Low Estrogen: 5 Possible Causes You Need to Know About
ESTROGEN DEFICIENCY IS COMMON AROUND MENOPAUSE, BUT IT CAN ALSO AFFECT YOU DURING YOUR 20S, 30S, AND 40S TOO.
When estrogen levels are low one may experience a number of symptoms
SOME COMMON SIGNS OF LOW ESTROGEN IN FEMALES OF ANY AGE INCLUDE:
Mind: Forgetfulness, mental fogginess or brain fog, poor concentration
Body: Hot flashes, night sweats, sagging breasts, loss of skin radiance, dry eyes and skin, fatigue, reduced stamina, increased appetite and weight gain, insomnia, headaches/migraines, back or joint pain
Mood: Anxiety, depression, mood swings
Fertility and Sexuality: A decreased feeling of sensuality, lessened self-image and attention to appearance, vaginal dryness, painful sex, low libido, reduced fertility, vaginal/bladder infections
Menstrual Cycle: Irregular menstrual cycles, absence of periods, scanty or heavy periods, sense of normalcy only during the second week of the cycle
COMMON CAUSES OF ESTROGEN DEFICIENCY
1. Decreasing Ovarian Reserve
Women are born with 1-2 million eggs. This number goes down to 300-500,000 during puberty.
With each ovulation and natural apoptosis (programmed cell death), by age 30 only 12% of those eggs remain. By age 40, only 3%. And of course, we run out of eggs entirely in menopause.
Estrogen is produced in the egg follicles to promote maturation of the egg and the thickening of the endometrial lining. When the number of eggs decreases with age, so does the amount of estrogen. The decline typically begins in our early to mid-30s and accelerates in our late 40s right before menopause.
This is when the signs and symptoms of estrogen deficiency become more pronounced.
Note: Though the average age of menopause is currently 51, some women enter menopause much earlier, while others a bit later.
2. Low Body Fat
Today’s beauty standards seem to favor a thin and slender feminine body. Many women strive to achieve and maintain this ideal, but unknowingly pay a hefty price for it. This is because insufficient body fat lowers estrogen levels, which can lead to amenorrhea, infertility, and other signs and symptoms of estrogen deficiency.
When a woman’s body fat is less than 21% of her total body mass, the hormone control center in her brain keeps her from making enough estrogen to ovulate or build up her uterine wall.
This is quite understandable. If your body thinks you’re starving, it’s not going to strain you further by asking you to make a baby.
As women, it’s so important for us to maintain a healthy weight – not too heavy and not too thin. When our body is well nourished but not in excess, our hormones tend to function at their best.
3. Diet
We are what we eat. It’s no surprise that the foods we take into our bodies also impact our estrogen levels.
For instance, vegetarians & vegans tend to have lower estrogen levels than omnivores.
As a result, lifelong vegetarians have a lower risk of breast cancer, but may also be more prone to experience signs of estrogen deficiency if they don’t obtain all the necessary nutrients from their diet.
Gluten intolerance has also been linked to lower estrogen levels – and accompanying amenorrhea, infertility, and diminished ovarian reserve.
It’s estimated that about 3 million Americans have celiac disease (a disorder that results in damage to the lining of the small intestine when foods with gluten are eaten), and another 18 million have a gluten intolerance. Unfortunately, most remain undiagnosed.
So if you experience signs of estrogen deficiency, it’s worthwhile to look into your diet and see if this could be a contributing factor.
4. Pregnancy
Pregnancy, whether successful or not, can also lower estrogen levels. After delivering a baby, the mother’s estrogen and progesterone take a steep dive until her period returns. This may be one of the reasons behind post-partum blues, but it’s also part of nature’s intelligent plan.
A low estrogen level is designed to suspend ovulation (and possible pregnancy) so the mother can take care of the baby at hand. And breastfeeding further prolongs the period of low estrogen and the return of normal menstruation.
Note that this also applies to pregnancy failure when the baby is not carried to term.
5. Poor Health
Stress, HPS axis (adrenal issues and overall poor health can also affect estrogen levels. In Western medicine, this includes diseases that affect the ovaries (e.g., hypogonadism), as well as the hormone-control center in the brain (e.g., hypopituitarism and hypothalamic defects).
In Chinese medicine, the signs of estrogen deficiency may be diagnosed as a part of yin deficiency (a more complex pattern of yin and yang imbalance) relate to energy, liver, and spleen health.
Regardless of the cause of your low estrogen levels, awareness is the key to regaining balance – both hormonal and physical, as well as mental and emotional. When we develop the right understanding, we can then take steps to correct the underlying imbalances, and create more harmony in our body and mind, as well as in our life.
Do you have signs of estrogen deficiency?
If so you can learn more about ways to support low estrogen levels in my do at your own pace program Mend Your Menstrual Cycle.
Ready to explore getting some support from a practitioner? Take a minute to review the options for working together here.
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