Low progesterone is one of the most common hormonal imbalances affecting women today. It can cause fatigue, anxiety, poor sleep, and irregular cycles. While many women look for supplements or hormone therapy, few realise that everyday lifestyle factors can be the biggest cause of low progesterone.
Often called the body’s natural “calming” hormone, progesterone is essential for healthy menstrual cycles, fertility, mood regulation, sleep and even bone and brain health. Yet chronic stress, under-eating, overtraining, poor nutrition, environmental toxins and certain medications can all cumulatively suppress progesterone production.
Understanding how your daily habits affect this vital hormone is the first step towards restoring balance and feeling your best.
How Progesterone Is Made (And Why It Matters)
First, let’s understand how progesterone actually gets made in your body. Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum, a temporary gland that forms in your ovary after you release an egg. This process depends on sensitive communication between your brain (specifically the hypothalamus and pituitary gland) and your ovaries, known as the hypothalamic–pituitary–ovarian (HPO) axis.
In simple terms: no ovulation = no corpus luteum = no progesterone.
When you ovulate regularly, progesterone levels rise sharply in the second half of your cycle (the luteal phase), supporting everything from uterine health to nervous system stability. But if ovulation is disrupted your progesterone levels plummet, leading to symptoms like irregular cycles, poor sleep, fatigue, mood changes and fertility challenges.
Learn more about the symptoms of low progesterone here.
This is why understanding what disrupts ovulation is so crucial for protecting your progesterone levels.
Let’s look at some lifestyle factors that could be contributing to low progesterone levels:
Causes of Low Progesterone
1. Chronic Stress and the Cortisol Connection
Modern life is stressful, and your hormones can feel it. Chronic stress activates your hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, ramping up cortisol (your stress hormone) at the expense of normal reproductive function.
Cortisol can suppress the pulsatile release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which in turn blunts luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion which are the hormones that drive ovulation. Without a strong LH surge, ovulation may not occur and progesterone production plummets. This mechanism, sometimes called functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea, is essentially your body’s way of saying, “Now isn’t a good time for reproduction.”
A 2024 narrative review exploring the relationship between psychological stress and ovulatory disorders found that chronic stress affects the HPO axis, resulting in abnormalities in hypothalamic hormone secretion, pituitary hormone release and ovarian function. These disruptions cause ovulation disorders and menstrual irregularities.
Research from 2023 examining cortisol levels in women with infertility found that four studies showed significantly higher cortisol levels in infertile females compared to fertile females. One study specifically reported a significant negative correlation between high cortisol levels after ovulation and progesterone levels, demonstrating the direct impact of stress hormones on progesterone production.
Whilst the popular “pregnenolone steal” theory (the idea that cortisol production directly uses up progesterone precursors) is oversimplified, it’s clear that chronic stress downregulates enzymes and pathways essential for progesterone synthesis. Over time, this stress-induced suppression can lead to shorter cycles, mid-cycle spotting or even months without ovulation.
Read more about stress and the HPA axis.
2. Can Under-Eating Cause Low Progesterone?
If you’re eating too little to meet your body’s energy demands, even with healthy food choices, your brain perceives this as a state of energy deficit. When energy intake falls below a critical threshold, the hypothalamus reduces GnRH signalling, leading to a cascade that suppresses ovulation and therefore progesterone.
This phenomenon, recognised as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) or the Female Athlete Triad, is not limited to athletes. It can affect anyone who’s dieting, fasting excessively or unintentionally undereating due to stress or appetite loss.
A 2024 comprehensive review in Nutrients identified that the female athlete triad is a spectrum of disorders involving low energy availability, low bone mineral density and menstrual disorders. Several challenges were identified regarding the adequacy of energy availability, protein and carbohydrate requirements in the diets of female athletes, with many not meeting their nutritional needs.
Studies confirm that restoring energy intake (especially carbohydrates) can reactivate ovulation and normalise progesterone production. This is why consistent, balanced meals with adequate calories and macronutrients are essential for hormone health.
Read more about Hypothalamic Amenorrhea.
3. Overtraining: When Exercise Becomes a Stressor
Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health, but too much high-intensity or endurance training without sufficient recovery can backfire hormonally. Excessive training increases cortisol and inflammatory cytokines, both of which suppress ovarian function.
Research in female athletes shows that intense training with inadequate fuelling leads to luteal phase defects such as shorter cycles or lower progesterone levels and sometimes complete anovulation. The result? Low progesterone, irregular cycles and difficulty conceiving despite appearing “fit” and healthy.
The International Olympic Committee advanced the concept of the female athlete triad with the term RED-S in 2014, recognising that chronic low energy availability from overtraining can impair systems throughout the body, including reproductive health with disrupted menstruation in women.
Balanced training, adequate rest days and proper nutrition are key to maintaining both athletic performance and hormonal health. More isn’t always better when it comes to exercise.
Read more about hormone saboteurs, including overexercise.
4. Nutrient Deficiencies: Small Gaps, Big Impact
Micronutrients are the silent co-stars of hormone production. Magnesium, zinc, vitamin B6 and vitamin D all play crucial roles in supporting the enzymes and co-factors required for progesterone synthesis.
Here’s how these key nutrients support progesterone:
- Magnesium supports steroidogenesis (hormone production) and supports a healthy HPA response, helping to protect against stress-induced hormone disruption.
- Vitamin B6 assists in the conversion of cholesterol into pregnenolone, the precursor to progesterone, and supports neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA.
- Zinc helps regulate follicle development and luteal function, directly supporting the corpus luteum that produces progesterone.
- Vitamin D influences ovarian receptor expression and progesterone synthesis, with deficiency linked to poor ovulation.
Even mild deficiencies can compromise hormone production. This is why a nutrient-dense diet isn’t just about “eating healthy”, it’s about providing your body with the raw materials it needs to make hormones.
5. Environmental Endocrine Disruptors (EDCs)
We live in a world filled with synthetic chemicals that mimic or interfere with natural hormones. Common examples include bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, and phenols, which are found in plastics, cosmetics, cleaning products and food packaging.
These compounds can bind to hormone receptors, alter gene expression and disrupt the enzymes involved in ovarian steroid production. Several studies have linked higher urinary BPA and phthalate levels to low progesterone and altered menstrual cycles.
A 2025 study examining the effects of environmental toxins found that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals can interfere with normal hormonal signalling pathways, potentially affecting ovulation and progesterone production.
Whilst it’s impossible to eliminate all exposure, simple actions can reduce your overall toxic load such as opting for glass or stainless steel food storage containers or avoiding fragrance in personal care or cleaning products. The FUTURE WOMAN Advanced Hormone Test comes with a personalised plan to help you address any diet and lifestyle factors contributing to your symptoms such as reducing environmental toxins.
6. Medication and Contraceptive Use
Certain medications can also suppress or interfere with progesterone levels. Combined hormonal contraceptives and most progestin-only methods (like the injection, implant or hormonal IUD) prevent ovulation and therefore natural progesterone production.
When you’re on hormonal contraception, you’re not experiencing natural hormonal cycles. The synthetic progestins in these contraceptives only act like progesterone inside the uterus, helping to thin the lining. They don’t behave like progesterone elsewhere in the body, which means you miss out on all the protective benefits of natural progesterone like better sleep and mood stability to bone and brain protection.
Read more about the benefits of natural, ovulatory cycles here.
Additionally, some medications, including enzyme-inducing antiepileptics (such as carbamazepine and phenytoin), rifampicin and some antifungals, increase hepatic metabolism of steroid hormones, potentially lowering circulating progesterone.
Whilst these drugs may be necessary for specific health conditions, awareness of their hormonal side effects helps contextualise symptoms like irregular cycles, low libido or mood changes that often accompany reduced progesterone.
7. The Role of Thyroid, PCOS and Other Hormonal Imbalances
Low progesterone doesn’t always start in the ovaries, sometimes it’s secondary to other hormonal imbalances that disrupt ovulation.
Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) slows metabolism and can reduce luteal function, making it harder to produce adequate progesterone even if ovulation occurs.
Learn more about the symptoms of thyroid imbalances.
Hyperprolactinaemia (elevated prolactin) suppresses ovulation by interfering with the hormonal signals needed for egg release. No ovulation means no corpus luteum and therefore no progesterone.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) often involves irregular or absent ovulation, meaning progesterone is low in many cycles. PCOS is a condition of androgen excess with other factors such as insulin resistance and inflammation that prevent ovulation from occurring.
Addressing these underlying conditions, through appropriate testing and diet and lifestyle guidance, is essential for long-term hormonal recovery. You can’t simply supplement progesterone if the root cause (irregular ovulation) isn’t addressed.
Causes of Low Progesterone: How It All Connects
Your body produces progesterone only after ovulation and ovulation depends on consistent communication between your brain, thyroid, adrenal glands and ovaries.
When stress, nutrient gaps, environmental chemicals or medications interfere with that conversation, ovulation falters and progesterone drops.
Unlike estrogen, which can rise through multiple pathways, progesterone has just one major source: the corpus luteum that forms after you release an egg. That’s why ovulation is non-negotiable for healthy levels and why lifestyle, nutrition and stress management are so critical for reproductive and metabolic health.
Addressing the Causes of Low Progesterone
You might consider testing your progesterone if you experience:
- Short or irregular cycles (under 24 days)
- Premenstrual spotting or mid-cycle bleeding
- Breast tenderness or mood swings before your period
- Sleep issues, anxiety, or fatigue in the luteal phase (second half of your cycle)
- Fertility struggles or recurrent miscarriage
- Heavy or painful periods
- PMS symptoms that seem to be getting worse
How to Test Your Progesterone Levels at Home
A mid-luteal hormone test (typically around day 21 of a 28-day cycle, or about 7 days after ovulation) can confirm whether your levels are optimal. At FUTURE WOMAN, we aim for progesterone levels of 10 ng/mL or higher during the luteal phase, not just the “normal” range, but truly optimal levels that support your health to ensure you’re getting all the protective benefits progesterone offers.
Our Advanced Hormone Test assesses more than 30 markers related to hormone health, including progesterone levels, estrogen metabolism and factors that might be suppressing ovulation such as cortisol levels, inflammation and nutrient deficiencies. And it comes with a personalised plan prepared by an expert nutritionist with supplement, diet and lifestyle changes.
References
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