About 5 million teenagers will have experienced depression, according to the National Institute of Health, or have at least one major depressive episode by the time they are 17. The institute further explained that major depressive episodes were higher among adolescent females (29.2%) compared to males (11.5%).
Depression has been linked to hormonal imbalances in the body. Fatigue, weight loss or gain, having a hard time sleeping, and mood swings are all examples of what happens to one’s body when it has hormonal imbalances.
Everyone knows that one person in class who is clearly struggling. They don’t pay attention to the teacher, they are constantly tired with their head on the desk, and they have a hard time regulating their emotions.
This person is struggling, and they don’t even know why. Little do they know, the reason ` are constantly tired, but still have a hard time sleeping, is that their bodies have hormonal imbalances.
What even is a hormonal imbalance? A hormonal imbalance occurs when people have too many or too few of certain hormones in their bodies. If there are too many or too few, this can throw off the perfect balance the body has, resulting in side effects.
Hormones themselves are chemicals in the body that tell it what to do and where to do it. They carry messages to tissues such as skin and muscles from the brain. Hormones are extremely important for health, both mental and physical.
Teenagers seem to be more at risk in two ways: They are more susceptible to hormonal imbalances, and their hormonal imbalances affect their depression. This is because during puberty, hormones run rampant; some of the main hormones during a teenager’s puberty are estrogen and testosterone.
Hormones like estrogen and testosterone can impact regions in the brain. With these hormones impacting the brain, having a hormonal imbalance causes more risk for one’s mental health to be affected; this can lead to anxiety, stress, and, of course, depression.
Women tend to be at a higher risk of being depressed than men because of the estrogen in their bodies. Boys have a somewhat stable puberty, while in females, estrogen levels fluctuate more significantly during puberty. This is what can cause females to be more susceptible to depression.
Hormones don’t work alone. They influence important brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, which play important roles in regulating mood.
Hormonal imbalances can disrupt one’s brain chemistry by disrupting the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin in the brain. Serotonin and dopamine being affected by hormonal imbalances, shift the brain’s activity, increasing emotional reactivity by affecting areas in the brain like the hippocampus. Some people use drugs to stimulate their brain activity, and the abuse of certain drugs can cause a hormonal imbalance by themselves. When experts warn you to stay away from drugs, this is part of the picture.
To break this down, serotonin is closely associated with estrogen because estrogen boosts serotonin by boosting its production and ensuring it remains stable. If estrogen is affected by a hormonal imbalance, then serotonin starts to stop regulating anxiety and depression.
While occasional mood swings are normal, constant feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or withdrawal from friends and activities may signal a much deeper issue. The National Institute of Mental Health recommends reaching out to a healthcare provider if depression symptoms last more than two weeks and interfere with one’s daily life.
While hormones play a role, depression is complex and can involve genetics, environment, and other factors.
