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The Gut-Brain Depression Axis: How Dysbiosis Inflames Your Brain. About 90% of your body's serotonin is produced in your gut—but that serotonin doesn't travel to your brain. It stays in your gut and peripheral tissues, regulating digestion, immune function, and signalling. Your brain makes its own serotonin from tryptophan (an amino acid from protein).

Progesterone & Oestrogen Imbalance: The Hormonal Depression Trap in Midlife Women. Depression is so common in perimenopause and menopause. It's not a character flaw. It's a predictable neurological response to hormone dysregulation.

If you've had blood work done showing your thyroid is "fine," but you're still struggling with depression, you're not alone.

Your brain uses more glucose than any other organ in your body - about 20% of all the energy your body produces. But when your blood sugar is dysregulated, spiking and crashing throughout the day, your brain is essentially running on fumes. Over time, this metabolic chaos creates the neurological conditions where depression takes root.

Deep inside every cell in your body, a process called methylation is happening right now. But when methylation becomes dysregulated you accumulate stress chemicals in your bloodstream, your neurotransmitters don't get cleared properly, your oestrogen backs up, and you feel anxious, depressed, and wired but exhausted.

Cortisol is supposed to be your ally. But when cortisol is elevated chronically, day after day, month after month, it stops being protective and becomes destructive. Chronically high cortisol doesn't just make you feel stressed - it literally rewires your brain toward depression.

7 Physiological Causes of Depression in Midlife Women (That Your Doctor Might Miss)

How Circadian Rhythm Disruption Triggers Depression in Midlife Women

Practical ways to reset your circadian rhythm: Your circadian rhythm is one of the most responsive physiological systems in the body and with small, consistent changes you can improve your mood in just a few weeks.

For years as a nutritional therapist and functional medicine practitioner, I have been talking about the mind-body connection and that...