Estrogen may influence mood states and disorders, which could be a reason why people with female sex-hormones are often associated with “moodiness.”
Read more about the research below:
“In a newly published study, women’s health experts from the University of Alberta argue there is an urgent need for carefully designed, gender-specific research to better understand the relationship of female sex hormones to mood states and disorders.
‘The reasons for the gender disparity in rates of depression are not completely understood,’ says Kathy Hegadoren, the Canada Research Chair in Stress Disorders in Women at the University of Alberta.
‘But there is growing evidence that estrogens have powerful effects beyond their role in reproduction–that they play a critical role in mood disorders in women–and this opens new avenues for research into the underlying biological mechanisms and treatment of depression.’
Estrogen can be used to treat various mood disturbances in women–such as perimenopausal, postmenopausal and postpartum depression–but the results of these treatments can be difficult to interpret because researchers are only beginning to recognize the complex interactions among estrogens, serotonin and mood. . .
‘Previous research has found that, before puberty, the rates of mood and anxiety disorders are similar in boys and girls. It’s only after females begin menstrual function that a gender differential in mood disorders manifests itself. This, coupled with the observation that women appear to be especially vulnerable to mood disturbances during times of hormonal flux, certainly lends support to the claim that a relationship exists between sex hormones and mood,’ says Hegadoren.
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