Watch Out: Three Periods in a Woman's Life for Bad Mood!

Guys, record this, as these f**king hormonal fluctuations in your partners or female colleagues, during menstrual period, pregnancy and perimenopause, embitter your life. A new report, released by the Society for Women's Health Research, warns that normal hormonal transitions can induce in women from mild to severe mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness).

"Science has revealed clues as to why these changes may occur in some women, but further research is needed to definitively show what causes depression and mood disorders in women during hormonal transitions." said Dr. Peter Schmidt, an investigator at the National Institute of Mental Health, in the Reproductive Endocrine Studies Unit.

A June meeting of the Society for Women's Health Research and the National Institute for Mental Health signaled that postpartum depression installs in about 10 to 15 % of women in the first year after childbirth, but that the biological factors inducing it are still an enigma. Until now, it is thought to be due to chemical changes in the brain, connected with the hormone variations during pregnancy and post-partum period, which render women prone to depression. The same could happen during perimenopause.

A team led by Schmidt and Dr. David Rubinow, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, revealed the strong connection between hormones and human mood, by turning off the ovarian cycle. In 2-3 months, the subjects' symptoms from the premenstrual period were significantly decreased. It appears that when the reproductive hormones are removed, PMS is gone.

The new report points out that further research should enable medics to make the difference between the normal reaction to life cycle changes and real depression, but also to determine why some women are prone to depression during hormonal variations.

A recent national American survey reveals that many women are not aware of the link between their mood changes and the hormonal changes.

"Women need to be critically aware of changes in their moods during key life cycle events. Through the media briefing and the publishing of this report we hope to generate a broader understanding of how we can use this knowledge to improve health outcomes for women." said Dr. Sherry Marts, vice president of scientific affairs at the Society for Women's Health Research.