Yes, where you are in your menstrual cycle affects your mood. Yes, you can feel like a different person depending on where you are in your cycle. No, you are NOT crazy - and here is the best news of all: you can have a positive influence over your hormonal shifts throughout the month. You can gain some control and boost mental health!Alisa recently gave an interview with EmpowHER that we love because we think it is going to give our community so much clarity around a sometimes mystifying subject. Read the excerpt below, or continue to the full article on mental and emotional health during your period, by clicking here. “Fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone absolutely affect mood,” Vitti said. “In the first half of the [menstrual] cycle, estrogen stimulates parts of the brain that [has] to do with verbal skills and socialization. Women tend to feel positive and energized. In the second half of the cycle, right after ovulation, when progesterone is secreted from the ovaries and counteracts the effect of estrogen in the brain, a woman's mood can become more sedate, irritable, even depressed.”She said changing diet and adding supplements can counteract some mental health issues experienced during a period.“Women who suffer with estrogen dominance, and who feel more manic or really happy during the first half of the cycle, and feel as if they are a different person during the second half of the cycle, can use a few key foods and supplements to ease this process, such as sweet potato for vitamin A to aid the liver in metabolizing estrogen more efficiently, and broccoli and kale for the indole-3 carbinole to help break down estrogen,” Vitti said.“For women who feel extremely depressed or anxious, they can use a combination of B vitamins to help with the work of the ovary to manufacture progesterone, such as B6, B5 and B12. Women who feel aggressive can use Saw Palmetto to help reduce the effect of testosterone on their mood.”To continue with the rest of the article, Click Here.
