Progesterone: The Nervous System Hormone

If you’ve ever felt anxious, wired but tired, unable to relax, emotionally reactive, or like your body won’t fully come down from stress… this episode is for you.

In this episode of the Being Hohl podcast, Dr. Dani Hohl, PhD, BCDFM breaks down progesterone through the Being Hohl lens: the physical body, energy body, and emotional body.

Progesterone is often talked about as a reproductive hormone, but it is also deeply connected to the nervous system, sleep, recovery, emotional regulation, ovulation, and the body’s sense of safety.

In this episode, we cover:

• why progesterone is more than a “cycle hormone”
 • how progesterone supports GABA and nervous system calming
 • why low progesterone can feel like anxiety, poor sleep, irritability, and overwhelm
 • how chronic stress can disrupt ovulation and progesterone production
 • the estrogen/progesterone relationship: amplification vs buffering
 • why progesterone often drops first in perimenopause
 • what changes in menopause and why women are not designed to simply suffer through it
 • how progesterone affects men, too
 • the TCM lens: Yin, depletion, restlessness, and internal heat
 • how bioresonance scans help identify nervous system, adrenal, sleep, emotional, and hormonal stress patterns
 • daily ways to naturally support progesterone through safety, nourishment, rest, and regulation

At Being Hohl, we don’t just ask, “What hormone is low?”

We ask:

Why doesn’t the body feel safe enough to regulate?

Progesterone is not just a hormone of reproduction.
 It is a hormone of safety, calm, recovery, and trust.

Learn more or book a bioresonance scan:
 beinghohl.com

Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with your licensed healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.

Symptoms are signals. At Being Hohl, we help you understand what your body is trying to communicate through a root-cause, mind-body-soul lens.

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.
Book your Bioenergetic Scan at beinghohl.com.
Tiktok @danihohl - Instagram and Facebook: @beinghohl

Transcript

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If you've ever felt like you can't relax, your mind won't shut off, you wake up at two or three in the morning, you feel anxious for no clear reason, or like your body just doesn't feel calm. You might have been told you have low progesterone, but what if progesterone isn't just a hormone you're missing? What if it's a reflection of a body that doesn't feel safe? Because progesterone is one hormone that people often misunderstand, and it might be one that your body is struggling to produce the most. Welcome back to the Being Whole podcast. I am Dr. Danny Hole, and in this series, we've been building a very intentional foundation. We've talked about how your nervous system controls everything, why your body gets stuck in stress, why hormones are not the problem, they're the messenger, how flow determines whether something becomes a symptom, why your body may not have the capacity to detox, and in the last episode, how estrogen reflects flow, detox, and emotional pressure. Now we're going to talk about progesterone. And this is where things start to click for a lot of people because progesterone doesn't just regulate your cycle, it reflects safety, calm, recovery, and your body's ability to come out of survival mode. At being whole, we look at hormones through the physical body, the energy body, and the emotional body. And progesterone is deeply connected to all three. Let's talk about the physical body first. What progesterone actually does. Progesterone is often called the calming hormone. Okay, but let's explain what that actually means. If you know me, you know I like to mix the science with the woo. Okay, progesterone in the body is going to support the second half of your cycle. So after ovulation. Progesterone prepares the body for rest and digest or rest and repair, right? That parasympathetic. It supports sleep and nervous system regulation, balances the effects of estrogen, and then it supports GABA activity in the brain. So let's let's talk about GABA for a second. GABA is your brain's primary calming neurotransmitter. Okay, it slows things down. It helps you relax, fall asleep, feel grounded. Progesterone enhances GABA. So when progesterone is strong, you feel calmer, more stable, less reactive, and able to rest. When progesterone is low, you feel anxious, wired but tired, easily overwhelmed, unable to fully relax. Progesterone is not just a reproductive hormone. It is a nervous system stabilizer. Okay, now let's go deeper because progesterone doesn't just randomly drop. Progesterone is only produced after ovulation. So if ovulation is disrupted, progesterone is low. What types of things can disrupt ovulation, you ask? Stress, blood sugar instability, poor energy availability, inflammation, chronic nervous system dysregulation. Okay, your body will not prioritize reproduction when it doesn't feel safe. Progesterone is a luxury hormone. Your body produces it when it feels safe to. Now let's connect this to episode one. Okay. When your body is in survival mode, cortisol rises, blood sugar fluctuates, the brain prioritizes survival over reproduction. What gets suppressed? Ovulation, which means progesterone doesn't rise. Okay, so it's not just I have low progesterone. It's my body is not in a state where it will produce it. What this can feel like is anxiety that doesn't make sense, trouble sleeping, feeling wired at night, emotional instability. Okay, you cannot force progesterone in a body that doesn't feel safe. Now, I'm gonna pause this for a second because this is where a lot of people think, oh, okay, well, if my progesterone is low, I'll just go on hormone replacement therapy and I will add progesterone back into my body. It's so easy to not only think that, it's also so easy to do that. And I work with people that come to me and they have doctors that are recommending progesterone, honestly, before they're even testing them. The hard part about that is, and a lot of times people come for me when I say this, okay, and I'm not coming from a place of judgment, but it teaches your body to be lazy. Okay, the fact that your progesterone is off is a symptom. It is a sign, it is a way your body is communicating. So if you just force the progesterone into your body, you're muting the symptom. Now that may work in the short term and you may feel better. However, in the long term, now your progesterone either gets worse, you need to stay on it for a longer period of time. Again, it's not solving anything, it's not healing anything. It's just putting a band-aid on a communication. Okay, so let's let's connect this to estrogen. Estrogen is amplification. Progesterone is buffering. When progesterone is strong, it balances estrogen. When progesterone is low, estrogen feels overwhelming. What that looks like, more intense PMS, more emotional reactivity, more bloating, more sensitivity. Okay, so this is why estrogen often gets blamed when progesterone is actually what's missing. Now let's zoom out. Okay. In the energy body, progesterone represents grounding, containment, stability. When energy is grounded, you feel present. Your body feels calm, your thoughts slow down. When it's not, you feel scattered, restless, disconnected. Progesterone is the energy of being held. Okay, so now let's go deeper. Progesterone is connected to emotional safety, trust, and the ability to let go. So when progesterone is strong, you feel calm, emotionally stable, and able to process things without feeling overwhelmed. When it's low, you feel anxious, hyper-vigilant, like you can't relax, like you're always on. This often shows up as difficulty trusting, feeling like you have to stay in control, struggling to slow down. Okay. Your body doesn't produce progesterone when it feels like it has to stay on guard. In Chinese medicine, this pattern often looks like yin deficiency. Okay. So what this represents is yin represents cooling, calming, nourishing, grounding. So when yin is low, you feel restless, overheated, wired at night, unable to settle. Physical symptoms can be waking up in the middle of the night, anxiety, dryness, fatigue, but still having that restlessness. Okay. This is not just hormonal, it's a depleted, overstimulated system. So let's talk about how we actually see this. Okay, because we don't just look at progesterone levels. We assess nervous system stress, adrenal patterns, sleep cycles, emotional load, energy depletion. What we often see is low progesterone patterns show up with chronic stress, poor recovery, nervous system dysregulation, and emotional overwhelm. Okay, we're not asking what hormone is low. We're asking why does your body not feel safe enough to produce it? This is why supplementing progesterone isn't the full answer. Okay, yes, progesterone can help symptoms, but if you don't address nervous system, stress, energy, and emotional load, you're not changing the pattern. You are supporting the symptom, but not restoring the system. Now, if you choose to support the symptom, that is absolutely your right. This is your journey. I'm here for it. Well, I'm not here for it. You will find practitioners that will help you with that. Okay, I don't do hormone replacement therapy. If you are looking to restore the system, that's where I come in. Your body doesn't just need progesterone, it needs safety, stability, recovery, nourishment. Okay, now let's talk action steps. So if you think that this is you, you think that this is part of your journey, this is what we're gonna focus on. Okay. First thing, you're gonna regulate your nervous system, breath work, slowing down, okay, calming, grounding, working really intentionally to regulate your nervous system. You're gonna support your blood sugar stability, protein, regular meals. So many women are storing weight and think that calories in and calories out is the only reason. I'm sorry, it's not. Most women come to me and they're actually under eating, which creates a body that feels malnourished, which creates a body that stores everything. Okay. Regular meals, protein. I want you prioritizing your sleep. Progesterone is built in rest. Okay. We also are going to be adding in like a whole detox layer to this, but essentially I want you in bed and asleep by 11 p.m. Because that's when your detox organs start to kick in. And if you're awake during that window, you miss out on that. So asleep fully by 11 p.m. I want you reducing overstimulation, less input, more grounding. Okay. Gentle, soft mornings before the chaos starts. Calming evenings, reducing your lights. LED lights are terrible. If you look at them through your phone, you will see what that does to your brain. Okay. We are constantly surrounded by stimulation these days. Calm mornings, calm evenings, more grounding. Literally take your socks and shoes off and go stand on the earth. I'm in Ohio, so right now the weather is finally starting to cooperate where it makes it easier to do this, but I do it even in the wintertime. Even if it's only 30 seconds, I'm shoveling a spa and putting my feet on the earth even for 30 seconds. And then I want you creating safety physically, emotionally, mentally. Now, I am very much aware these things are simple, but they are not easy. They're simple and easy when you're not triggered. When you're vibing high, feeling great, simple. The hard part comes in when you're triggered. Okay. Notice what you notice, you can then change. What you notice, you can do something different. Notice when your body feels unsafe around people, in certain environments, around certain emotions. Okay. Put literally put your hands on your stomach and your chest, and I am safe. Thank you for getting my attention. I am safe. We are safe. I am safe. Okay. In your brain, say that as many times as you need to and ground. So, how does this all fit into the being whole method? All right. As I've already said, we do not chase progesterone. We create the environment for it. And sometimes it can frustrate people that I don't look at hormones. It's not that I don't look, they are always part of the being whole method, but we don't truly tackle hormones until phase four. Because by the time we get to phase four, honestly, the hormones are already starting to improve. Okay, because hormones are never the root. They're loud, they're never the root. I will scream that from the mountaintops. Hormones are loud, they are never the root. And my job is finding the root. Okay. We create the environment for your body to do what it's designed to do, which is create progesterone. One of the things, obviously. Your nervous system is responsible for safety, ovulation, and progesterone. Okay. Your nervous system has to have those things. It has to feel safe in order to help with ovulation. Once there's ovulation, you're creating progesterone. Okay. Progesterone is not just a hormone, it is a reflection of whether your body feels safe enough to slow down. Before we close, I want to go one layer deeper into the science here because progesterone is not just the hormone that balances estrogen. Okay, it has a very real effect on the brain and nervous system. One of the reasons that progesterone feels so calming is because it converts into a neurosteroid called allopregnenolone, which interacts with the GABA A receptors in the brain. So we talked about GABA is your brain's main calming neurotransmitter, right? So think of it like the brake pedal for your nervous system. It's what we talked about, how you feel settled. You sleep more deeply, your body feels safer, your emotions feel less explosive. So when progesterone is low, your body may also have less of that calming neurosteroid support. That can show up as anxiety, panic feelings, irritability, poor sleep, racing thoughts, and feeling like you can't calm down. Okay, this is also why some women feel emotionally worse before their period. Progesterone naturally drops at the end of the luteal phase, right before bleeding begins. If your nervous system is already stressed, if your blood sugar is unstable, if your body is inflamed or depleted, that progesterone drop can feel even more intense. Okay, that's when people say, I feel like a different person before my period. Or I know I'm overreacting, but I can't stop it. Okay, that is not weakness, that is neurochemistry. Your brain is losing some of its calming support at the exact same time your body may be already carrying too much stress. Another important piece is that progesterone is made after ovulation, right? We talked about that. So if you're not ovulating consistently, you are not producing strong progesterone. Ovulation is not guaranteed just because you are having a cycle every month. You can have a period without strong ovulation. That means someone can still have a cycle and can still bleed monthly and still have low progesterone symptoms. This is why we always have to ask: is the body safe enough to ovulate well? Because ovulation requires energy. It requires minerals, it requires stable blood sugar, it requires thyroid support, it requires communication between the brain, the ovaries, and the nervous system. Okay, that communication runs through the HPO axis, the hypothalmic pituitary ovarian axis. Your brain sends signals to the ovaries through hormones like FSH and LH. Okay, those signals help mature a follicle and trigger ovulation. But when the body is under chronic stress, that signal can be disrupted. The body may delay ovulation, weaken ovulation, or skip it completely. And if ovulation is weak, progesterone is weak. So again, progesterone is not random, it reflects the state of the whole system. Progesterone is also deeply connected to stress hormones. So when cortisol demand is high, your body prioritizes survival. From a biological standpoint, of course, that makes sense, right? If your body thinks you are under threat, it is not going to prioritize reproduction, deep sleep, or hormonal rhythm. It's going to prioritize staying alive. This is why chronic stress can show up as a short luteal phase, PMS, spotting before your period, irregular cycles, poor sleep, and anxiety before your cycle, before you bleed. Okay. And this is also why you can't just separate progesterone from the nervous system. Progesterone is downstream of safety. Now let's talk about something that is really important. Okay, because everything we've just talked about applies, but it also shows up a little differently in perimenopause and menopause. Okay, so let's talk about perimenopause first. During perimenopause, the first hormone that typically becomes inconsistent is progesterone. And that's because ovulation becomes less consistent. Remember, progesterone is produced after ovulation. So if ovulation becomes irregular, progesterone becomes irregular. This is when women start noticing more anxiety, more irritability, disrupted sleep, waking in the middle of the night, feeling more overwhelmed than usual, shorter or irregular cycles, heavier or more symptomatic periods. Okay, this is not your body breaking. This is your body losing its buffering hormone. Okay, earlier we said estrogen equals amplification, progesterone equals buffering. So when progesterone becomes inconsistent, everything estrogen is doing feels louder. Okay, so perimenopause is not just a hormone shift, it's a nervous system shift. If someone is already stressed, undernourished, not sleeping well, and dealing with emotional load, then that progesterone drop feels much more intense. Okay, it's not just hormonal change, it's hormonal change on top of an already overwhelmed system. Now let's talk about menopause. In menopause, progesterone is naturally very low because ovulation has stopped. And estrogen is also lower. But here's what matters the body is shifting priorities, right? The body is no longer cycling, it is shifting into a different metabolic and hormonal rhythm. This is where the narrative gets dangerous, in my opinion, because women are often told, this is just how it is. Okay, you just have to deal with it. This is aging. Welcome to menopause. Okay, I don't agree with that. You are not designed to have to suffer through this phase of your life. Men, if you're listening to this, your wife, partner, girlfriend, sister, mom, whoever should not have to suffer through this phase of their life. Okay. Even though hormones are changing, your experience is still shaped by nervous system regulation, metabolic health, detox capacity, inflammation levels, and emotional load. What that means is two women can both be in menopause and have completely different experiences. One may feel stable, clear, energized, another can feel anxious, inflamed, exhausted, disconnected. Why? Because of the state of the system. Even though progesterone is lower in menopause, the body still needs calm, regulation, safety, nervous system support. Because those functions don't disappear. Okay, so progesterone as a hormone may decline, but what it represents in the body still has to be supported. So let's talk about what this looks like practically. Okay, this means supporting your sleep, supporting nervous system regulation, supporting blood sugar stability, supporting mineral balance, supporting emotional processing. The goal is not to replace what's missing. The goal is to support the system that used to produce it. Whether you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, or beyond. Menopause, progesterone is always telling you something, okay, not just about your hormones, but about your nervous system, your safety, your capacity to reset and recover. And since we talked about the men that are listening to this, okay, let's let's briefly speak on that because progesterone is often labeled as a female hormone, but that's actually not true. Okay, men produce progesterone also, just in smaller amounts, primarily in the adrenal glands and the testes. Even though the levels are lower than in women, it still plays an important role in the body. Okay. In men, progesterone supports the nervous system, helps regulate the stress response, acts as a precursor to other hormones, including testosterone and cortisol, and it contributes to brain function and emotional regulation. Okay, just like in women, progesterone in men supports GABA activity, calming the brain, reducing overactivation. So when progesterone is low or the system is dysregulated, men can also experience irritability, poor sleep, anxiety or restlessness, feeling wired or on edge, difficulty recovering from stress. Progesterone also plays a role in balancing the other hormones. So when progesterone is low relative to estrogen in men, it can contribute to increased body fat, low motivation or drive, mood changes, feeling off or like you're not yourself. Okay. But here's the key. Just like we talked about throughout this episode, this is not just about progesterone levels. It comes back to the system. Because in men, these patterns are often tied to chronic stress, poor sleep, over-training or under-recovery, blood sugar instability, and nervous system dysregulation. So again, the question is not, do I need more progesterone? The question is, is my body in a state where it can regulate itself properly? Okay, and this also shows up emotionally in men. It can look like difficulty slowing down, feeling like they always need to be on, irritability instead of processing emotion, suppression rather than release. Okay, the body is staying in a state of activation without enough buffering. So whether you are a man or a woman, progesterone represents calm, regulation, recovery, and the ability to come down from stress. And if that's missing, your body will feel it. Before we wrap up, I want to bring this back to something really simple because after everything we just talked about, the goal is not to leave you thinking, I need to do more. Okay, the goal is for you to understand what actually matters and what your body is asking for every single day. Okay, if progesterone is a reflection of safety, calm, and recovery, then your daily focus should be supporting that environment. Okay, so non-negotiable is regulating your nervous system. Even just a few minutes a day of slowing your breath, stepping away from stimulation, being present in your body. Okay, your body cannot produce calming hormones if it never experiences calm. Non-negotiable. You have to find a way to make it work. If that means you're getting up five or 10 minutes earlier, do it. Throughout the day, schedule yourself breaks. Okay, no matter how busy you are, you can find 30 seconds to drop into your body, step away from the chaos, slow your breathing, nice long exhales. I want you eating in a way that stabilizes your body, not restrictive and not extreme, consistent. Protein, minerals, balanced meals, not skipping meals, blood sugar instability equals stress on the system. And stress suppresses progesterone. I want you prioritizing your sleep like it matters because it does. Progesterone is deeply tied to recovery. So if your sleep is off, your hormones will be too. Focus on consistent sleep times. I already told you in bed, asleep by 11 p.m. That doesn't mean the TV's on or you're doom scrolling, asleep by 11 p.m. Reducing stimulation at night and allowing your body to actually come down from the day. I want you reducing the always-on state, and this is a big one, okay, because a lot of people are living in constant stimulation, constant input, constant pressure, and your body reads that as stress. Okay. Hustle culture is not cool. I'm not sure when that became a thing, but it shouldn't be. Okay. We're we're not here for hustle culture. We're here for happy culture. Ask yourself, where can I create space? Where can I slow down? Where can I stop pushing? And then I want you to pay attention to what you're holding because progesterone is connected to emotional safety. So if you are constantly holding tension, suppressing your emotions, staying in control, your body is staying activated. Activation blocks regulation. Here's your key takeaway. Okay, this is not about perfection. This is about patterns. The more consistently your body experiences safety, nourishment, rest, and regulation, the more it will naturally move towards balance. In the next episode, we're gonna build on this, okay, because if progesterone is the hormone of calm and safety, the next hormone is one that a lot of people misunderstand. Okay, and we're gonna be talking about testosterone. Not in the way you've probably heard before, because testosterone is not just about muscle or libido or being masculine. It's about drive, motivation, confidence, boundaries, and your ability to take action in your life. And when that's off, it shows up in ways most people don't even connect back to hormones. So if today's episode made you realize your body has been asking for calm, next week's episode is going to show you what happens when your body is asking for power. Until next time, stay curious, stay grounded, and keep becoming the most whole version of yourself.