What are oestrogen and progesterone and what do they do?
Oestrogen helps control a womans menstrual cycle, is essential for reproduction and helps maintain a healthy heart and bones. Progesterone is calming to the central nervous system, supports the cells that build bone, influences water balance in the body, influences fat distribution and supports digestion. Progesterone should be in balance with the other major female hormone, oestrogen. Sometimes a womans body does not produce enough progesterone after ovulation. Women in perimenopause sometimes will fail to ovulate, but will still have a period. If ovulation does not occur, no progesterone is produced at all that month. If progesterone is low in comparison to oestrogen (known as oestrogen dominance), women may experience typical PMS-like concerns such as breast tenderness, bloating, irritability, and trouble sleeping. Balance may be restored by increasing progesterone effect or decreasing oestrogen effect. According to the World Health Organisation, an overweight, post-menopausal women
