The Secret Powers of Ovulation (It’s Not Just for Making a Baby)

benefits of ovulationOvarian hormones estrogen and progesterone are highly beneficial for health. That means that natural ovulatory menstrual cycles are beneficial for health because ovulation is the only way to make ovarian hormones.

Does that surprise you? Men make their valuable testosterone every day, so you might think women would do something similar, but we don’t. Instead, we make our hormones as a surge of estrogen leading up to ovulation and an even bigger surge of progesterone for the two weeks after ovulation.

Read moreThe Secret Powers of Ovulation (It’s Not Just for Making a Baby)

4 Things to Know About Menopausal Hormone Therapy

Body identical hormone therapy.

This post is for all you forty and fifty-somethings who are looking for some kind of clarity around hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or menopausal hormone therapy.

You want to know if HRT is safe and which type to choose. And you want to know if hormone treatment is actually going to help with the sleep disturbance, mood changes and crazy periods that you’re experiencing now but really didn’t expect to see for a few more years.

Read more4 Things to Know About Menopausal Hormone Therapy

4 Types of PCOS (a Flowchart)

Types of PCOS

To treat PCOS, you need to know what’s driving it. In other words, you need to know your functional type of PCOS.

You could have insulin-resistant PCOS, post-pill PCOS (which is temporary), inflammatory PCOS, or the far less common adrenal PCOS. These are functional types of PCOS based on the underlying physiological driver.

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Why Progesterone Is Both Good and Bad for Mood (and How to Treat PMDD)

mood effects of progesteroneProgesterone calms the brain and promotes sleep. At the same time, progesterone seem to play a role in the mood symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

How can both things be true? The short answer is that progesterone is usually good for mood but can sometimes be bad.

Keep reading for the longer answer about progesterone and mood.

Read moreWhy Progesterone Is Both Good and Bad for Mood (and How to Treat PMDD)