Head and hormones: women's mood and hormone guides

"Head and hormones" is our short way of saying that how you feel and how your body works are often connected. Low mood, worry, poor sleep and tiredness can have many causes. Some sit in the body, such as the thyroid, iron levels or the menstrual cycle. Some sit in your life, such as stress, grief or carrying too much for too long. Often it is a mix of both.

That is why these guides look at mood and hormones together instead of in separate boxes. If you came here searching for "hormonal imbalance symptoms in women", you are in the right place. Each guide explains what a common hormone-related cause can feel like, what a doctor may check, and what to ask.

They can. The NHS lists mood changes among the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), an underactive thyroid, postnatal depression and perimenopause. The NHS also lists depression and anxiety among the main symptoms of PMOS, the new name for PCOS.

An international guideline on PCOS asks health professionals to check for depression and anxiety in all adults with the condition. That is a strong sign that mood belongs in the same conversation as periods, skin and weight.

The same feelings can also come from somewhere else. Tiredness, for example, can come from poor sleep, stress, low iron or the thyroid. Guessing rarely settles it. Talking to someone who looks at the whole picture usually does more than another night of searching.

The Nari 1 editorial team writes every guide from named public health sources, and each guide shows the date it was last updated. Every guide goes to our clinical team for a check. We change any line they ask us to. Our rules for sources and numbers are in how we write and check our guides.

These guides are for information. They can help you put words to what you are feeling and get ready for a conversation. They cannot tell you what is behind it. Only a doctor can.

Talk to someone if low mood, worry, poor sleep or tiredness has lasted two weeks or more, or if it is getting in the way of work, family or looking after yourself. The NHS and the US National Institute of Mental Health both use two weeks as the point to speak to a health professional about low mood.

Nari 1 is not an emergency service. If you are thinking of harming yourself, or you are in danger, call 112 now. For free mental health support at any hour, call Tele-MANAS on 14416 or 1-800-891-4416, a Government of India helpline.

Short, plain answers to questions women often search for, from always feeling tired to late periods and hair fall, are on one page: quick answers.

Meet Nari 1, powered by Nily, the women-first intelligence: You book everyone's appointments. Nari 1 is the one you book for yourself. More notes from the team are on the Nari 1 blog.