“Anxiety in perimenopause isn’t about your husband or your job; it’s your hormones.” – Leslie Duffy
While it would be easy to think your increased anxiety or irritability is a result of your workload, your partner, or the state of the world, that might not be the case. Here’s the truth: in perimenopause, shifting estrogen and progesterone is remodeling your brain and making you more vulnerable to anxiety than ever before. Racing thoughts, poor sleep, heart palpitations, jaw tension, or even not wanting to spend time doing things you used to love can all be signs that your hormones, not your willpower, are causing a change.
Understanding the “why” behind your anxiety is the first step toward taking back your power. In this episode, I’m connecting the dots between what’s happening in your brain and what you’re feeling day to day. We’ll unpack how shifting estrogen and progesterone levels change your stress response, why your nervous system suddenly feels more sensitive, and the real reason your body is reacting like there’s danger even when you’re safe.
I’m sharing lifestyle interventions that actually work, the pivotal roles of sleep, nutrition, and movement, and when it might make sense to go deeper with functional testing for hormones, gut health, thyroid, or adrenals. You’ll leave this episode knowing that you’re not broken or crazy, and you can regain a sense of calm and control, even in the middle of the hormone shift.
Your Takeaways
- Physical and emotional symptoms of perimenopause anxiety
- The roles of estrogen and progesterone in mood, energy, and brain chemistry
- How progesterone stabilizes stress response and enhances GABA for calmness
- How hormone fluctuations in perimenopause affect the brain and emotional regulation
- Brain remodeling during perimenopause and increased risk for anxiety and depression
- Defining anxiety, the amygdala’s role, and how hormonal changes affect responses
- A tiger-in-a-cage metaphor to illustrate how estrogen and progesterone regulate anxiety
- How drops in estrogen and progesterone make emotional regulation harder
- The pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
- How lifestyle changes can influence your anxiety
- Why meditation, mindfulness, and breathwork help calm anxiety and regulate the amygdala
- Empowering yourself with knowledge, self-compassion, and data
- How exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy reduce anxiety and retrain the brain
- Tools you can use to activate the parasympathetic response
- The benefits of social support, even when you don’t feel like it
- The potential impact of histamine-rich foods on anxiety
- Advanced functional testing options to consider
Links & Resources for this Episode
FREE Tracker: Feeling Anxious AF? Grab this free tracker + symptom checklist to start connecting the dots.
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