Irritability and outbursts are a common but often surprising part of midlife change. Photo / Engin Akyurt
Irritability and outbursts are a common but often surprising part of midlife change. Photo / Engin Akyurt
For many women, their 40s bring an unexpected shift: the return of explosive anger they thought they’d outgrown.
Talking to Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey on The Little Things podcast, clinical neuropsychologist Caroline Gurvich says fluctuating hormones associated with menopause are often the culprit.
“Estrogenand progesterone … can cross over our blood-brain barrier and enter our brains and have quite potent effects on different brain areas and particularly brain areas that regulate our mood and regulate our thinking skills.
“So that’s why these times of life where our hormones change, we can also experience changes in mood and thinking skills.”
The median age of menopause is 51, but symptoms can appear much earlier, with perimenopause starting for many in their early 40s.
Gurvich says at this stage of life most people don’t have menopause on their radar “so they don’t necessarily know why they’re starting to feel a bit anxious, a bit paranoid.”
Clinical neuropsychologist Caroline Gurvich says women shouldn’t just put up with mood changes during midlife. Photo / Supplied
She says it’s not uncommon for women experiencing hormonal changes to find themselves in an unrecognisable rage over something that wouldn’t ordinarily elicit such a response.
Gurvich also believes these changes can exacerbate the stress many women experience while juggling multiple responsibilities that may include teenage children, elderly parents, managing a household and career.
“You get to this point where you just can’t cope with all of that pressure and stress any more. And so it might be the hormones that are triggering things, but then if we look at the whole story and take a holistic approach, there’s often a lot going on for that person at the same time.”
Gurvich’s advice for anyone experiencing symptoms of hormonal changes is to explore lifestyle shifts, medical support or both. What they shouldn’t do is just put up with it.
“Because, you know, four to 10 years is quite a long time.”
Weighing up treatment options like antidepressants and hormone therapy
The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey. New episodes are available every Saturday.
