Why menopause can be the trigger for anxiety

Hormones don’t just control your cycle — they play a huge role in your mental health.

Oestrogen boosts serotonin (your happy hormone) and keeps cortisol (your stress hormone) in check. Progesterone has a calming, stabilising effect. Testosterone supports mental stamina and focus.

When these hormones decline and fluctuate during menopause, brain chemistry shifts — like Wi‑Fi dropping in and out. This can make your internal “alarm system” (the amygdala) overly sensitive, triggering fight, flight, or freeze responses to situations that wouldn’t have bothered you before.

You haven’t lost it

You’ve just evolved. And the woman you are now is just as worthy, just as capable—and maybe even wiser—than the one you used to be.

Confidence isn’t about becoming someone else. It’s about remembering who you are.

And yet, during perimenopause, it’s common to feel like you don’t recognise yourself at all. The mood shifts, anxiety, brain fog and physical changes can leave you questioning everything—from your ability to show up at work to how you feel in your own skin. The inner friction builds, and before you know it, your self-trust starts to erode.

But this season of change isn’t a loss—it’s an invitation.

When my anxiety started in 1995 the word wasn’t even applied to what I was feeling, even by the doctor. In fact I remember him referring to it as ‘another funny turn’.

On the outside it appeared I was living a very normal life and doing what someone very normal did, but on the inside I felt everything was rapidly closing in on me.