A woman’s hormones fluctuate throughout her menstrual cycle but the two primary hormones, estrogen and progesterone, maintain a certain balance.
Estrogen has a stimulatory effect on the nervous system, unlike progesterone which is calming. There are several factors that could lead to estrogen becoming too high and out of balance with progesterone.
- Environmental exposure to BPA, or prescription hormone medications.
- Soy in the diet
- Consumption of dairy products and meat from animals who have been treated with hormones
- Chronic stress leading to hormone precursors getting diverted to the adrenal glands.
If Estrogen is Too High
If estrogen is too high compared to progesterone, sleep problems can occur because there is too much excitatory input compared to the calming properties of progesterone and the brain can’t calm down enough to rest.
However…
… low estrogen can also contribute to sleep problems.
Estrogen has a direct effect on serotonin, a brain chemical that is converted to melatonin, a sleep hormone. Low estrogen may lead to low serotonin activity and contribute not only to sleep problems but also depression and anxiety.
The female brain is highly dependent on sufficient estrogen for normal function in general, and low estrogen can also cause symptoms that include brain fog and memory loss.
How Do You Know Which It Is?
The most reliable test to evaluation your hormone levels is either through doing multiple saliva or urine samples. Blood tests are not reliable since they only check one moment in time.
To help you understand which foods and nutrients you may have trouble digesting and which you are deficient in, Dr. Rose created a quiz.
Click here to take Dr. Rose’s Nutritional Profile Quiz and get an overview of what your nutritional imbalances could be. You’ll get your results immediately.
Dr. Marina Rose, DC has a Chiropractic and Functional Nutrition practice in Los Altos, CA and helps women with perimenopause symptoms and other challenging health conditions to find natural solutions.