Perimenopause and mood — what Indian women are not told

Women in their late thirties and forties often arrive describing anxiety, rage, insomnia or sudden low mood, while everyone around them calls it stress. Hormonal transition may be part of the picture and deserves to be assessed.

Perimenopause can amplify anxiety, irritability, sleep fragmentation, brain fog, premenstrual mood swings and depressive vulnerability. The effect is stronger when life load is already high: caregiving, teenagers, ageing parents, work and invisible household labour.

Track cycle, sleep, mood, hot flashes and irritability for two months. Consult a gynaecologist for hormonal and medical review, and a mental-health clinician if mood symptoms are significant. Protect sleep, reduce evening alcohol, add strength training and use Cognitive Regulation for the body alarm that often accompanies hormonal shifts.

Seek help urgently for suicidal thoughts, severe depression, panic attacks, or insomnia lasting weeks. Do not let anyone dismiss major mood change as 'just hormones'. Hormones may explain the doorway; treatment still matters.