The connection between ovulation and mood swings typically involves hormones. When a woman approaches ovulation, she experiences a significant surge in the hormone estrogen and changing levels of other hormones, which often lead to mood changes. Many women experience positive mood swings, including feeling more alive and vibrant during ovulation. Others may become irritable or feel anxious as a result of these hormone changes. Still other women do not notice any changes in their mood during ovulation.
A woman's hormone levels do not stay constant throughout her entire cycle and, as a result, she may have symptoms — including significant changes in mood — that vary at different times in her cycle. Many people are well aware of mood swings that may occur in the days or weeks leading up to the onset of a woman’s menstrual period, and this is often referred to as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). A woman may, however, also notice changes in her mood around the time when her body releases an egg from one of her ovaries in a process referred to as ovulation, which is the connection between ovulation and mood swings.
Just as mood swings prior to a menstrual period are caused by hormonal fluctuations, hormones also are at the root of the connection between ovulation and mood swings. In the period leading up to ovulation, there are various hormones at work. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), for example, stimulates the development of follicles that house a woman’s developing eggs, and luteinizing hormone (LH) stimulates a follicle to release a mature egg during ovulation. Progesterone also is at work during the time leading up to ovulation and serves to get the uterine lining ready for the possible implantation of an egg. Estrogen, however, may be referred to as a driving force during ovulation, and it is this hormone that is often responsible for the relationship between ovulation and mood swings.
When estrogen levels reach a high enough point, this leads to a surge of LH, which in turn stimulates ovulation. The increase in estrogen levels may cause a woman to feel vibrant, excited and well. She may feel more capable during this time, as well as more desirable and sexual. The relationship between ovulation and mood swings is not always positive, however, with some women instead feeling irritable, anxious or even depressed. This may occur as the woman's natural response or as a result of a hormonal imbalance.