Life is hard and stress surrounds us every single day so anxiety is something that more and more people experience over time. As we know, each person is different and not everyone copes with it in the same exact way, but there have been some studies that provide a little bit of an explanation as to why some people experience it more than others, and this time, we will focus on women compared to men.
Hormones Hormones Hormones
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health conditions among people nowadays. Having excessive fear, uneasiness, worry, insomnia, and even trouble breathing, are some of the signs that can help you identify whether you suffer from it or not, but despite those being caused by external daily-life factors, our brain chemistry can also play an important role in boosting them or not.
In the women’s case, hormones fluctuate a lot especially in the time period between puberty and menopause thanks to menstruation and pregnancy. Here, estrogen and progesterone levels are modified significatively, turning women to experience mood swings, irritability, and even more risk for the obsessive-compulsive disorder which has to do with chronic repetitive intrusive thoughts. On one hand, progesterone is said to have a calming effect on the brain and on the other, estrogen produces the exact opposite so when there is a significant imbalance on those two hormones, women get more vulnerable to anxiety.
Coping methods
Furthermore, women and men respond differently to any situation they may find themselves in. We’ve all heard about the fight or flight response that applies to people who act upon a stressful situation or the ones who prefer to avoid it, but this time, we will talk about another type of response that is called “tending and befriending“.
The first one alludes to a protective instinct that promotes security and reduces distress; the second one is about creating and maintaining social relationships that may help you overcome these situations. This reaction is believed to be more aligned with the way in which women deal with stress rather than men since they are more prone to cope with the true fight or flight response.
With that being said, men are said to deal with stress or problems by solving them after a relatively brief analysis, whereas women tend to stop for a little bit longer and think deeper about things before proceeding to solve them. This slight but significant difference is believed to contribute to anxiety to get into women’s minds easier than with the opposite gender.
Coping methods and hormones seen as a whole, are essential aspects for a person in order to survive in any type of way. But as they have their benefits, they also have their downfalls and we naturally do not get to pick on which side we can experience them, so it is very important to understand and inform ourselves about these types of mental health triggers to do something about it in case we need it.
Of course, there are other factors that may trigger anxiety either in men or women and the way in which we individually decide to deal with it also has a huge impact on our mental health, but for now, our biological composition is the one to be paid attention to. For women, as we saw, it is a little bit harder to avoid this type of anxious behavior but no matter our gender, condition, or social position, we shall remember that helpful resources are always available whenever we need them and it is never too early or late to start taking care of your mental or overall body health.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress and give professional aid and resources for crisis situations
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