Progesterone: Your Calm Hormone

Progesterone...your "calm" hormone. A few posts back we talked about Estradiol (what we commonly refer to as estrogen when we talk about periods but "estradiol" is the specific estrogen we're referring to here) which can be referred to as our "happy" hormone. Today we're going to get deep into talking about Progesterone. Progesterone works to balance estrogen and has a calming effect on the body, hence why we're calling it your "calm" hormone.My goal with this blog series on specific hormones involved in your cycle is to EMPOWER and EDUCATE you so you can be more of an EXPERT on your body. Because I truly believe that you are more of an expert in certain ways than I am, even. Ok, let's dive into talking about all things PROGESTERONE.Progesterone is the hormone associated with the second half of your cycle, your Luteal Phase. Estrogen, as we talked about in the blog post a few weeks ago, is the primary player associated with the first half of your cycle, your Follicular Phase.After ovulation, your mature follicle, the one that just released an egg, becomes what's termed the corpus luteum. This hormone-secreting structure now begins to release progesterone.

THE CORPUS LUTEUM

The corpus luteum is a pretty cool structure that forms and begins producing progesterone in your body until, if you don't get pregnant, it shrinks and dies which causes a dip in progesterone which then signals the shedding of your uterine lining leading to you having your period. If you do get pregnant, the corpus luteum will continue to release progesterone for the first few weeks of pregnancy until the placenta takes over. Pretty cool, huh!? 

PROGESTERONE'S ROLE IN YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Progesterone, like I mentioned above, is the balancing hormone to estrogen. Where estrogen builds up your uterine lining, progesterone thins it out. While estrogen suppresses thyroid hormones, Progesterone promotes them. This is actually where you'll see a rise in your basal body temperature due to progesterone's effect on increasing metabolism. Estrogen acts to excite the nervous system, stimulating mood and libido, while Progesterone calms you down due to it converting to a neurotransmitter called allopregnanolone. The greatest role that progesterone has is protecting pregnancy, but as you can see it has a lot of other really important roles in your body's hormone balance and rhythms. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF PROGESTERONE IS TOO LOW?

A main reason for low progesterone is due to what's called anovulatory cycles or not having a period all-together. With anovulatory cycles, you may have a monthly bleed and still not be ovulating. This occurs often with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), but can also occur with HA (hypothalamic amenorrhea). Here, your body misses out on all the wonderful benefits of progesterone, it's calming effect and balancing effect on estrogen. Here is what we call relative estrogen dominance--estrogen is high relative to progesterone. With this, you may experience heavier and longer periods, for some and shorter periods, period irregularity, weight gain, and/or PMS.Another reason for low progesterone is a shorter luteal phase since this is the time during your cycle where the corpus luteum makes progesterone. This can be due to some form of stress on your body. You'll know your luteal phase is short if you track your body temperature and you notice you see a rise in body temperature (signaling ovulation) but then have your period less than 11 days later. If you want to learn more about how to track your cycle, I wrote a whole blog post about it here!Testing for low progesterone is possible, but just as accurate is paying attention to how long your luteal phase is. Again, you're looking for at least 11 days. 

WHAT ABOUT IF PROGESTERONE LEVELS ARE TOO HIGH?

It's actually pretty rare in our world today to have progesterone levels that are too high. Especially with the use of certain chemicals that mimic estrogen in things like skincare products, most people have progesterone that's too low. With 

HOW TO FIND A HAPPY BALANCE OF PROGESTERONE?

To talk about progesterone balance, we've got to take a whole-person perspective. Remember when we talked about how more often than not people's progesterone is on the low side? This is often due to the stress so many of us have and the environment we live in. So a happy balance of progesterone is, for most of us, going to mean doing things to up our progesterone. And increasing progesterone starts with ensuring that you're ovulating regularly every month (because progesterone surges after ovulation when the follicle turns into the corpus luteum). I like to start by addressing someone's mental health because it's non-invasive and also can be a reason for anovulation.  Adding or taking away certain things from your day-to-day to ensure that you are able to deal with stress well is a great way to start thinking about promoting healthy progesterone levels. After adding things to address mental stress, the next thing to do is to ensure that your body isn't under any unnecessary physical stressors. This could be the stress of not eating enough, exercising too much, being on an extreme diet, not eating regularly. Our hormones are very sensitive, so it's important to make sure we're not doing anything to disrupt the beautiful balance.

Because progesterone can be low relative to estrogen, another thing to consider is what could be elevating estrogen in your body. We know that certain things in our environment can attribute to high estrogen due to what's called xenoestrogens. Basically, these are chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body and can disrupt our natural balance. You can find xenoestrogens in things like your personal care products (so makeup, skincare, etc) as well as in household cleaners, and plastic containers. So doing things to start and switch to cleaner skincare and beauty products, cleaners, and glass as best you can helps decrease estrogen-like chemicals in your body.

To sum it up, finding a healthy balance of progesterone means doing things to ensure you're ovulating most months as well as structuring your lifestyle to keep estrogen at a healthy level.

And if you're here because you're trying to get your period back after being told you have hypothalamic amenorrhea, I have another resource for you! Get your free download of "4 Steps to Get Your Period Back" Ebook.