Low Progesterone in Menopause: Symptoms, Causes & Natural Support.
If you’re experiencing poor sleep, anxiety, breast tenderness, changes in your periods, weight gain or simply don’t feel like yourself during perimenopause, you may have wondered whether low progesterone could be part of the picture.
And it can be.
Progesterone naturally begins to change during perimenopause as ovulation becomes less predictable. Because progesterone is produced in significant amounts after ovulation, fewer ovulatory cycles can mean less progesterone, often while estrogen is still fluctuating considerably.
But this is where menopause can become confusing.
Your hormones don’t work independently. Progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormones and your nervous system are all part of a much bigger picture. That means symptoms aren’t necessarily a sign that one hormone needs to be “fixed” or boosted.
They can be useful information about the environment your body is trying to function within.
In this post, we’ll look at the common signs and symptoms associated with low progesterone in menopause, why progesterone changes during this transition, and the nutrition and lifestyle foundations that can support your body through perimenopause and beyond.
Because menopause isn’t a malfunction.
It’s a transition that requires a different kind of support.
The Life Story of Progesterone
Progesterone is a hormone with a dynamic journey throughout a woman’s life, playing a unique role in each stage, from puberty through menopause.
While estrogen often takes centre stage, progesterone is vital and influences everything from mood and sleep to fertility and bone health.
Understanding its life story helps us see why it becomes so crucial, especially as women approach menopause.
Early Life and Puberty
Progesterone levels are relatively low in the early years, before puberty, as the body hasn’t yet begun its monthly cycle.
When puberty arrives progesterone production begins to increase, stepping in as a key player in the menstrual cycle.
Each month, after ovulation, the ovaries produce progesterone from the corpus luteum in preparation for a possible pregnancy.
This stage is known as the luteal phase of the female hormone cycle.
Progesterone regulates the menstrual cycle and counterbalances estrogen, keeping the cycle in harmony and reducing estrogen’s potential to cause overstimulation.
Reproductive Years
Progesterone continues to be released throughout the reproductive years after each ovulation, stabilising moods, supporting healthy pregnancies, and providing resilience to stress.
It works hand-in-hand with estrogen, creating a balance that helps to prevent symptoms associated with estrogen dominance, such as bloating, anxiety, breast tenderness and irregular cycles.
During pregnancy, progesterone levels skyrocket to help sustain the developing fetus and support maternal health, making it indispensable for both physical and emotional well-being.
Perimenopause and Menopause
As women approach perimenopause, typically in their 40s, ovulation starts to occur less frequently, leading to a gradual decline in progesterone production from the ovaries.
This decline often happens faster than that of estrogen, creating a hormonal imbalance with estrogen taking the lead.
Without regular progesterone to counter estrogen, many women experience symptoms of estrogen dominance, including mood changes, weight gain, low libido, sleep disturbances and irregular periods.
By the time a woman reaches menopause, ovulation ceases, and natural progesterone production drops significantly.
In this phase, the absence of progesterone can lead to intensified menopausal symptoms and increased health risks.
Bone density may decrease, the risk for estrogen-related cancers may rise, and overall well-being can feel compromised without the balancing influence of progesterone.
It is for this reason that understanding and supporting progesterone during menopause is so important.
While it might no longer play the same role as in younger years, its influence on health and balance remains vital.
What is the cause of low progesterone?
While menopause is one of the significant causes of low progesterone due to the natural decline in hormone production, there are several other factors that can contribute to low progesterone levels at any stage of life:
- Chronic Stress: High stress leads to increased production of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. Since progesterone is a precursor to cortisol, prolonged stress can divert progesterone to make more cortisol, leaving less available for other functions and leading to a progesterone deficiency over time.
- Poor Diet and Nutritional Deficiencies: A diet high in ultra-processed foods and lacking in essential nutrients like vitamin B6, magnesium, zinc, and healthy fats can impair progesterone production. These nutrients are necessary for hormone synthesis, and without them, the body may struggle to produce adequate levels of progesterone. Not only that our food system is plagued with estrogenic foods such as soy and flax whether directly or through the food our animals are fed and this can increase estrogen levels in the body without us being aware.
- Over-Exercising or Extreme Dieting: Intense exercise or calorie restriction can lead to hormonal imbalances, as the body perceives these as forms of stress. In response, it may reduce reproductive hormone production, including progesterone, to conserve energy.
- Anovulatory Cycles: In cycles where ovulation doesn’t occur (common in conditions like PCOS or with high stress), the body doesn’t form a corpus luteum, which is responsible for producing progesterone in the second half of the menstrual cycle. Anovulatory cycles can lead to chronic low progesterone levels, even if estrogen levels remain relatively normal.
- Hypothyroidism (Underactive Thyroid): Low thyroid function can impair the ovaries’ ability to produce sufficient progesterone, as the thyroid hormone plays a key role in regulating reproductive hormones. Hypothyroidism can create a feedback loop, where low progesterone worsens thyroid issues, leading to further hormone imbalance.
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS): Women with PCOS often experience irregular ovulation or anovulation, which can prevent the body from producing enough progesterone. Estrogen levels may remain high, leading to estrogen dominance and compounding the imbalance.
- Birth Control Pills or Hormonal Contraceptives: Certain types of hormonal contraceptives prevent ovulation, which stops the natural production of progesterone. While synthetic progestins may be included in some contraceptives, they don’t have the same effects as natural progesterone and may not provide the same balance.
- High Body Fat Percentage: Fat cells produce estrogen, and excess estrogen can lead to estrogen dominance, which suppresses progesterone production. This imbalance can further reduce progesterone levels, as estrogen and progesterone need to be balanced for optimal hormone health.
- Perimenopause: During perimenopause, fluctuations in estrogen hormone levels are common, and progesterone often declines earlier and more rapidly than estrogen. This imbalance leads to many of the common symptoms of perimenopause, such as mood swings, irregular cycles, and symptoms of estrogen dominance.
Addressing lifestyle factors like stress, nutrition, and thyroid health can help support healthy progesterone levels, as can monitoring and managing conditions that contribute to anovulation or estrogen dominance.
See below for practical tips.
Symptoms of Low Progesterone in Menopause
The symptoms and signs of low progesterone have been touched on above, here is a comprehensive look at the side effects women experience when progesterone is too low to counteract progesterone;
- Physical Symptoms:
Low levels of progesterone can lead to a range of uncomfortable physical symptoms, especially during menopause when the body’s natural production of this hormone sharply declines.
Women may notice more frequent hot flashes, often accompanied by night sweats that disrupt sleep. Weight gain, particularly around the midsection, is also common, as progesterone plays a role in regulating fat metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
Skin changes like dryness or increased sensitivity, along with thinning hair, can emerge as well since progesterone contributes to cellular repair and hydration.
Other symptoms may include persistent fatigue and a tendency toward bloating or water retention.
Together, these physical effects of low progesterone can greatly impact daily comfort and quality of life, highlighting the hormone’s essential role in overall well-being.
- Mental & Emotional Symptoms:
Low levels of progesterone can significantly affect emotional and mental well-being, often amplifying feelings of anxiety, irritability, and restlessness.
Progesterone has a natural calming effect on the brain, acting as a precursor to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation and helps to regulate mood.
When progesterone declines, this calming influence is reduced, leaving women more prone to mood swings, agitation, and a general sense of unease.
Difficulty concentrating and memory lapses, often referred to as “brain fog,” are also common as progesterone supports cognitive function and mental clarity.
Sleep disruptions further complicate these symptoms, as low progesterone levels can lead to trouble falling or staying asleep, which only intensifies mental fatigue and emotional instability.
These mental and emotional effects of low progesterone underscore the hormone’s role not only in physical health but in maintaining a balanced, resilient state of mind.
- Impact on Overall Health:
Low levels of progesterone can also impact bone health, raising the risk of conditions like osteoporosis over time.
Progesterone plays a key role in bone remodelling, the natural process where old bone tissue is replaced with new, strong tissue.
In particular, it supports the activity of osteoblasts, the cells responsible for building new bone. When progesterone levels decline, especially after menopause, bone regeneration slows, and bone density can begin to decrease.
This imbalance leads to weaker bones that are more susceptible to fractures and breaks.
In combination with declining estrogen levels, which also affect bone health, low progesterone further accelerates bone loss, making osteoporosis a common concern for women in menopause.
While estrogen often receives most of the attention in discussions around menopause, it may not be where our focus should lie.
Estrogen is primarily a hormone for cell growth and proliferation.
Its role in the body is to support processes like building the uterine lining in preparation for pregnancy; however, once a woman’s reproductive years have passed, there is no longer a biological need for high levels of estrogen.
An excess of estrogen during menopause can disrupt hormone balance and contribute to symptoms like weight gain, mood swings, and increased cancer risk.
The menopausal transition often leaves the body with relatively higher levels of estrogen in comparison to progesterone, which is necessary to keep estrogen’s effects in check.
By focusing on the balance between estrogen and progesterone, rather than estrogen alone, you can support a more stable, healthy menopause experience and avoid the pitfalls of excess estrogen in the body.
How to Support Progesterone Naturally During Menopause
There isn’t a food, supplement or lifestyle trick that can simply switch progesterone production back on, particularly once ovulation has become less frequent or stopped altogether.
But that doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do.
Rather than trying to chase individual hormone levels, I prefer to look at the environment those hormones are operating within.
Nutrition, blood sugar balance, stress, sleep, movement, gut and liver health and exposure to environmental toxins can all influence how well your body navigates the hormonal changes of menopause.
The goal isn’t to force your hormones back to where they were at 30.
It’s to give your body the nourishment and support it needs for the stage of life you’re in now.
1. Prioritise Stress Management
Chronic stress is a major drain on progesterone, as it leads to increased cortisol production from the adrenal glands.
Since the body prioritises cortisol over progesterone during stress, ongoing high cortisol can deplete progesterone levels. Incorporating relaxation practices—such as meditation, gentle exercise, or deep breathing—can help shift your body out of a constant “fight or flight” state, supporting a healthy nervous system and allowing for better progesterone balance.
2.Nourish Your Body With Key Menopause Nutrients
Certain nutrients are essential for the body’s natural production of progesterone.
Foods rich in vitamin B6 (such as bananas, pork, poultry, oats and milk) support progesterone synthesis, while zinc (found in pumpkin seeds, spinach, and nuts) promotes healthy hormone function.
Magnesium is another key nutrient, as it helps reduce stress and supports adrenal health, which in turn encourages balanced progesterone production.
Including these nutrients in your diet can provide your body with the building blocks it needs to support hormone harmony without resorting to expensive and often ineffective supplements.
3. Maintain Healthy Blood Sugar Levels
Blood sugar imbalances can disrupt hormone function, including making less progesterone.
Avoiding refined sugars, eating well-balanced meals with fibre, protein, and good fats such as coconut oil, olives and olive oil, avocado oil, avoiding inflammatory seeds oils, read more about these HERE.
Try to keep to regular mealtimes, as this can stabilise blood sugar and support your body’s natural hormone rhythms.
Stable blood sugar levels reduce stress on the body, indirectly supporting a healthier hormone balance.
4. Embrace Gentle Exercise
Regular movement, as part of a healthy lifestyle particularly low-impact activities like walking, yoga, and swimming, can support progesterone by reducing stress, enhancing circulation, and promoting adrenal health.
Gentle exercise is particularly effective in balancing hormones, as it encourages healthy adrenal function without pushing the body into high cortisol production.
Aim for activities that feel restorative rather than exhausting to create a supportive environment for hormone production.
5. Reduce Exposure to Environmental Estrogens
Environmental estrogens, or xenoestrogens (read more about xenoestrogens HERE), from sources like plastics, phytoestrogens, pesticides, and certain personal care and household products can mimic estrogen in the body, leading to an imbalance.
Reducing exposure to these can help restore hormone balance by lowering the body’s overall estrogen load, allowing progesterone to work effectively.
Switching to glass containers, choosing organic foods, and using natural personal care products are some simple ways to reduce xenoestrogen exposure.
6. Focus on Healthy Fats
Progesterone, like all steroid hormones, is synthesised from cholesterol.
Including good fats, such as those found in avocados, olive oil, and fatty fish, provide the raw materials your body needs for hormone production.
These fats also support brain and adrenal health, both of which play roles in balanced hormone levels and could help protect the brain from degenerative diseases.
Embracing any or all of these lifestyle practices is the best way you can support your body in producing and balancing progesterone naturally.
While levels will still decline with age, this is natural and your body will adjust, these strategies provide the body with the right environment for optimal hormone health, creating a smoother and more balanced menopause transition.
When embarking on any lifestyle changes I always encourage adding something that will put you on the pathway to reaching your health and well-being goals rather than removing something that can feel harder.
Give yourself a week or so and then evaluate whether what you are doing fits your lifestyle. If it doesn’t try something else. You need to create habits that become a natural part of day-to-day life, this is how you see improvements that last avoiding future health problems, especially in postmenopausal women.
Low Progesterone Is Only One Piece of the Menopause Puzzle
It’s easy to look at a list of symptoms and try to identify the one hormone responsible.
- Low progesterone.
- Estrogen dominance.
- High cortisol.
- Insulin resistance.
But your body doesn’t work in separate boxes.
The same symptoms- fatigue, weight gain, poor sleep, anxiety, brain fog, hot flushes, aches and mood changes- can have multiple influences. And during menopause, those systems are constantly communicating with one another.
That’s why I don’t believe menopause needs another checklist.
It needs a framework.
Instead of asking, “Which hormone do I need to fix?”, a much more useful question can be:
“What does my body need more support with right now?” That might mean…
- Stabilising blood sugar.
- Eating enough protein and fibre.
- Supporting your gut and liver.
- Reducing the stress load on your nervous system.
- Getting outside and moving your body.
- Improving sleep.
- Or simply nourishing yourself properly after years of dieting and restriction.
Small changes to the environment can create very different signals inside the body.
And that is the foundation of my approach to a healthy menopause.
Not Sure Where to Start?
If you’ve found yourself disappearing down menopause rabbit holes trying to work out whether your symptoms are caused by progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, your thyroid or something else entirely, start with the foundations.
I’ve created the Healthy Menopause Reset Guide to help you understand what your body needs during perimenopause and beyond and begin creating the right environment for better hormone and metabolic health.
Inside, we’ll look at some of the foundations I come back to again and again with women — including protein, fibre, healthy fats, magnesium, vitamin D and reducing some of the everyday things that can add to your body’s load.
No restriction.
No complicated menopause protocol.
No trying to fix everything at once.
Just a simple place to begin.
👉 Get your free Healthy Menopause Reset Guide
