Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Progesterone?Progesterone and Brain HealthClinical Research StudiesBrain DevelopmentPromoting SleepTypes of ProgesteroneSide Effects
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Progesterone?
Progesterone and Brain Health
Clinical Research Studies
Brain Development
Promoting Sleep
Types of Progesterone
Side Effects
Progesterone is well known as a primary female sex hormone. It is required to regulate themenstrual cycle, vital for a woman to get pregnant (and maintain pregnancy), and needed for the early development of a human embryo. Progesterone is also considered an “endogenous steroid,” belonging to a group of steroid hormones called progestogens.
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
The hormonal influence on the body is very complex. Hormones are molecules made up of chemical substances. They act as messengers of sorts. They are made in one part of the body, then travel to other areas, where they each do their own job to control how cells or organs work.
Progesterone is said to be the major and most important hormone in the body. Progestogen is a general term for hormones that act like progesterone in the uterus—this group of hormones, therefore, includes progesterone and progestins, a synthetic lookalike that closely resembles progesterone.
Progesterone plays a huge part in the female’s ability to become fertile and sustain a pregnancy—it is commonly known as the pregnancy hormone. Once peri-menopause begins, the level of progesterone begins to decline, contributing to symptoms ofmenopausesuch ashot flashesand missed periods.
But progesterone is more than just a hormone that influences the reproductive system, and many clinical research studies are beginning to discover just how much of an impact the hormone has on breast and heart health. More recently, scientists have begun to discover how progesterone also works to promote brain health.
There have been many studies involving the effects that progesterone has on women’s health. Perhaps one of the most interesting areas of clinical research is on progesterone’s effect on brain health.
In fact, several clinical research studies have shown that progesterone may even have protective qualities in the brain—a characteristic known as “neuroprotection.”
Progesterone was also found to have zero side effects on the neurological (brain and spinal column) system. To top it off, progesterone has been linked with improvement in cognitive function, or the mental process of understanding through thought and experience, as well as in using intellectual processes such as thinking, reasoning, and remembering.
Progesterone as a Neurosteroid
Neurosteroids are steroids that are made in the brain. The function of neurosteroids includes:
Progesterone has been deemed a neurosteroid because of the crucial role it plays in many vital functions of the brain, such as:
In the brain, progesterone is produced in different areas, including the cells of the brain (neurons), the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system (the nerves outside of the brain and spinal column). Most of the progesterone that circulates in the bloodstream originates from the ovaries and placenta (during pregnancy) and in the adrenal glands—it also has access to the brain and the nerves.
In addition to promoting healthy brain function, progesterone is also thought to play a role in protecting the brain from damage as well as helping to repair it after an injury has occurred. Progesterone’s role in repairing the myelin sheath (and neurogenesis) is how the hormone is thought to protect and repair the brain.
Protective Qualities
According to a2017 study, there has been substantial evidence in animal models that show the neuroprotective role of progesterone in central nervous system injuries, including ischemic stroke victims (a type of stroke involving the lack of blood flow and oxygen to the brain).
Impact on Epilepsy
Not Effective for Traumatic Brain Injury
Although researchers were hopeful that progesterone could pose as a very promising treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI), the most recentphase 3 clinical research trial, published in 2015, showed a 100 percent failure rate. According to thestudy authors, “Despite positive preclinical studies and two positive Phase II clinical trials, two large Phase III clinical trials of progesterone treatment of acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) recently ended with negative results, so a 100% failure rate continues to plague the field of TBI trials.”
A2008 studyshows that progesterone may contribute to the normal maturation of the brain in male embryos while influencing the male reproductive capacity and the neuroendocrine system. The neuroendocrine system is a chemical messenger system of sorts, made up of hormones and glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream.
Thestudyalso found that with the dramatic increase in progesterone being used to prevent premature birth and promote lactation (milk production) in women, progesterone may influence the process of brain development in utero and in the areas of the brain involving cognitive function when taken during pregnancy.
According to theNational University of Natural Medicine, there is public evidence that progesterone during pregnancy may also result in better academic achievement results later in childhood.
The term “natural progesterone” is misleading because it’s made in a lab, yet it comes from natural sources such as wild yams. Progestins are another name for synthetic progesterone, which is man-made. It’s important to note that in somestudies, progestin—used in synthetic hormone replacement therapy, called MPA (medroxyprogesterone acetate)—wasnot effective for helping with anxiety, improving cognition, or promoting other neuroprotective mechanisms in the brain.
In fact, someresearchhas shown that progestin “has been found to have negative effects on the nervous system and even reduces the beneficial effects of estrogen.”
Most of the side effects of progesterone, such as breast tenderness, depression, and headaches, are associated with synthetic progesterone, and not the naturally induced type from wild yams.
A Word From Verywell
Although the research on progesterone to promote brain health looks very promising, more studies are still needed to back up the growing body of research (much of which was conducted in animal studies, not human studies). As clinical trials on progesterone continue, scientists will be evaluating the safety and efficacy of the hormone for its use in humans. As with any type of hormone supplementation, it’s important to consult with a healthcare provider before taking progesterone in any form.
Hormones and Your Menstrual Cycle
1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Groves, MN. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.Additional ReadingAndrabi, S., Parvez, S., Tabassum, H. (2017).Neurosteroids and Ischemic Stroke: Progesterone a Promising Agent in Reducing the Brain Injury in Ischemic Stroke.Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology. 36. 10.1615.Groves, M.N. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.Reddy, D.S. (2013).Role of hormones and neurosteroids in epileptogenesis.Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.Stein, D.G. (2015).Embracing failure: What the Phase III progesterone studies can teach about TBI clinical trials. The Journal,Brain Injury. 29(11): 1259–1272.Wagner, C.K. (2008).Progesterone Receptors and Neural Development: A Gap between Bench and Bedside?Endocrinology. 149(6): 2743–2749.
1 Source
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Groves, MN. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.Additional ReadingAndrabi, S., Parvez, S., Tabassum, H. (2017).Neurosteroids and Ischemic Stroke: Progesterone a Promising Agent in Reducing the Brain Injury in Ischemic Stroke.Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology. 36. 10.1615.Groves, M.N. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.Reddy, D.S. (2013).Role of hormones and neurosteroids in epileptogenesis.Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.Stein, D.G. (2015).Embracing failure: What the Phase III progesterone studies can teach about TBI clinical trials. The Journal,Brain Injury. 29(11): 1259–1272.Wagner, C.K. (2008).Progesterone Receptors and Neural Development: A Gap between Bench and Bedside?Endocrinology. 149(6): 2743–2749.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Groves, MN. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.
Andrabi, S., Parvez, S., Tabassum, H. (2017).Neurosteroids and Ischemic Stroke: Progesterone a Promising Agent in Reducing the Brain Injury in Ischemic Stroke.Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology. 36. 10.1615.Groves, M.N. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.Reddy, D.S. (2013).Role of hormones and neurosteroids in epileptogenesis.Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.Stein, D.G. (2015).Embracing failure: What the Phase III progesterone studies can teach about TBI clinical trials. The Journal,Brain Injury. 29(11): 1259–1272.Wagner, C.K. (2008).Progesterone Receptors and Neural Development: A Gap between Bench and Bedside?Endocrinology. 149(6): 2743–2749.
Andrabi, S., Parvez, S., Tabassum, H. (2017).Neurosteroids and Ischemic Stroke: Progesterone a Promising Agent in Reducing the Brain Injury in Ischemic Stroke.Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology. 36. 10.1615.
Groves, M.N. (2019).Progesterone and the Nervous System/Brain.Women in Balance, National University of Natural Medicine.
Reddy, D.S. (2013).Role of hormones and neurosteroids in epileptogenesis.Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.
Stein, D.G. (2015).Embracing failure: What the Phase III progesterone studies can teach about TBI clinical trials. The Journal,Brain Injury. 29(11): 1259–1272.
Wagner, C.K. (2008).Progesterone Receptors and Neural Development: A Gap between Bench and Bedside?Endocrinology. 149(6): 2743–2749.
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