Female Hormones

Female Hormone Cycle

You can predict your day based on your hormone cycle—and it’s easy! Here’s why: Three key hormones that rise and fall each month of your cycle—estrogen, testosterone and progesterone—affect your energy level, mood, libido, how chatty you are, how extroverted you feel, how much money you want to spend, the foods you crave, and virtually every other part of your day. Because these hormones follow the same pattern every month, you can actually predict what these effects will be every day of your cycle.

Here a simple snapshot of what your hormones are doing all month long: From the first period until menopause in a healthy woman’s cycle, estrogen rises throughout the first half of your cycle, then it falls, rises and falls again during the second half; testosterone follows a similar pattern; progesterone rises in the second half of your cycle, then falls by the end of your cycle. Your cycle may be the average 28 days, or it could be shorter, longer or vary from month to month, but hormones will still follow the same general pattern.

Now here’s a brief summary of how your hormones affect your emotions, pep, impulsiveness, libido and more week of your cycle:

Week 1First day of period to Day 7
Your hormonescope: Estrogen and testosterone start at rock bottom and start a steady climb. Together, they boost your energy, mood, optimism and brain skills. Testosterone amps up your libido, confidence and comfort with taking risks. It’s also making you more impulsive so you’re more likely to buy items on the spur of the moment. Estrogen makes you chattier and pushes you to connect with others.  It also has a slight appetite suppressing effect, making you prefer lighter foods than during the last two weeks of your cycle.

Week 2Day 8 to Day 13
Your hormonescope: Estrogen and testosterone rise till they peak this week, amping up all the effects you enjoyed during Week 1. You’ll find yourself laughing more easily, dragging your partner into bed, accepting every party invitation offered and letting out your inner wild child. You’re feeling more confident about your appearance and, in fact, estrogen is making you more attractive by evening out your skin tone and making your face and ears more symmetrical. There is one downside to be aware of, however: high estrogen makes you more prone to stressing out over issues big and small.

Week 3Day 14 (or ovulation) to Day 22
Your hormonescope: The first half of Week 3 is your “pre-PMS” phase. The symptoms are like a less intense version of PMS—they may include slight irritability, fatigue and a down mood. Like PMS, pre-PMS is caused by plunging estrogen. Luckily, by the second half of Week 3, pre-PMS disappears as estrogen rises, which levels out your mood. All throughout Week 3, rising progesterone has you feeling sleepy, quiet, less interested in socializing and more cautious. It’s also causing your libido to evaporate into thin air and is triggering cravings for ooey gooey comfort foods rich in sugar, fat and salt.

Week 4Day 23 to the end of cycle
Your hormone-cast: During this premenstrual week, estrogen, testosterone and progesterone plunge, which can trigger moodiness, the blues, aches and pains, insomnia, headaches and a myriad of other PMS-related symptoms. Not every woman suffers from PMS and symptoms can be milder or more severe from month to month, often due to diet, stress or your body’s personal sensitivity to hormones. But, it’s not all bad news. In fact, this week your libido returns, though technically that’s not due to hormones. Researchers believe it’s because the nerve endings down below get stimulated as your body prepares for menstruation. Also good to hear: This week, treating yourself to your favorite indulgences is actually medicinal! Why? As estrogen plunges, it depletes your body of mood- and sleep-regulating serotonin. But, when you buy your favorite ice cream, take a bubble bath, watch a much-loved movie, head to the mall or do anything you enjoy, it helps boost serotonin levels right back up.