What Functions Does Estrogen Play in the Body?
If you’ve taken a high school health class, you probably know the basics of what estrogen is. It’s the female sex hormone, the counterpart to testosterone, the male sex hormone. All human bodies produce some level of estrogen, so men do make estrogen in the same way that women make testosterone, but if you’re biologically female, estrogen is the main chemical that your body will use to keep your reproductive system on track. But what does this hormone actually do in the literal sense? What will happen in your body if your estrogen levels are healthy, and what will happen if they aren’t? To answer that question, let’s take a look at some of the functions of estrogen.
Ovaries
When it comes to the ovaries, the biggest job of estrogen is to stimulate the production of eggs. MIdway between the start of a woman’s period and the start of her next period is ovulation, and this is the time when estrogen levels in the body are highest. The ovaries produce estrogen and use it to stimulate the egg follicles, which are small, fluid-filled sacs inside the ovaries. One (or sometimes more than one) will release an egg to either be fertilized or be released from the body during the period. After ovulation, estrogen levels in the body begin to drop again.
Uterus
Just as estrogen plays a role in helping the ovaries to release an egg during ovulation, it also helps the uterus prepare for the potential fertilization of that egg. The uterine lining, or endometrium, is the tissue that becomes the placenta if a pregnancy occurs and that is shed as blood during a period if a pregnancy doesn’t occur. Estrogen helps to enhance the endometrium during the leadup to ovulation.
Estrogen also has an effect on cervical mucus, a substance produced by the cervix that changes over the course of the menstrual cycle. Estrogen makes the cervical mucus take on a slippery texture similar to egg whites when a woman is most fertile in order to encourage sperm to find their way towards an egg. Many hormonal birth control methods, like the pill or the IUD, use progestin, an artificial form of progesterone, to do the opposite of what estrogen would do and thicken the cervical mucus in order to make it harder for sperm to enter the uterus.
Vagina
Estrogen’s effects are not only noticeable on the internal organs. In the vagina, estrogen helps to maintain the thickness of the vaginal wall and also encourages lubrication. This is a place that many women will start to feel the effects of falling estrogen levels during menopause. Vaginal dryness, thinning, inflammation, or a loss of elasticity are fairly common things for women to experience later in life, but they can be uncomfortable, unpleasant, and have a damaging effect on a woman’s sex life. Hormone treatments can help to alleviate these symptoms!
Breasts
Estrogen is one of the main hormones affecting changes in the breasts. (This is one of the reasons that if you’ve ever taken the birth control pill, you might’ve noticed a change in your cup size.) Estrogen works together with the growth hormone during puberty to encourage breasts to grow, and the rising and falling levels of estrogen during the menstrual cycle can lead to small changes in breast size and increased tenderness or soreness, depending on the person. When nursing a baby, estrogen also steps in to help stop the flow of milk after the baby is weaned.
As you can see, estrogen is a hormone with many purposes in the body, and that means that in order to be healthy and functioning optimally, your body needs to be producing estrogen in the right levels. If you’re experiencing symptoms such as vaginal dryness, breast tenderness, hot flashes, headaches, and irregular periods, an estrogen imbalance may be the culprit. If this is the case, hormone replacement therapy from Renewed Vitality may be able to help you! Contact us here to learn more about what this revolutionary treatment can do for you.
It’s no secret that as you age, sex can start to look different from how it did when you were younger. This is a combination of many different factors, from the shifting mental, emotional, and social influences on your life to physical and chemical changes in your body. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing– it’s natural for your sex drive to change and slow down as you get older, and you can still have a healthy sex life no matter your age. It’s good to know what changes to expect, however, and that if you’re struggling with changes to your sex drive as you age, there are routes you can take to help combat the less-than-enjoyable effects. Here’s a quick breakdown of what the evolution of an adult’s sex drive typically looks like. Remember, everyone is different, so these are not hard and fast milestones so much as generalizations.
20s and 30s
You might assume that both men and women have their highest libidos around the same age, but that’s surprisingly not true! In men, testosterone is high in the 20s, and sex drive is usually high along with it.
For women, libido is a little lower during the 20s but tends to go up in the 30s. Sex drive is a very complicated subject, and scientists haven’t conclusively proven why this happens, but it’s generally assumed that there’s a correlation between the increase of sex drive and the decrease in fertility that happens in the late 20s to 30s. High fertility in your 20s might lead to an evolutionary instinct to be more selective about sex.
Pregnancy
Most women who have children do so sometime in their 20s and 30s, and this has some serious effects of sex drive, not just during the pregnancy, but afterwards as well. It’s common to experience a boost in libido during the second trimester and be disinterested in sex at other times, but this isn’t the case for everyone. Some women experience an unusually high sex drive during pregnancy, or an unusually low one, or they might be anxious about whether it’s safe (the answer is typically yes, but double check with your doctor if you’re nervous). The stress of raising children can also lead to a decrease in sex drive after the baby arrives.
40s
Around the age of 35, testosterone levels in men start to drop, which can cause a decrease in sex drive as well. These changing hormone levels continue into the 40s, and the decrease might be fairly gradual for some men or faster for others.
Women, on the other hand, tend to have fairly high sex drives and active sex lives in their 40s. Some studies indicate that women around this age are more likely to have sex more often and earlier on in a relationship, as well as having more intense fantasies.
50s
For men, sex drive around this age is usually significantly lower than it was earlier in life, although there’s no reason for this to get in the way of a healthy sex life. Erectile dysfunction does become more common in men as they get older, but this actually has less to do with age and more to do with other health problems that become common with age, like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol. Medications for these conditions and others can also lead to erectile dysfunction, and you should discuss it with your doctor if it’s becoming a problem.
For women, lowered stress levels from environmental factors like the kids moving out or less worry around getting pregnant might lead to an increased interest in sex, but the onset of menopause can throw a bit of a wrench in the works with hormonoal changes leading to things like vaginal dryness, lowered libido, and mood changes or sleep problems. These are also things you should discuss with your doctor.
What Can I Do?
If you’re struggling with the effects of aging on your sex life, hormone replacement therapy might be a great option for you! At Renewed Vitality, our bioidentical hormones are more efficient and have less adverse effects than synthetic hormones, and giving yourself a boost of testosterone or estrogen as needed can help to get you feeling more normal and get your sex life back on track. If you’re interested in this treatment, please contact us here to learn more!
Every woman knows to expect menopause as she ages. The average age to experience it is 51 for women in the United States, but any time between ages 45 to 55 is considered within the normal range. Menopause before age 45 is considered early, and before age 40 is premature.
So, how do you know if you’re in premature menopause? For starters, there is a difference between menopause and perimenopause, which is the process of heading into menopause itself. When you’ve gone more than twelve months without a period, you’ve entered menopause, but prior to this as your ovulation slows, you’ll be in perimenopause and begin experiencing the symptoms that you always hear people talking about– hot flashes and chills, mood changes, sleep problems, and of course, irregular periods. A changing period is the main sign of menopause, and while there are many reasons to have irregular or missing periods, you should always discuss it with your doctor. If you’re presenting other symptoms and not within the typical age range, they may diagnose you with premature menopause. There are many reasons that this might happen to you, and they will help you to determine the cause and cope with the changes. Here are some of the reasons you might begin menopause prematurely.
Previous Illnesses
If you’ve undergone chemotherapy, had your ovaries removed, or had any other treatment or procedure that would damage your estrogen production, it may lead to premature menopause. However, damaged or missing ovaries are not the only potential cause, and you can still experience premature menopause if your ovaries are intact.
Genetics
It is likely that there is a genetic component to when you will naturally begin menopause. If other explanations don’t fit, this may be what it comes down to. If your mother experienced menopause early or prematurely, it’s possible that you will as well.
Lifestyle
There are some habits that you might’ve had (or might still have) in previous years that can affect your reproductive health, with smoking being a major one. Long-term or regular smoking has been proven to have a correlation to earlier menopause than that seen in women who don’t smoke. Other lifestyle choices that may contribute are vegetarianism, lack of exercise, lack of sun exposure, and low BMI.
Chromosomal Defects
There are several chromosomal abnormalities that can lead to premature menopause. Most of them do this by affecting the function of the ovaries. Turner syndrome, pure gonadal dysgenesis, and Fragile X syndrome are all possible causes. If you or any family members have premature menopause and you suspect that one of these conditions might be the cause, it’s important to discuss genetic testing with your doctor.
Autoimmune Disease
Autoimmune diseases can cause a whole host of health issues, including premature menopause. When inflammation caused by these diseases affects the ovaries, their function is altered or stopped. Rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid problems are potential autoimmune diseases that may be the cause of your premature menopause.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy can sometimes cause the ovaries to fail prematurely, and resultantly lead to early or premature menopause in about 14% of women with the disease.
Depending on the cause of your premature menopause, hormone therapy might be a good treatment option for you to help lessen the symptoms. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, like the kind offered at Renewed Vitality, can improve your quality of life during perimenopause and menopause. Most of the adverse symptoms of menopause stem from a change in your body’s estrogen levels, and by adding in estrogen that is no longer being produced, some of those symptoms can be eased. Bioidentical hormones are exactly what they sound like– they’re biologically identical to the ones naturally produced in your body. Renewed Vitality’s bioidentical estrogen is 100% natural, created using a plant-based source. Their exact chemical structure matches the kind made by the human body, and their natural makeup allows them to be more easily processed than artificial varieties.
If you are suffering from premature menopause, or if the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause in general are causing you distress, contact Renewed Vitality to ask about our bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. It may be able to help you feel a bit more like yourself again.
It’s Normal But Don’t Settle
As we get older our sex drives do have a tendency to diminish a little. This is nothing to be ashamed of, we’re not the young, energetic, sex driven 20-somethings we used to be.
It’s normal to see some drop in your sex drive, but if it seems like getting in the mood is just impossible now, it could be a sign of something more than just typical aging effects. You could be effected by a number of serious issues including hormone imbalance.
Below are some of the potential causes of lowered libido, and keep in mind a lot of these issues can be fixed or helped!
Interpersonal Issues
While your libido is a very personal thing, it can actually be connected to your interactions with others. If your partner is experiencing performance problems, this could cause your libido to fall. This is no fault of theirs or yours, so you should feel no shame. There are options to help with sexual performance, and it could be something you two could do together to help things out in the bedroom.
Another interpersonal issue could be the birth of a child. Child birth while obviously caused by sexual activity can unfortunately lead to less of it. This can be because of stress and worry, hormonal changes, a lack of sleep, postpartum blues, or body image issues. These are all temporary issues that you have the power to work through, but if you need to don’t ever feel ashamed of seeking help.
It’s important to remember that your libido is linked to so many factors in your life, and that it’s never something you should be ashamed of no matter what’s causing it to fall.
Medical Problems
illnesses both mental and physical can cause problems with your sex dive. Depression can destroy your drive, and anyone suffering knows that fighting depression is a very hard battle. Depression, while caused by a myriad of things, could be caused by a hormone imbalance. Fixing the root cause is the best way to get every aspect of your life back, including your sex life.
Something physical that can cause sexual drive drops are thyroid issues. If your having hormonal issues with your thyroid you could experience weight gain, fatigue, depression, and a lowered sex drive. If your having issues with your libido the first place to look is the thyroid.
Low Testosterone
It may seem odd, but testosterone is actually important to the sex drives in both men and women, and low testosterone could cause a lowered sex drive. Women’s testosterone levels peak around the mid-20s and then steadily decline until menopause where they drop dramatically.
We don’t really think of testosterone as a feminine thing, but a having the right levels of testosterone in your body could make you feel like a 20-year-old all over again. Well, that or just make you feel much more like yourself.
Medications
Our medications are important to our health, but sometimes they can also be detrimental to it. It’s important that we know the interactions that our medications have with every aspect of our bodies, and that we know how we can counteract some of the undesirable effects.
For example, some antidepressants can actually lower your sex drive, which might be completely counter intuitive. And, blood pressure lowering drugs are almost certainly going to lower your libido. It’s important that your consult with your healthcare provider to find the best way to protect everything aspect of your emotional and physical well being.
Getting Back Your Desire
Your sex drive isn’t gone for good. There are number of treatment options available, and hormone treatment might be the best for you. With testosterone and/or estrogen treatment you could see results that will make you feel like you did pre-menopause.
You don’t have to settle for the “inevitable.”
Talk to your healthcare provider about options for getting your libido back!
Estrogen is a very important hormone that plays huge roles in the bodies functions — in women and men. Maintaining balanced levels of estrogen is key to creating a healthy lifestyle, and once you start your hormone therapy it is super beneficial to pair it with a diet that boosts your body’s estrogen! This doesn’t mean a complete change in your eating habits, but adding these foods here and there could make all the difference.
If you’re not sure if you have a hormone imbalance, check out this post about the 6 signs of a hormone imbalance.
The foods below contain phytoestrogens which are dietary estrogens that naturally occur in some foods. They aren’t bioidentical hormones like those that you will receive during hormone therapy, but they can be beneficial regardless.
Dried Fruit
Dried fruits like apricots, prunes, and dates contain much higher levels of phytoestrogens than their fresh varieties. These delicious dried fruits are a great snack, keep them in on your desk at work, in your bag, in the glove box, or pretty much anywhere ready for you to much on them. That’s the beauty of dried fruits, they can last for up to six months after you open the package!
Garlic
Garlic is used in cooking around the world, and with 603 micrograms of phytoestrogens per 100 grams, it should definitely be used in your kitchen. Garlic is easy to add to almost anything and will give any recipe that kick it needs.
Flax Seeds
Flax seeds, or linseeds, contain lignans which are a type of phytoestrogen. Flax seeds can easily be added to a smoothie in the morning, your sandwich and salad at lunch, and sprinkled over rice or any other side at dinner. This estrogen boosting ingredient is super versatile, so there’s no reason not to include it in your diet.
Try adding it to yogurt with granola for a parfait like no other!
Hummus
We all know how delicious hummus is for dipping with veggies, pita, and pretty much any other snack, but did you know that hummus actually contains an average of 993 micrograms of phytoestrogens per 100 grams! Don’t feel guilty about finishing the whole tub, just attribute it to your new balanced hormone lifestyle.
Cruciferous Veggies
Broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and kale are all great sources of lignans. And, with so much variety you can eat these vegetables for pretty much any occasion. Snack on raw broccoli, make a coleslaw with the cabbage, roast the brussels sprouts with some garlic, and make kale chips for the ultimate crunchy snack. Cruciferous vegetables might not sound like the most inviting things, but with their nearly bottomless health benefits and their estrogen boosting qualities, you have to include them in your diet!
Tofu
Tofu is made from soy milk which is naturally high in phytoestrogens, specifically isoflavones which can protect from a myriad of age-related illnesses like heart disease and even cancer. Tofu is an awesome ingredient because of its versatility. I use it in stir frys, breakfast burritos, and soups, but the sky’s truly the limit with tofu!
While all of these foods are certainly a great way to help boost your estrogen levels, there is nothing quite like hormone therapy. It’s important to remember that only a trained profession can help alleviate all the symptoms of hormone imbalance, but that a healthy diet is just one part of the process.
Before making any major changes to your diet please consult your healthcare provider.
For more foody tips check out this post about foods to avoid and healthy alternatives!
Throughout pregnancy and for some time after, the body’s hormonal balance and composition shifts. Once the pregnancy ends, many women find their bodies in a state of hormone shock. In addition to all of the fresh duties motherhood brings with it, the body must also adjust to the new normal of postpartum life.
What causes these hormonal imbalances?
While the simple answer is “childbirth,” there’s more specifics going on here. The most common imbalance is that of estrogen and progesterone. These two hormones are incredibly important to the development and continued health of both mother and child during pregnancy as well as after. The reason these fall out of balance is because throughout pregnancy, the placenta produces large amounts of progesterone, and the rest of the body adjusts estrogen production to match.
Once the placenta is delivered, the regular source of progesterone is gone, but the body is still producing far too much estrogen. This is known as estrogen dominance. Symptoms of estrogen dominance include insomnia, mood swings, and difficulty losing weight to name a few. Usually these levels balance out over time, but there are several ways to speed up the process.
How do you combat these imbalances?
Increase Fiber Intake
Increasing fiber intake can go a long way towards cutting down on abundant estrogen in the blood. Fiber binds to estrogen as well as cholesterol, and carries it out of the body. High in fiber foods like lentils and whole wheat pastas are great sources of the fiber your body needs.
Avoid Refined Sugars
Excess carbohydrates and sugars are stored as fat in the body. Bodies that have more stored fat produce more estrogen, which would exacerbate the situation. Instead of eating foods like white bread or most kinds of pasta that contain processed sugars, shoot for some low-carb options. Replace the bread on your sandwich with some crisp lettuce leaves!
Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine
These substances can cause your hormone levels to shift unpredictably, making it difficult to treat any existing hormone imbalance. By interfering with the hormone producing glands like the thyroid, ovaries, and pancreas, these imbalances can become much worse and lead to long term problems.
Increase Vitamin D intake
Vitamin D can potentially lower estrogen levels in the blood. You can raise your vitamin D intake by spending more time in the sun, or adding a supplement to your diet.
Get More Rest
Make sure to schedule in plenty of rest, as lack of sleep can lead to even more problems when it comes to hormonal imbalances. Sleep is a time for our bodies to recover, and without that rest period, the body is more susceptible to future hormone imbalance issues.
Speak with a professional
If your hormone levels are out of sync, it can seem like you are alone, but you’re not. Millions of women experience the same imbalances after pregnancy, and there is help out there. If you’re looking for assistance with your postpartum hormone imbalance, the experts at Renewed Vitality are ready to help! Schedule a consultation today.
Hormones dictate so much of our lives that sometimes, it’s hard to realize what kind of effect they can have on our day to day. They control everything, including our emotions and moods.
If hormones fall into imbalance, then our moods can fluctuate wildly and make day to day functions difficult. It’s important to understand which hormones affect our moods most so that we can address issues when they arise.
Serotonin and Dopamine
Some hormones are directly responsible for regulating moods: serotonin and dopamine. When these hormones are being produced in proper amounts, it’s easier to control moods and regulate thought processes. These are the primary hormones responsible with preventing depression and similar emotional and mood disorders.
Testosterone
Testosterone is also a key hormone when it comes to mood regulation. When your body is lower on testosterone, you can feel physically sluggish, muscle mass and tone diminish, and sex drive lessens.
However, the effects of lowered testosterone go beyond the physical, but also result in emotional issues. These physical effects can also result in anxiety about physical performance, depression as a result of lowered energy, and mood swings.
Estrogen
Estrogen is another hormone that controls and stabilizes moods. When estrogen is out of normal balance, either as a result of having too much or too little, mood swings can occur. These mood swings can vary between active irritability or aggressiveness and sluggish depression. At other times this imbalance results in high levels of anxiety as well.
Though many think of testosterone as primarily male and estrogen as an exclusively female hormone, everyone needs both in varying amounts in order to have healthy and balanced physical and mental functions.
Thyroid Hormones
Thyroid hormones are also key to keeping energy levels high as well as regulating mood. By keeping cells in the brain energized and functioning efficiently, your mood will be positively affected. When these levels are lower, mood will be lower as well.
Looking For Help?
When attempting to track down the exact source of a mood shift, it’s important to remember that no hormones act without interacting with many different parts of the body alongside many other hormones.
Seeking a diagnosis and discussing your concerns with a professional hormone therapist or doctor are both valid avenues to follow when seeking a solution. In many cases hormone therapy can address and reverse these negative effects of hormone imbalance.
If you are looking to talk to someone about a possible hormone imbalance, the experts at Renewed Vitality are here to help!
When it comes to hot flashes, there is a ton of information out there, so it can be difficult to parse out what’s most relevant to you and your experience or the experiences of someone you know. To figure out what are the possible causes of a hot flash, let’s break down what a hot flash actually is.
What Is A Hot Flash?
A hot flash usually consists of a wave of heat, discomfort, sweating, and flushing of the face and skin unrelated to the actual temperature around them. What is not typically known is that hot flashes can focus on different parts of the body—hands, chest, legs, face—or they can affect the whole body if they are quite severe. There are also varying degrees of hot flashes.
You may experience something as minor as a vague tingling and warming of your hands, or as intense as feeling like you’re in a pot of boiling water.
When Do They Start?
Though normally thought of as a menopausal issue, these can occur years before and after menopause occurs. The several years before menopause is called perimenopause. It is during this time the body is beginning to deal with various changes in hormone balance and blood flow among other things.
Once these flashes start, they usually continue through menopause and for some time afterwards. Most people who experience these notice a gradual reduction in severity and frequency over time.
What Causes Hot Flashes?
Over the years, research has indicated that decreased estrogen levels or other hormonal imbalances characteristic of menopause are to blame for these unpleasant waves of heat.
There are also other theories that it may also be caused by changes in circulation in the brain. As bodies age, and hormones that regulate heart rate and blood flow change in balance, this can cause bodily reactions, like hot flashes, to happen.
What Are Likely Triggers?
Though it is difficult to completely prevent hot flashes once they begin, identifying what triggers them can be helpful. Here are some of the most common causes:
Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol dilates blood vessels and can already cause a feeling of warmth to spread across the body. It makes sense that this would increase the chances of a hot flash.
Caffeine
Increased heart rate can affect your ability to regulate your body temperature normally, and raising the likelihood of a flash.
Smoking
Smoking lowers estrogen, and so can increase the frequency of hot flashes.
Decreasing Severity and Occurrences
In addition to avoiding these triggers that can cause more frequent and intense hot flashes, there are some steps you can take to improve your body’s ability to handle these experiences:
Hydrate Well
Having more water in your system is always a great idea for overall health, but especially when dealing with hot flashes. Being more hydrated improves blood flow which is important for temperature regulation.
Control stress
Hot flashes can be caused by stress, but they can also cause stress. It’s a vicious cycle! Using calming techniques to slow your breathing and recognizing that the waves of heat will pass can help calm your mind and body and allow your body to return to its natural balance quicker.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
For many people experiencing hot flashes, carefully directed hormone therapy is a fantastic solution. Through the use of similar or biologically identical hormones, the symptoms and severity of hot flashes can be greatly reduced, as well as the other associated effects of perimenopause and menopause.
Though a serious issue that many women face, it is not insurmountable, nor does it need to be a lonely experience. Seek the advice of your doctor or a hormone specialist if you are experiencing hot flashes.
