Sadness in the follicular phase: why it happens

Right after your period ends, estrogen and progesterone are both close to the lowest point of your cycle.

• Progesterone stays near zero until after ovulation.
• Estrogen is only starting its climb.

A study of 29 women with and without PMDD found dysphoric mood rose more in the late luteal phase for women with PMDD than for women without PMDD (Hormones and Behavior, 2008). That's one reason follicular sadness gets less attention than premenstrual sadness, since for most people it isn't the cycle's low point.

Still, the hormone floor is real. A meta-analysis of 778 women found cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, runs higher in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase (Hedges' g = 0.13, p < 0.01, Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2020). Higher cortisol doesn't read as sadness for everyone. For some people it shows up as wired or on edge, and that can tip into low mood on a stressful week.

There's a slower piece too. Researchers measured allopregnanolone, a calming neurosteroid made from progesterone, in the mid-follicular phase in women with a PMDD-like mood pattern.

It was higher than in women without that pattern, and the higher it was, the worse depression and anxiety got later in the cycle (Archives of Women's Mental Health, 2025). For some, what happens here can shape the mood that follows in the luteal phase.

Some dip in mood during the follicular phase is normal. Daily mood tracking across the menstrual cycle consistently finds cyclic variation, not a flat line, even in women who don't notice it themselves (Health Psychology, 1991). Well-being moved along with cycle phase in that study, and it was lowest in the days before the period for most women, not the days after.

That's worth noticing if your pattern looks different. A sadness that's worse in the follicular phase than anywhere else in your cycle is less typical, but it's not rare or alarming on its own. It can mean the hormone floor after your period affects you more than it does other people, or it can mean something else is going on that happens to land on these days this month.

One dip doesn't tell you much. A pattern across two or three cycles does.

The first few days after bleeding ends tend to be the hardest, when estrogen and progesterone are both still near their lowest. As estrogen rises toward ovulation, mood tends to lift for most people.

One study measured neurosteroid levels specifically in the mid-follicular phase and found a difference there in women with a PMDD-like mood pattern, which suggests the middle of this phase isn't just a quiet stretch for everyone (Archives of Women's Mental Health, 2025).

If your low days cluster right after your period rather than drifting through the whole phase, that timing itself is useful information to write down or bring to a doctor.

PMS and PMDD are both defined by timing, meaning symptoms in the days before your period that ease once it starts.

PMS covers physical or emotional symptoms in the one to two weeks before bleeding. PMDD is a diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11, with at least five symptoms, one of them a mood symptom, in the final week before the period, easing within days of it starting and minimal the week after.

Sadness that's worse in the follicular phase, after your period has started, doesn't fit either pattern by definition. That doesn't mean it isn't real. It might be an existing low mood or anxiety that's present all month and happens to be loud this week (sometimes called premenstrual exacerbation when it also worsens before the period), or it might be a reaction specific to the hormone floor right after bleeding ends.

If low mood is also present outside the follicular phase, that's a sign to look at the whole month, not just this one week.

You don't have to just wait this out.

• Get outside for 10 to 15 minutes. Energy and motivation tend to run a little higher in the follicular phase than the week before your period, so movement often helps more here.
• Eat something with protein within the hour. Low blood sugar can feel a lot like low mood, and it's an easy thing to rule out.
• Say the hormone piece out loud: estrogen and progesterone are both low right now, and that's a real, physical reason.
• Write down what's bothering you, separate from how you feel. Mood and cause aren't always the same thing, and sorting them tells you what's worth acting on.

Niyora is a PMS and PMDD support app. If you want somewhere to put the sadness before deciding what to do with it, Niyora's Moon lets you write what happened, see it from another angle and calm down before deciding what to do.

One cycle tells you almost nothing. Two or three tell you whether this is a pattern or a one-off.

1. Note your mood on a simple 1 to 10 scale each day, along with the day of your cycle.
2. Mark the day your period starts and ends, so you can see which phase you're in without guessing.
3. Write one line about what else was going on that day: sleep, a fight, a deadline.
4. After two cycles, look for where the low days cluster, using the follicular phase and follicular phase hormones pages to match your notes to what's rising or falling.

A cycle phase calculator or a hormone chart can show you roughly where you are without doing the math yourself. If the low days actually cluster in the week before your period instead, that's a different pattern, covered on the luteal phase page, and how your cycle affects your mood walks through the bigger picture.