Review, 2025
Do changing hormone levels across the menstrual cycle and into menopause affect mental health?
Yes, this review says that shifts in estrogen and progesterone across the reproductive lifespan are linked to mood conditions like PMS, PMDD, and mood problems during perimenopause and menopause, but it does not test this directly, it summarises other research.
What they did
This is a review article, not a new study. The authors compared findings from past research in both animal models and women to look at how hormone changes across the reproductive lifespan affect brain function and mental health.
What they found
The review reports that changes in estradiol and progesterone are linked to effects on neurotransmitters, brain plasticity, and brain activity patterns, and that these changes are associated with PMS, PMDD, and mood disorders during perimenopause and menopause. No specific statistics, percentages, or sample sizes are given in the abstract.
What it means for you
This supports the idea that PMS and PMDD have a real biological basis in hormone-driven brain changes, not just 'in your head'. The main limit is that this is a summary of other people's research, not a new experiment, so it cannot give exact numbers or prove cause and effect, and it mixes animal and human data.
About the study
- Original title
- The influence of ovarian activity and menopause on mental health: Evidence from animal models and women
- Authors
- Neitzke EV, Dos Santos FG, Zanini BM et al.
- Journal
- Physiology & behavior
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Review
- What was tested
- None tested, this is a literature review comparing findings from animal and human studies.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2025.114886
Topics
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