What effect do hormones have during pregnancy and menopause?
“During these periods, your hormones do things differently than you are used to and that can cause complaints. Let’s start with pregnancy, because that involves a lot of hormones,” says Moorman. “When the fertilized egg implants itself in the endometrium, the hormone HCG is produced. This is the hormone you measure when you take a pregnancy test. HCG can make you extremely nauseous and you can also experience mental complaints.”
After three months, your HCG level drops again and the placenta takes over the production of estrogen and progesterone again, according to Moorman. “During pregnancy, high levels of female hormones are produced, but after childbirth, this hormone production will drop to a low point,” he continues. “This is due to another hormone that becomes very active after childbirth, namely prolactin. Prolactin has the function of stimulating breast milk production while suppressing the female cycle. As a result, there is a significant drop in estrogen and progesterone, which can make you suddenly feel sad or anxious, for example.” According to Moorman, the fluctuations of the female hormones also occur in other situations, such as just before your period.
Which hormone causes the most complaints?
It is difficult to determine exactly which hormone is responsible for a certain symptom, Moorman says. “There are often several hormones active at the same time and these fluctuate. During pregnancy and after childbirth, for example, the hormones HCG, estrogen and progesterone are produced, but other hormones are also active such as oxytocin (inducing contractions, breast milk let-down), prolactin (breast milk production). All of these hormones also affect your brain and how you feel. And those effects are also different from person to person.”
A lot happens during the transition. “When the cycle takes place less or no longer and ovulation does not occur, the hormonal balance will change considerably. The body can search for hormonal stability for many years, which causes the estrogen level in particular to fluctuate considerably. If your estrogen level suddenly drops, less of the happiness chemical serotonin is released in the brain, which can make you feel a bit more unhappy.” According to Moorman, the result of this can be that you suddenly have a huge appetite for chocolate and other unhealthy food. “You may have had that the day before your period. If you eat something unhealthy one day a month, it will not affect your weight much. If you do this more often during the transition years, it can cause you to gain some kilos if you don’t have enough motivation to resist.”
Why is your mood bothering you?
In addition to the effects of the hormones estrogen and progesterone, the expert would also like to talk about another substance, namely oxytocin, which is released in large quantities towards the end of pregnancy and after childbirth. Oxycotine is also known as the cuddle hormone. Although it has an uplifting name, in high levels it can affect your mental state. Some women are sitting on a pink cloud, as it were, while others feel extremely depressed or anxious. That is very person-dependent.”
Just like with pregnancy, according to Moorman, you can also suffer from your mood during the menopause. In addition, your memory may work a little less. Some women cannot concentrate on their work for a long time and end up in a kind of ‘blur’. “All kinds of things happen in the brain that we don’t even know everything about yet. The exact effects of the different hormones are still being researched. Although you can sometimes still suffer from your hormones after pregnancy or menopause, fortunately they are not harmful to your brain.” To recognize hormones, Moorman has a tip: “Look at it this way: when a pimple appears on your chin, you know that your estrogen level is dropping.”
Suddenly a complaint or ailment after pregnancy: how is that possible?
“I’ll tell you. Female hormones suppress certain parts of the immune system, as pregnancy can be an impactful and stressful time. After childbirth, these female hormones drop dramatically. At that moment, your immune system can suddenly become extra active, which makes inflammation worse. As a result, you can (often temporarily) suffer from ailments or diseases such as thyroid inflammation.”
Is there anything you can do to ease your hormones?
“If they do what they’re supposed to do, you shouldn’t really be bothered by it,” says Moorman. But since not everyone lives one hundred percent naturally, the hormonal system is often under pressure. You see this, for example, in studies of natural populations: they have not experienced nearly as many complaints as women now. That’s why it would be smart for women to behave like the ancient prehistoric man before and during pregnancy and menopause, as crazy as that sounds.” This means eating fresh and minimally processed foods that are high in fiber, so you don’t raise your blood sugar too quickly.
As far as stress is concerned, we can also learn a lot from prehistoric humans. This person mainly experienced short-term and no chronic stress, so booking stress coaching sessions certainly can’t hurt if you suffer from this, according to Moorman. In addition, exercise is said to be important, sometimes even intensively: “Prehistoric man moved a lot. And sometimes intensively, when he had to hunt, fight or flee. So go into and through the pregnancy and menopause as healthy as possible, mentally and physically, that can greatly reduce the hormone effects on your brain.”
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