You’ve got a lot going on biologically. It’s all being set in motion by your pituitary gland, which is teaming up with your pulsing hypothalamic cells to push your ovaries into action. This is what starts your period, when you’ll experience a number of estrogen and progesterone surges and drops. (There’s a great graphic about this on pg. 33 in “The Female Brain.”) These surges are the driving factors behind your mood, which has a lot to do with your self-esteem and how you relate to others. Equipping yourself with knowledge about how these fluctuations work can help you predict some of your behaviors and cope. Keep some of these things in mind:

• Many parts of the female brain – including the hippocampus (memory and learning), the hypothalamus (controls your body’s organs), and the amygdala (your center of emotions) – are affected by the estrogen-progesterone fuel.
• One of the greatest changes you’ll notice is that you’re picking up on emotional nuances, like when someone says one thing but you can tell from her tone and frown that she means something entirely different. This ability is one of the female brain’s greatest strengths. Over time, you’ll learn how to manage this great skill (it will surely help you in the boardroom one day when you’re an awesome CEO!), but right now it means you may feel hyper-sensitive to feedback from others. Your mom might say you shouldn’t wear a pair of short shorts, and on one day you might think she means it’s too cold outside and on another day that she’s saying you’re too fat for them. It’s probably good to get in the habit of not reacting to other people’s observations too strongly, positively or negatively. Use your own mind to check what really makes sense.
• Even cave girls wanted the hottest cave boys to ask them to the tribal dance, long before Cosmopolitan or Maxim magazine existed. Being desirable is a part of socialization and human evolution; so remember that girls would likely be doing some form of body obsession regardless of media, models and actresses. Still you or your close friends may want to decide to limit the emphasis you all place on the unrealistic things you see going on around you. I hear from many of my older female patients that the way they eventually beat eating disorders and negative thoughts about their appearance was by shutting out the stereotypes that made them feel bad in the first place. It may take until you’re older to appreciate the body you already have and treat it kindly, but you can make a conscious effort now to build a positive foundation.
• You need to get a lot of sleep. Teens require more sleep than their younger siblings or their parents. (And if they’re bugging you to wake up at 8am on Saturday morning, show them pg. 43 in “The Female Brain”!)
• You are most sensitive to negative moods the week before your period starts. Fish Oil supplements and extra exercise can help alleviate the symptoms, but you should talk to your doctor about it to be safe.

* If you’re an athlete and working out hard every day, you’re period may not come every month or be irregular. This is normal. The brain shuts down the hormones of the menstrual cycle in times of physical stress—like intense athletic workouts.

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