Hormonal Imbalances

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located in your lower neck that plays a powerful role in keeping your brain and body healthy. This gland regulates how your body uses energy, and it also has a strong impact on the brain because it controls the production of many neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. Problems occur when thyroid dysfunction causes the gland to produce too little hormone (hypothyroidism) or too much hormone (hyperthyroidism).

Hypothyroidism: Brain SPECT scans of people with hypothyroidism show overall decreased brain activity, which often leads to depression, cognitive impairment, anxiety, and brain fog.

Hyperthyroidism: An overactive thyroid produces too much hormone, making everything in your body work too fast. It can feel like you’re in hyper-drive—you feel jittery and edgy, as though you’ve had way too much caffeine.

Common Symptoms of Thyroid Disorder 

Estrogen is one of the primary hormones involved in a woman’s menstrual cycle. When estrogen levels are healthy and balanced, it helps optimize neurotransmitter production and brain function so you feel good all month long. When estrogen levels are out of balance, it causes problems.

Too much estrogen in relation to progesterone: This can lead to a condition called estrogen dominance. This causes the gentle monthly hormonal rise and fall to turn into a series of intense spikes and dramatic drop-offs that disrupt important brain processes and make you anxious and irritable.

Too little estrogen: This leads to feeling depressed and confused. The loss of estrogen also hinders critical thinking, short-term memory, and other cognitive functions. These problems can worsen during perimenopause when estrogen levels can fluctuate wildly and during menopause when the hormone drops and stays low.

Common Symptoms of Estrogen Imbalances

Progesterone is the other major hormone in a woman’s monthly cycle. It affects the brain in the following ways:

When progesterone is in balance with estrogen, it calms you, brings feelings of peacefulness, and promotes sleep. But when they are imbalanced or when the relaxation hormone drops too dramatically, calmness can give way to irritability, anxiety, depression, sleepless nights, and brain fog. When progesterone and estrogen plummet right before menstruation starts, some women experience issues with mood stability. 

Common Symptoms of Low Progesterone

Most people associate testosterone with men. It’s true that this vital hormone drives the development of the male brain and is responsible for the deep voice, facial hair, and many other features we associate with maleness. But women produce and need testosterone too (just as men have some estrogen), just in smaller amounts.

In both men and women, testosterone helps protect the nervous system and wards off depression, cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. The aging process, however, can leave some men with low testosterone levels that have been shown to increase symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as a host of other issues.

Common Symptoms of Low Testosterone

The adrenal glands, located above your kidneys, play a vital role in how your body reacts to stress. When acute stress hits, the adrenals release a cascade of hormones, including adrenaline, DHEA, and cortisol as part of your “fight-or-flight response.” When the danger passes, your body’s processes return to normal—your muscles relax, your heartbeat and breathing slow to their usual rate, and your adrenals cut back on stress hormone production. When stress becomes chronic, the cocktail of harmful chemicals that come with it can overwhelm your body and contribute to brain health/mental health issues.

When cortisol levels get stuck on high, it also causes a spike in blood sugar and insulin levels. This leads to detrimental changes in the brain, including a drop in the calming neurotransmitter, serotonin, leading to a range of psychological issues. Ultimately, high levels of cortisol increase the likelihood of developing lasting mental health conditions, such as anxiety disorders, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

In the brain, chronic stress produces more white matter and fewer neurons (gray matter) than normal, skewing their balance and interfering with communication within the brain.

Common Signs of Adrenal Fatigue

In the body, the hormone insulin is involved in regulating blood sugar levels. Your body’s cells need sugar (glucose) for energy, but they can’t absorb it directly from your bloodstream. That’s where insulin comes in. Released by the pancreas when you eat carbohydrates, insulin is like a key that unlocks cell membranes so they can get the glucose they need from the foods you eat.

If there’s too much sugar in your bloodstream, insulin signals your body to shuttle it to the liver for storage, which can eventually lead to fatty liver disease in some people. Another consequence of high insulin levels is that the body switches from breaking down and flushing dietary fat from the body to storing that fat, which over time, can lead to weight problems. One of the main consequences of chronically eating a high-sugar diet and having obesity is a decrease in insulin’s ability to regulate blood sugar, leading to pre-diabetes and diabetes. 

How do insulin and blood sugar levels affect your mind? Eating sugar or refined carbs causes blood sugar levels to spike and, subsequently, causes them to crash. This rollercoaster effect can impact your moods and mental wellbeing.

Common Signs of Blood Sugar (Insulin) Issues