more balanced, less stressful lifestyle. If the body’s stress adaptation system becomes overwhelmed, and cannot appropriately adapt to the environment and demands of everyday life, many disorders and conditions can develop, depression being just one of them.

Post-Partum Problems

Regarding post-partum depression, the investigators identified that chronic hyper secretion of the stress hormone cortisol during a pregnancy creates a temporary suppression of adrenal function following delivery. This coupled with the sudden drop of hormonal levels of estrogen after birth may be a significant factor in post-partum depression or subsequent immune dysfunctions such as post-partum thyroid conditions.

Why Balance Is The Key

It is very important for women, because of our very integrated hormonal and nervous systems, to work towards a balanced, low stress life-style. Unlike our male counterparts, our hormonal system immediately lets us know when we are “off center” by delivering loud messages through hormonal dysfunction.

Are Females More Prone To Depression?

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It comes as no surprise to most women that there is a relationship between their hormone fluctuation and the potential for experiencing depression. Nonetheless, studies of this connection have not been pursued until fairly recently.

A short time ago, the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) looked at this subject and explored the potential relationship between hormonal dysfunction and depression in women. The published report specifically reviewed how the female reproductive system interacts with the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. This is a major regulatory mechanism of the body's stress response.

With important data showing that women are twice as likely as men to experience depression, it becomes powerful to recognize that it is this mechanism which sets up a biochemical environment for depression. Stress in women impacts the reproductive hormones which can upset patterns of ovulation, hormone secretion and implantation. Mediated through the HP-axis, this upset can contribute to the loss of menses and to infertility.

If the stress becomes chronic and exerts an ongoing imbalance on the female reproductive hormones, then it makes sense that behavior, mood disorders and depression can significantly increase. When the powerful reproductive, love hormone oxytocin is suppressed due to excessive stress hormones, fertilized eggs cannot implant into the uterus. This significant result of chronic stress is believed to be a primary cause of infertility in American women.

A key to preventing or correcting the problem is to create a more balanced, less stressful lifestyle. When our body's stress adaptation system becomes overwhelmed, many disorders and conditions can develop, depression being just one of them.

The NIH investigators reported that regarding postpartum depression, ongoing hyper-secretion of the stress hormone cortisol during pregnancy creates a temporary drop in adrenal function following delivery. This hormonal change coupled with the plummeting levels of estrogen after giving birth may be an important factor in post-partum depression and possibly in immune dysfunctions, such as postpartum thyroid conditions.

 

 

For more whole health discussions like this, listen to my weekly radio show Living Above The Drama available on iHeartRadio.

 

Apologies: Men vs Women

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For most of us, it does not come as a surprise that men and women think, behave, and are in many ways fundamentally different from one another. We also know that hormones play a large role in these differences. Now science is beginning to unravel the specifics of how male and female brains function, in large part because of male and female hormones that craft our brain development and orient our behaviors. These differences in brain function and hormones may be the reason why men and women approach apologizing in completely different manners.

Two new studies look at the brain function of men and women and offer some interesting observations regarding the subject. One study is from the University of California in collaboration with the University of New Mexico, led by researcher Richard Haier, a psychology professor at the University of California.

The findings of their study show that generally men have 6.5 times the amount of gray matter relating to general intelligence compared with women. Women on the other hand have nearly 10 times the amount of white matter related to intelligence compared to men. "These findings suggest that human evolution has created two different types of brains designed for equally intelligent behavior," said Haier. But apparently these types of intelligent behaviors manifest differently.

Women apologize more often than men do, according to a new study led by researcher Karina Schumann, a doctoral student in social psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It appears it is not that men are reluctant to admit wrongdoing, they simply have a different perception regarding what they feel rises to the level of requiring an apology.

The research team saw no difference in the number of times men and women acted in ways that elicited apologies, but there was a distinct difference in the male and female perception of what constituted a situation that requires an apology.

"Men aren't actively resisting apologizing because they think it will make them appear weak or because they don't want to take responsibility for their actions," says Schumann. "It seems to be that when they think they've done something wrong they [men] do apologize just as frequently as when women think they've done something wrong. It's just that they think they've done fewer things wrong.”

For more information about this topic, you can access a free excerpt from my bestselling book Changing Behavior: Immediately Transform Your Relationships with Easy to Learn Proven Communication Skills by visiting www.changingbehavior.org.

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