Estrogen plays a significant role in women's mental health, one that is more far-reaching than the fact that we have breasts!
Up until twenty years ago people thought that estrogen receptors and estrogen itself only acted in that part of the brain thats important for sex and reproduction. Now we know that those receptors are everywhere up in the cortex -prefrontal cortex-- and probably playing a huge role in cognition.For instance, estrogen causes dramatic changes in the brain. It can increase the number of synapses in the hippocampus by up to 20% - 30% when estrogen peaks, but then it strips it all away soon after. There's this incredible plasticity in the brain that is caused by this hormone, an anatomical plasticity. However most of what professionals know and have studied in neuroanatomy or neuroscience, are information attained about the male brain. The female brain is still a bit of a mystery. All bets are off.
Common misconceptions on female hormone fluctuations...
What do you think estrogen is for?
Image source: Flickr,Like a Flower, 2009.
Up next: What you didn't know about the history of oral concraceptives!
Whaaaat?! And all my life I thought my failure to focus was all because of my parents' genes! Jokes aside, this is really interesting. Then again, I'm not dying to hear the jokes men can now start making about another hormone-controlled problem we women may have. I think that we forget how dependent we actually are on our hormones and how they can control anything and everything in our bodies. I suffer from hyperthyroidism so I see the drastic change in my bodily functions if I forget to take that one little pill every morning. Female hormones are also under serious investigation because doctors have been noticing that most autoimmune diseases happen in women, and not only that, they seem to spring up every time women have a peak in hormonal function (menstruation, pregnancy, menopause). I think the medical community has a long way to go in figuring women out(sorry dudes).