How do hormones during the menstrual cycle affect weight gain?

Once you find yourself in a constant mood decline, tearfulness, increased fatigue, which do not stop for several weeks - sound alarm. This condition can be the cause of your excess weight. Especially if this condition coincides with the menstrual cycle.

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Stress and hormonal changes

Stress causes us to fluctuate hormones and as a result - hormonal imbalance, even if it seems to us that the experiences went completely. In addition, after experiencing stress, we can continue to be in a depressed state from time to time and think that it's only a matter of psychological changes. In fact, the culprits are most often biochemical processes that affect the change of our mood and well-being.

What are these biochemical processes? The fact is that the state of anxiety and anxiety during the experience of life's troubles causes the same imbalance of hormones as the so-called premenstrual syndrome. A woman can feel irritability, she has increased tearfulness, fast fatigue, a sense of anxiety and anxiety both during stress and during the monthly cycle.

The perpetrators are the same. This is a significant decrease in the hormone estradiol and a decreased level of sugars in the blood. Even after you are saturated with chocolate or candy, the blood sugar level does not increase, additional energy does not appear. The metabolism is broken (it slows down) and a woman can begin to grow fat.

We emphasize: the reason that you are recovering sharply, there may be stresses due to life problems, and mood swings during the monthly cycle, caused by the same hormonal disorders.

More on the process of hormonal imbalance and weight gain

When you are experiencing, the level of cortisol - a hormone that is produced under stress, rises. Then the organism includes a mechanism of self-defense. It is expressed very strange - the body, protecting itself from stress, accumulates fats in reserve. First of all, these fats are deposited in the waist region.

This is due to the fact that an elevated level of the stress hormone cortisol causes the body to reject insulin, causing excess fats to accumulate. In addition, the male hormone testosterone is activated, which also affects weight gain.

If the stress lasts a long time, it destroys the hormonal balance associated with increased activity of adrenaline. Then there are the following symptoms:

• Headache
• The pressure rises sharply
• There may be unmotivated attacks of aggression, anger or vice versa, tearfulness and irritability
• There may be a renal colic
• Strong tension in muscles
• Increased fatigue

If you have these symptoms or most of them, contact an endocrinologist for a hormonal background check. This can solve the problem with both the level of hormones in the blood, and with weight fluctuations.

How does hormonal vibration affect immunity?

When a woman is in a state of prolonged stress, her immunity says "goodbye". The immune system is significantly weakened or, on the contrary, begins to become aggressive. In the first case - weakening of immune functions - you may have increased fatigue, weakness, irritability, you can constantly pick up somewhere flu, then cold. Well, for bad luck, you will sigh and do not even think that all this is due to hormonal changes that undermine immunity at the root.

The second - the hyperactivity of the immune system - is manifested by asthmatic reactions: rash, dyspnea, irritability, palpitations. If you are cut or scratched, the wounds heal slowly and reluctantly.

Can infect the infection by the type of fungus on the feet or trichomoniasis. Red lupus or such an unpleasant disease as thyroiditis, too, can be a consequence of hormonal failure and immune disorders. And the stress and related changes in the body are to blame. Negative, unfortunately.

How stress affects the work of the ovaries

Their work under the influence of permanent disorders is suppressed. This means that the ovaries no longer actively produce sex hormones. That is, the sex hormones in the body will be a disadvantage. This primarily affects the thyroid gland, becoming weak and also producing hormones reluctantly and little.

Stress, estradiol and sad consequences

The hormone estradiol that produces the ovaries affects your overall well-being. It is a hormone capable of inhibiting the production of other hormones (serotonin - a hormone of happiness, norepinephrine, aetilcholine, dopamine) at a low level in the body. Such a not-so-good union of a weak level of hormones can cause a general weakness in the form of insomnia or other sleep disorders, poor appetite, memory dips, mood swings.

Note: if the body has a low level of estradiol, with stress and other stresses (including workers), you will be much more difficult to handle than with a normal level of estradiol. Therefore, it is worth checking the hormonal balance of the body and receiving estradiol in the form of oral medications, if it is not enough.

When estradiol is not enough?

The level of estradiol may be lower all the time. Know that this can hinder the work of the brain, and then those around us see us as tired and sluggish. With these symptoms, you should definitely contact an endocrinologist for advice and examination.

At what conditions does the level of estradiol decrease and inhibit the work of the whole organism? Who is most at risk and at what periods of life?

• Premenstrual syndrome (pain in the head, back, abdomen, dizziness, irritability)
• Depression after childbirth
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Perimenopause
• Sharp fluctuations in weight
• Constant and severe fatigue
• Frequent stress
• Period before and menopause

At this time, hormonal imbalances can occur in the body: estradiol is not produced enough, and the level of stress hormones - cortisol and androgens - constantly fluctuates. To this picture, the effect of estrogens is also added to the fact that the woman begins to recover actively.

What else affects the rapid addition of weight

When the hormone level of estrogen and estradiol changes and their ratio accordingly changes. These are hormones that are secreted by the ovaries

• The level of DHEA, estradiol and testosterone is sharply reduced, and their ratio (balance) varies too.
• Progesterone in the body is much more than estrogen
• Androgens in the body are much higher than normal, the level of cortisol (a stress hormone) is overshooting, suppressing the level of estradiol
• A small amount of estradiol, which contributes too much to the production of insulin (most often it happens in the middle and old age)
• The thyroid gland produces less and less hormones, which inhibits metabolic processes in the body and leads to weight gain

Know that such hormonal imbalance in combination with stress strongly inhibits all metabolic processes in the body. This contributes to the deposition of fats, especially on the sides and in the waist. Muscle mass at the same time - do not flatter yourself! - quickly lost. This is affected by the loss of hormones estradiol and testosterone, increased appetite and as a result - chronic fatigue and helplessness before stress.

What should be done?

To the hormonal balance and weight you had everything in order, despite the age and psychological narguzki, you must necessarily coordinate the level of testosterone, estradiol, thyroid hormones, DHEA, as well as insulin and cortisol. If you do not, your figure will begin to change with age, fat accumulates on the sides and waist, and also on the hips.

In time consult with the doctor-endocrinologist and do not deprive yourself of good health just because you are too lazy to do your health.