Menstrual cycles and mood swings

Everywhere

9 Dec

Does your mood change or do you feel anxious during your menstrual cycle? If the answer is YES, or YEEEEAAAHSSSSSS, then you’re not alone.

Approximately 75% of women at one time or another experience pre-menstrual syndrome which alters their physical and mental state. But it’s not only pre-menstrual. During the menstrual cycle symptoms can vary from cramps, headaches and backache to sleep problems, food cravings, nausea, bloating and even diarrhoea and constipation.

Some of the most disruptive symptoms however, can be those that affect our mood resulting in irritability, mood swings, feelings of extreme sensitivity, tearfulness, depression and/or anxiety.

But why all the chaos?

Firstly, there’s always a lot going on in the body. But leading up to ovulation when an egg is released, through to the luteal phase when the egg is fertilised (or not) is always a busy time for the female body.

So why all the pain and anguish?

Sometimes it’s due to imbalances with sex hormones. For example, when oestrogen is really low, it can trigger brain chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) to react as if we’re in a stressed or conversely depressed state. Simultaneously, if progesterone is too low, it doesn’t adequately allow for the thickening of the uterus and can contribute to inflammation of the endometrial lining.

Then there’s the influences from the foods that we eat, our lifestyle, and interactions with our environment. That’s not hugging trees, instead it’s all of the toxic elements that we can ingest and absorb. This can vary from cosmetic products to cleaning products, food that’s slightly past its best and toxins in the environment. All of this then adds to the chaos, pain and anguish.

But what about the anxiety connection?

Regular anxiety and menstrual anxiety both affect our brain’s processing abilities. Both cause our body to release stress chemicals and both can be really uncomfortable and upsetting. The main difference is that with menstrual anxiety, symptoms usually disappear when our period starts or finishes.

The body doesn’t know what type of anxiety we’re going through though. It simply knows that it needs to deal with the heightened stress symptoms, so it stimulates hormones to release chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol to deal with the situation. But what this means in an already hormone floating menstrual state, is that it can simply cause more hormonal and chemical imbalances.

I know that having an explanation can be useful, but experiencing it isn’t, so here are 3 tips to help alleviate some of the symptoms:

Get to know your body and your cycle. Some research shows that shorter menstrual cycles may be linked to a higher risk of creating anxiety states. So, one thing that you can do is use apps like Eve, Flo, Cycles, WomanLog, Clover and Clue which can often also log your mood. Monitoring can also help you to prepare and consider what’s happening in relation to other things like your diet, lifestyle and environment.

Tone down your stress response and get some sleep. Stress on top of anxiety simply means MASS stress and LOADS of anxiety. When we’re stressed during our menstrual cycle it can activate our sympathetic nervous system to heighten stress symptoms, like cramping or sleep disruption. Being calm lessens the need for stress chemicals like cortisol which, with melatonin, supports our sleep. Simply having a warm bath, going for a walk, listening to some music, yoga, dancing or meditation can all help. Sleeping well also allows the body to not only rest but to process the day’s activities and recover.
Eat well. Eating regular balanced meals can support you in avoiding dips in energy, mood and even cognition. Dips stress the body and can raise anxiety symptoms. It also makes the body work unnecessarily hard to release stored glucose to give us energy. In addition, simply adding more fibre from vegetables - especially leafy green varieties (spinach, kale, cavolo nero, broccoli, pak choi) - and wholegrains (brown rice and pasta) can be beneficial in removing excess hormones and toxins. These along with waste matter can all act as hormone disruptors.

Experiencing mood swings or dealing with menstrual anxiety may not be easy, but a few simple steps may start to make it better.

Written by Felicia Jones

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