28 - How synthetic hormones can rewire the female brain

The Dr Louise Newson Podcast

Dr Louise Newson

Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Medicine

4.8 • 798 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For more than half a century, "the Pill” has been a routine part of women’s lives, prescribed not only for contraception but for acne, period pain and hormonal regulation. It’s so deeply woven into modern medicine and culture that most of us rarely question how it works or what it does beyond its prescribed use.

In this episode, Dr Louise Newson speaks with psychologist, researcher and author Dr Sarah Hill about the untold story behind synthetic hormones and their impact on the brain. Together, they explore how shutting down natural hormone production and replacing it with synthetic versions can alter mood, motivation, cognition and mental health - changes that are often dismissed or overlooked in both medical practice and public conversation.

Dr Sarah Hill also explains why progesterone remains one of the most misunderstood hormones in medicine. Far from being a simple reproductive regulator, it plays a vital role in neuroprotection, inflammation control and emotional stability with implications for conditions ranging from anxiety and depression to postnatal mental health and autoimmune disease.

This episode challenges decades of cultural assumptions about women’s health and invites clinicians, researchers and patients alike to rethink what we know (and don’t know) about how synthetic hormones shape the female brain.

LET'S CONNECT

Subscribe here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@menopause_doctor

Website 👉 https://www.drlouisenewson.co.uk/

Instagram 👉 / @drlouisenewsonpodcast

Download balance app 👉 / https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/

LinkedIn 👉 / https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlouisenewson/

TikTok 👉 / https://www.tiktok.com/@drlouisenewson

Spotify 👉 https://open.spotify.com/show/7dCctfyI9bODGDaFnjfKhg

LEARN MORE

Join me on my upcoming theatre events in London and Birmingham 👉 https://www.nlp-ltd.com/dr-louise-newson-qanda/

Buy Dr Sarah Hill’s new book, The Period Brain 👉

https://www.sarahehill.com/books/

Take my online education course, Hormones Unlocked 👉 https://www.learningwithexperts.com/products/hormones-unlocked-dr-louise-newson

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I hope some of you will be able to join me at my two remaining theatre dates for World
0:05.3	Menopause Month in October. I'm going to be at Birmingham Town Hall with Liz Earle on the 12th
0:12.0	of October and on the 19th of October I'm going to be with Emma Barnett at the Rose Theatre
0:17.6	in Kingston near London. They're live Q&As. I'm going to be questioned.
0:23.4	And then your questions in the audience are going to be answered by me. I'm really looking
0:28.8	forward to meeting some of you there. Dr Sarah Hill is the guest on my podcast today.
0:35.9	She is a researcher. She's a psychologist and she's also an
0:39.3	author. We talk a lot about the differences between synthetic and natural hormones and the impact
0:46.4	that they can have on our brains, how contraceptives can have negative effects, but also how
0:53.5	important progesterone is in our body and brains.
0:57.9	Progesterone is still an underrated hormone, and so she talks a lot about it.
1:03.1	So it's a great conversation that I just hope opens your mind a little bit more to the very beneficial effects of hormones.
1:12.4	So Sarah, I have been stalking you for longer than you realise actually.
1:17.1	And, you know, your work is wonderful.
1:20.9	Obviously, you're a scientist, you're an academic and a researcher.
1:25.4	And this book, How the Pill Changes Everything, and Capital P for Pill, by the way.
1:32.3	So this is the contraceptive pill, which has become so common.
1:36.7	And even quite soon after it, it was launched.
1:39.1	People was just calling it the pill.
1:41.5	And people know it's the pill.
1:43.0	But actually, do people know what it is and what it
1:45.7	contains? And the, you know, it's called birth control, but it's not just given to prevent
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr Louise Newson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dr Louise Newson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.