Midlife Solutions with Karen Martel

What the Heck Is the Amygdala, and Why Does Testosterone Care About It?

The amygdala is the part of your brain that processes emotions like fear, pleasure, and aggression. It helps you recognize danger, feel love, and yes — sometimes overreact to things that don't need a full-blown meltdown. It’s like your brain’s smoke detector for emotional fires.

Testosterone, it turns out, directly influences how the amygdala functions in women. Research has shown that both endogenous testosterone (your body’s natural supply) and exogenous testosterone (the kind you supplement) modulate the amygdala's reactivity and connectivity — basically, how strongly it fires up and how well it communicates with the rest of your brain.

 1. Amygdala Reactivity Goes Up With Testosterone

Several studies have found that testosterone increases the amygdala’s reactivity in women — especially in response to emotional or biologically relevant cues.

In fact, in one fascinating study, a single dose of testosterone given to middle-aged women brought their amygdala reactivity up to levels typically seen in much younger women. That’s not just interesting — it’s kind of mind-blowing [1][5].

So what does that mean in real life? Potentially:

• More emotional sensitivity or reactivity (good or bad, depending on context)

• A stronger response to stimuli like facial expressions or sexual cues

• Sharper instinctual or emotional reactions

2. Testosterone Also Changes Brain Connectivity

It’s not just about how much the amygdala lights up — it’s about how it connects with other regions of the brain. Testosterone appears to alter these neural conversations.

In particular, it affects communication between the amygdala and areas like the orbitofrontal cortex (associated with decision-making) and superior temporal gyrus (important for social cognition and language).

Higher testosterone levels in women are associated with less connectivity between the amygdala and these brain regions during emotional tasks — a change that may influence how we regulate emotions or process social signals [2][6].

This could translate into:

• Changes in emotional regulation (sometimes feeling more reactive, sometimes more assertive)

• Shifts in cognitive control during stress

• Possibly enhanced decisiveness or risk-taking (which isn’t always a bad thing)

3. Mood, Anxiety, and Hormonal Balance

All of this brain activity ties into something we definitely care about: mood.

As testosterone levels decline with age (often starting in our 30s or 40s), some women experience:

• Mood swings

• Anxiety

• Loss of motivation or drive

• Low libido

• Trouble with emotional regulation

The changes in amygdala activity and connectivity may explain why these symptoms show up — and why testosterone therapy helps many women feel more emotionally balanced and mentally sharp [1][5].

So, What’s the Takeaway?

Testosterone isn’t just about sex drive and muscle tone. It’s a brain hormone — one that shapes how women experience the world, process emotion, and maintain mental resilience.

When we talk about hormone health in women, testosterone absolutely deserves a seat at the table. Supporting healthy levels can help not only with mood and cognition but with how the brain itself functions — right down to how the amygdala fires up and connects.

In other words: it’s not just about hormones. It’s about your brain, your mood, and your emotional well-being.

Sources:

1. Testosterone Increases Amygdala Reactivity in Middle-Aged Women – Nature

2. Testosterone and the Amygdala's Functional Connectivity in Women – PMC

3. Testosterone Administration Increases Amygdala Reactivity – PubMed

4. Study on Testosterone and the Amygdala – ScienceDirect

5. Testosterone and Mood in Midlife Women – PubMed

6. Amygdala Connectivity in Testosterone-Treated Women – NCBI

7. Pubertal Testosterone and Amygdala – Oxford Academic

8. Testosterone and Fear Response – ScienceDaily