Is Your Anxiety Triggered By Hormonal Imbalance? Here's Exactly What To Do About It

As a doctor who helps women heal from autoimmune disease and balance their hormones, I’ve seen how, despite numerous medications and meditations, many patients like Martha feel plagued by anxiety. Rather than connect these mood disorders with hormonal imbalances, doctors instantly reach for their prescription pad.

Stress should do its job and then leave you alone, but today’s constant stressors keep your adrenals in overdrive. And in response, your body shuts down fertility to keep you safe. So what, you say; you’re not trying to get pregnant anyway. But even if you don’t want to become a mom, shutting down your fertility (unless you’re post-menopausal) can seriously affect your overall health.

In my practice, I see how low progesterone levels affect fertility but also create symptoms like mood swings, anxiety, fatigue, low sex drive, and sleep disturbances. When you’re constantly stressed, your body goes into survival mode. Keeping you alive becomes more important than fertility. After all, if that saber-tooth tiger is chasing you for lunch, being pregnant or having a baby could seriously slow you down.

As we quickly discovered, Martha’s exhausting, debilitating anxiety levels stemmed from hormonal imbalances. Her cortisol was off the charts, and she had low progesterone. Insulin resistance kept her inflamed and set her up for diabetes. Estrogen dominance held her weight hostage and further played into her stress levels. Overall, it was a messed-up hormone parade.

Once I find the root cause of hormonal imbalances that contribute to anxiety, I can help patients nourish their adrenal glands and restore hormonal balance. To do that, I implement these seven strategies:

Sugar and food sensitivities like gluten and dairy can increase anxiety, stall weight loss, imbalance insulin and other hormones, and leave you feeling less than fabulous. While she wasn’t eating obvious sugar sources, I found so-called healthy foods like whole grain cereal or agave-sweetened snacks had hijacked Martha’s hormones. Instead, she focused on leafy and cruciferous veggies, low-glycemic starches like quinoa, clean protein sources, and healthy fats from foods like wild-caught salmon and avocado.

She was already doing yin yoga to manage anxiety, but I also wanted Martha to add some higher-intensity exercise to her plan. That’s because when you’re anxious, your body wants you to move—fast! Big-muscle movements, including jump squats, walking, lunging, and even kicking can help your body move through anxiety and stress.

The key word is focus, not control. Trying to control your breath can make you more anxious. Instead, try noticing your breath without judgment next time you feel anxiety swell. Sometimes being present—even during seemingly trivial moments like when you’re paying at the checkout line rather than getting distracted with magazine covers—can shift your awareness and soothe your nervous system.

If you’re constantly stressed, that morning java jolt could be doing more harm than good. Martha was a self-admitted caffeine fiend. I had her gradually taper off morning coffee with half-regular/half-decaf. Eventually she moved to green tea, which provides the calming neurotransmitter L-theanine to balance its small amount of caffeine.

Rather than leap out of bed and check her iPhone or email, Martha started her morning with five deep breaths, 10 minutes of sun salutes, and then 20 minutes of meditation. (She admitted on super-busy days she did only five minutes of meditation, which is still fine.) When her mind wandered to her to-do list, she went back to her breath. Go back to your breath and you can manage almost anything.

Depression is one of the most common reasons why women quit the pill, yet I find birth control also triggers anxiety-induced symptoms by depleting nutrients1 and disrupting your gut balance. The pill also messes with your thyroid, and anxiety can be a common symptom of hypothyroidism. If your conventional physician isn’t hearing it, talk with a functional medicine or naturopathic doctor about going off the pill.

Looking for more ways to bust anxiety? Try medical sound therapy, or work on strengthening your vagus nerve.