Hormone therapy helps strengthen brain connections in transgender women

Without any sex hormones, transgender women have the same symptoms, such as hot flashes, that postmenopausal women have.

“The disconnection between parts of the brain involved in sensory motor processing and the thalamus may be one of the causes of these symptoms,” This study to show the effect of estrogens in the connectivity of this area of the brain in transgender women who have had their testes removed.

Some trans women take estradiol before surgery, but stop taking it afterwards. Our study suggests they should continue taking estradiol not only to feminize their bodies or to avoid the symptoms related to the absence of sex hormones, but also to prevent the weakening of brain connectivity between brain regions of clinical relevance.

We found taking estradiol strengthened the thalamus’ role as a ‘relay station’ for sensory and motor information in the brain. Almost all sensory information that goes to the brain’s cortex first stops in the thalamus before being sent on to its destination. The thalamus is subdivided into areas that have functional specializations for dealing with particular types of information.

I found some other stuff about the differences in how male and female brains are wired that explain emotional responses.

Stronger brain connection and higher levels of testosterone suggest men are more likely to have a calm, cool, and collected response to adversity. A woman can readily identify and access her emotions much more quickly than a man.

“If a man does not physically and verbally express the same emotional urgency, a female partner might assume he doesn’t care about the upsetting event,” Musselman told Healthline. “But in fact, he is more readily assessing the situation at hand before determining his feelings about it and considering his response.”

Women, in general, also have larger limbic systems than men, which influences emotions and motivations and thereby allows women to be more in touch with and able to act on their emotions.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/men-and-women-process...

“They bring empathy into their thinking and are more comprehensive in the way they look at situations, while men tend to exclude any information that they don’t believe is essential,” Coleman told Healthline. “This certainly helps explain why women talk through and express feelings in order to find solutions, and males become impatient with this as they find it distracting, repetitive, and nonessential.”

While some men view women’s thinking as “illogical,” Coleman said, they’re often examining variables they consider important while problem solving.“A man’s smaller limbic system also helps explain how men can act very quickly in an emergency while women are slower to respond,”