Moments Of You

You may feel it in your body before you realize it in your mind – tension in your shoulders, a racing heart, exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix.

For women, mental health isn’t just emotional. It’s physical, hormonal, and deeply rooted in how we live and care for others.
Your body keeps the score.

You’ve felt it before – stress that leaves your body aching. Anxiety that steals your sleep. Exhaustion that feels deeper than tired.

Mental health isn’t separate from the body. It lives in the body.

For women, this connection is especially powerful, complex, and too often misunderstood.

Here’s how emotional health can leave an imprint on physical health – and what you can do to nurture both.

Chronic Stress Disrupt Hormonal Balance
Long-term stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to elevated cortisol levels that can disrupt your menstrual cycle, worsen PMS, or increase the risks of PCOS symptoms.

Study: Chrousos, G.O. (2009). Stress and disorders of the stress system. Nature Reviews Endocrinology.

Depression Increases Inflammation in the Body
Depression isn’t just in the mind – it shows up in the immune system too.
Women with depression often have higher levels of inflammatory markers, which are linked to heart disease, fatigue, and autoimmune conditions.

Study: Miller, A. H., Maletic, V. & Raison, C. L. (2009). Inflammation and its discontents: the role of cytokines in the pathophysiology of major depression. Biological Psychiatry.

Mental Health Affects Sleep Quality and Immunity
Sleep disturbances are common among women with anxiety and depression – and lack of sleep weakens the immune system, increases inflammation, and slows physical healing.

Study: Irwin, M. R. (2015). Why sleep is important for health: a psychoneuroimmunology perspective. Annual Review of Psychology.

Emotional Suppression Can Create Physical Symptoms (Somatic Symptoms)
Women often internalize emotional pain, which can manifest physically – headaches, chest tightness, fatigue, or body aches – without a clear medical cause.

Study: Barsky, A. J., & Borus, J. F. (1999). Functional somatic syndromes. Annals of Internal Medicine.

Why This Matters
Women are taught to push through.
To hold it together.
To put others first.

But the body keeps the score. And if your mental health is suffering, your body will speak up for you – even when you won’t.

What You Can Do

• Daily Check-ins: Ask yourself how you feel – not just what you have to do.
• Movement + Stillness: Honor your body with both.
• Therapy and Journaling: Safe expression can prevent stress from becoming illness.
• Rest Without Guilt: Healing is productive, too.

Mental health isn’t separate from physical health. When you care for your mind, your body feels it. And when you nurture your body, your mind finds space to breathe.