Читать книгу Brain Fitness for Women - Sondra Kornblatt - Страница 31

Sherree had always been told that estrogen was the female plague, making her moody, bloated, and covered with zits every month. Actually, it wasn't estrogen that caused these discomforts, but the fluctuations of hormones and how they balanced with each other—or didn't.⁶⁸

Still, estrogen itself is quite a phenomenon. It plays a large role in directing our entire nervous system, which can affect the heart, stomach, liver, pancreas, and immune system. Our brains can operate without estrogen, but not as well as they do with it. Think of estrogen in the brain like toothpaste when you brush your teeth—makes them cleaner than just the toothbrush itself.

Estrogen multiplies the synapses between neurons,⁶⁹ keeps synapses flexible, and supports the growth of dendrites (the twigs on the synapse tree that conduct electrochemical stimulation).⁷⁰ That helps when you learn a new language or how to do a handstand in yoga.

Estrogen assists the dopamine neurons, helping stabilize brain activity, regulate the flow of information between parts of the brain, and control movement and balance, as well as making you feel happy. It also protects your neurons from degenerative diseases, like Parkinson's.⁷¹

The problem appears when our natural wonder drug leaves town to become a star in Hollywood. To understand what happens to our brains then, let's flash back to when estrogen was an ingénue.