Can Stress Cause Hormonal Imbalances?
Your body is a complex organism full of systems that interact and affect each other in intricate ways, sometimes in ways that don’t make a lot of sense to us modern humans on the surface. We tend to think of the mind and body as two separate entities, and because stress is primarily a mental state for people today, it seems like stress shouldn’t have much of an impact on the physical health of the body.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth! The body affects the mind and the mind affects the body in turn, and if you’re under high levels of stress, it’s likely that you’ll notice it affecting your wellbeing and how you feel on a daily basis. In fact, a lot of the physical signs of stress, like weight gain, sleep and energy problems, and even menstrual problems, share common ground with the signs of hormonal imbalance. That’s because your stress levels are affecting your hormones! It all comes down to a little chemical your body makes called cortisol. Let’s take a look at the ways it is affecting you!
What is Cortisol?
Cortisol is a hormone– more specifically, it’s a steroid hormone– that the human body produces in the adrenal glands, which are located near the kidneys. Cortisol is naturally occurring and every human body needs it! In the right amounts, it helps to regulate your blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and keep your blood pressure at an optimal level, along with many other jobs.
The issues arise when stress is introduced to the situation. Cortisol plays a vital role in the body’s “fight-or-flight” response. This is actually the reason it’s often referred to as the stress hormone. When your system is triggered by a stressor, whether it’s an actual physical threat or an anxiety-inducing modern threat like a deadline you forgot about, your body is flooded with high levels of adrenaline to prepare you to respond to the stressor. If the stressor goes away, these levels drop off, but if it stays, the body starts producing high levels of cortisol as well, releasing blood sugar to give you energy and slowing down the digestive and immune systems to conserve effort. Once you are no longer being confronted by a stressful situation, these levels will go back down to normal and your body will start to function as it usually does, but if you’re dealing with chronic, ongoing stress, your cortisol levels stay elevated, leading to a whole host of health problems.
Effects of High Cortisol
High cortisol from long-term stress can really wreak havoc on your physical health. Some symptoms of high cortisol are frequent headaches, digestive problems, low sex drive, appetite changes leading to overeating or undereating, brain fog, and anxiety. If it goes on for long enough, high cortisol can also cause heart disease, depression, and can affect your menstrual cycle. Basically, cortisol levels that are too high for too long have a waterfall effect on all of the systems in your body, telling them to constantly be ready to fight or run from an incoming threat. Your body moves resources away from less essential systems like digestion and reproduction to focus on keeping you ready to act at any moment. When your body is in this state for a long time, it can be bad for your health in both the short term and the long term!
How to Regulate Your Stress and Hormones
Regulating your hormone levels when you’re dealing with chronic stress and high levels of cortisol is something that it’s wise to consult a doctor about. However, there are some healthy lifestyle changes that you can easily make on your own that can help you to start feeling better! Eating right, exercising enough (but not too much– you don’t want to overtax your body when it’s already stressed!) and making sleep a priority will help put you on the right track for recovery.
Additionally, taking measures to reduce your stress can help pull your body out of that constant fight-or-flight state. If you’re able to remove external sources of stress, like cutting down your hours at a difficult job, that’s a great place to start, but not everyone has that option. In both cases, it can also be beneficial to use techniques that talk to the base systems of your body and tell it that it’s not in danger. Meditation can be a great way to do this, and so can deep breathing exercises and mindfulness practices that focus on stopping stressful thinking patterns. Basically, anything that you wouldn’t be able to do if there was a tiger or a bear right in front of you is a good way to tell your body’s primal stress response system that it’s ok to calm down and relax. Any activities that increase endorphins, the feel-good hormones, are also great to counteract high cortisol, like dancing, spending time with friends and loved ones, cuddling a pet, or even just laughing!
These techniques are a great way to help address hormonal imbalances caused by stress and high cortisol, but what about other kinds of hormonal imbalances? For more information, you can learn about your hormonal health and how to improve it by reading our blog here!
The human body is full of hormones. They’re the sophisticated message system that your body has in place so that all of your different organs and systems can communicate properly. Most people know about hormones in the context of their reproductive health– estrogen, testosterone, and other names will probably sound familiar to you. However, there are far more hormones at work in your body that can be helpful to learn about! Ghrelin is one that you might or might not be familiar with, but you feel its effects every single day. It’s the hunger hormone! Let’s take a closer look at how ghrelin works inside your body.
What is Ghrelin?
Ghrelin is a hormone produced in your body that mainly affects your digestive system. Unlike neurohormones, which work in your brain, or sex hormones, which work in your reproductive system but have jobs all over the body, ghrelin is a hormone that’s pretty directly focused on your hunger, digestion, and eating habits.
What Does Ghrelin Do?
Ghrelin is called the “hunger hormone” because its main function is to do just that– make you hungry! It’s what gives your body feelings of hunger and creates the drive to eat and seek out food. In prehistoric humans, ghrelin was what drew you out of your safe, protected dwelling to hunt and seek out sustenance. In modern times, the only places ghrelin is likely to drive you are to the fridge or the grocery store. However, the function is the same. The human body needs fuel, and ghrelin is what makes you seek it out.
Ghrelin works in tandem with another hormone called leptin. One of leptin’s main functions is to make you feel full, so when you eat, your ghrelin levels go down and your leptin levels come up, letting you know that it’s time to stop eating for now. After a meal, your leptin levels gradually come down again as your ghrelin levels come up, increasing your feelings of hunger the longer you go without eating.
Ghrelin also plays a small role in your sleep/wake cycle, or circadian rhythm. Ever had trouble sleeping when you had a light dinner and are really hungry, or when you’ve eaten way too much before bed? Blame ghrelin for that. It also has to do with your reward-seeking system, your taste sensation, and the way you metabolize food. If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know the feeling of ghrelin making it hard to stick to that low-calorie plan!
Where is Ghrelin Made?
Ghrelin is produced in your digestive system, mostly in your stomach. An empty stomach is what triggers the production of this hormone. Once it enters your bloodstream and makes your way around your body, ghrelin eventually finds its way into your hypothalamus, the part of the brain that helps to control and regulate your appetite. That’s where it works to trigger feelings of hunger and that thought of “it’s time to eat something!”
What Causes High Ghrelin?
Ghrelin levels are found to be high in people who follow restrictive diets for one reason or another. People who suffer from eating disorders like anorexia tend to have high ghrelin, as do people who are frequently on yo-yo or fad diets. High ghrelin is also sometimes found in people who restrict their diets for health reasons, like those with celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease.
What Causes Low Ghrelin?
While it might sound counterintuitive, people who struggle with obesity often have low ghrelin levels. Scientists are still working to understand this, but one theory is that overweight or obese people are more sensitive to ghrelin, and can feel its hunger-causing effects even at lower levels. Low ghrelin is also associated with conditions like chronic gastritis, irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia, and infections like H. Pylori.
How Does Ghrelin Affect Me?
For the most part, your ghrelin levels are something that naturally fluctuates with your diet and eating schedule. If you’re trying to lose weight, however, you probably feel like you have a pretty antagonistic relationship with your hunger, and so, by association, your ghrelin hormone. Try to think of it this way– in this day and age where we have access to more food than we can possibly eat, ghrelin may seem like a simple annoyance, but in the early days of humanity, ghrelin was what helped us protect ourselves from starving. It helped humans maintain healthy fat levels that would sustain them through times of scarcity.
If you have abnormally high or low ghrelin levels, there’s probably an underlying cause like a digestive disorder that should be treated by a specialist. However, if you’re otherwise healthy with no additional symptoms but you’re struggling with your feelings of hunger, it’s likely that you’re just feeling the effects of ghrelin doing its job and trying to keep you fed.
You can help to keep your ghrelin levels more balanced and manage your hunger by eating a healthy diet full of satiating foods like protein, fats, and healthy carbs, as well as adding in high-volume foods like vegetables. Try to get an adequate amount of sleep and stay hydrated as well– these things can help to regulate your appetite!
Ghrelin and your digestive system don’t exist in a vacuum within your body, and all of your hormones and body systems are connected. Imbalances in your sex hormones have the power to affect your appetite, so if you’re struggling with too much or not enough hunger along with other symptoms, seeing the hormonal specialists at Renewed Vitality might help you! Talk to our team today to learn more.
There’s a reason that we associate menopause, PMS, and adolescence with moodiness. There’s a genuine link between your hormone levels and your mood or mental state. While your hormones are far from the only thing affecting your moods, their balance (or lack thereof) can lead to you feeling better, energized, and more positive, or sluggish, cranky, and more susceptible to negative moods. Unsurprisingly, this means that long-term hormonal issues can show up in what your mental health looks like. The coming winter months are a time when a lot of people struggle with their mental health, and if yours is already in a place that’s less than ideal, now is a good time to be looking at contributing factors that you could fix to help yourself start feeling better, and your hormones might be one of them! Here are some of the ways that your hormones affect your mental health.
Mood Swings
Mood swings, or sudden and unpredictable shifts in a person’s mood, are common symptoms of any body state that puts your hormones out of whack. Teenagers, PMSing women, and menopausal women are often written off as “hormonal” any time they’re a little less chipper than usual, but mood swings caused by your hormones can be a legitimate problem for some people. If you’re finding yourself surprised by your own mood changes and feeling as though you have little control over how you feel throughout the day, this might be the reason.
Low Mood and Low Energy
The sex hormones in particular (mainly estrogen and testosterone) play a very significant role in your energy levels. If your levels are off-balance, particularly if they’re lower than they should be, you might find yourself struggling with fatigue, sluggishness, brain fog, and other low-energy related problems. This low energy can lead to low mood as well. Depression and fatigue are very closely linked, and if you don’t have enough energy to be happy and engaged in your life, you’ll certainly struggle with feeling sad or numb for long periods of time.
Anxiety
Hormone imbalances can also have a negative effect on the way your body handles stress and worry, leading you to deal with pounding heartbeats and racing thoughts anytime you start to fret about something. Some people struggle with anxiety that is completely unrelated to their hormones, but others might notice it getting worse during times when their hormone levels are changing, such as prior to a period. Additionally, if you’re developing new anxiety alongside other symptoms of a hormonal imbalance, the two issues are likely to be related.
Sleep
The amount of sleep you get and the quality of your sleep are absolutely vital to every aspect of your health, including your mental health. Poor sleep and struggling with your mental health go hand in hand, affecting each other in a vicious cycle– being sad or anxious makes it harder to sleep well, which in turn makes you more sad and anxious. Imbalances in your hormones can also make it hard for you to get to sleep or stay asleep, leading to a whole host of unpleasant physical and mental health symptoms.
What to Do?
Eat Well
Taking a look at your diet is a good place to start when trying to make positive changes to your physical or mental health. Eating balanced meals full of nutritious, nourishing foods throughout the day gives your body the necessary tools to function properly!
Get Enough Exercise
The feel-good hormones that get released in your brain when you’re physically active can be incredibly helpful in combating mental health issues like anxiety or depression. Regular exercise also helps you to regulate the various rhythms and functions of your body, including your hormonal levels.
Consider Mental Health Treatment
If your moods, emotions, and thoughts are starting to affect your life, work, and relationships, it’s time to seek out professional help. Therapy and medication can help people make incredible changes and move towards happiness and positivity in their lives. They might help you, too!
Consider HRT
If you suspect that your hormone levels are playing a role in your mental health struggles, it’s a good idea to seek out a specialist like the ones on the team at Renewed Vitality for help! They can address these symptoms and others that you may be having and propose treatment plans that can help you to start feeling like yourself again. If you’re interested in learning more, make sure you contact us today!
Hormones are responsible for nearly everything that goes on in your body. They are the courier service that delivers messages to every organ and system, letting it know how to function and what to do and when. When you have a better understanding of these hormones, what they are, and how they work, you can come into a better understanding of your body and health as a whole! With that goal in mind, let’s keep learning about the many different hormones in the human body, focusing on progesterone.
What is Progesterone?
Progesterone, like testosterone and estrogen, is a sex hormone. This means that its primary functions have to do with the reproductive system and sexual health.
Similar to estrogen, progesterone is considered a largely “female” hormone, because its most vital functions are in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. However, both men and women have some amount of progesterone in their system, just like estrogen and testosterone! In males, the levels of progesterone are simply much lower than in females.
What Does Progesterone Do?
Progesterone plays a big role in the formation and function of the endometrium, or the lining of the uterus. This lining is what builds up throughout the month and then sheds during a period if a woman does not become pregnant, and it becomes the placenta if a fertilized egg implants and the woman becomes pregnant. Rising progesterone levels cause the endometrium to thicken in preparation for fertilization and implantation, and if this doesn’t occur, progesterone levels drop off, causing the shedding of the endometrium and the monthly period.
If a fertilized egg does implant, progesterone also plays a role in the early stages of pregnancy. It helps to encourage the endometrium to form the placenta, stimulating blood vessels so that it can nourish the growing fetus. Progesterone levels stay high throughout pregnancy, preventing any more eggs from being released, and it also is one of the hormones that stimulates lactation after the baby is born.
In men, progesterone plays a role in the regulation of testosterone levels and the formation of sperm. It also has an impact on mood, sleep, libido, and bone density!
Where is Progesterone Made?
Most sex hormones are made in the primary sex glands– the ovaries for women and the testes for men. This is partially true of progesterone, however, it’s a bit more complicated.
In males, progesterone is just produced in the testes. In females, it’s actually produced in a temporary gland called the corpus luteum. Here’s what happens. Inside the ovary, a structure called a follicle releases the egg into the fallopian tube, where it is either fertilized or dissolves. After the follicle releases the egg, it forms the corpus luteum. This is the gland that produces progesterone to help the uterine lining thicken up in preparation for a potential pregnancy. When the egg isn’t fertilized and breaks down, the corpus luteum breaks down too, and progesterone levels fall, causing the period to happen. Basically, each time you go through a menstrual cycle, your body is creating, using, and breaking down a new gland!
If a woman does become pregnant, the corpus luteum doesn’t dissolve. Instead, it keeps pumping out progesterone to create the placenta. Eventually, once the placenta is large and developed enough, it starts to create progesterone on its own, becoming the major producer of this hormone in the body throughout pregnancy to keep the fetus nourished and prevent both ovulation and premature uterine contractions that might cause early labor.
What Happens if You Have Low Progesterone?
Low progesterone is often associated with fertility problems and trouble conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term. If you aren’t pregnant but you have low progesterone, you might have irregular periods, headaches, mood swings, mood difficulties like anxiety or depression, trouble sleeping, or hot flashes. If you are pregnant and you have low progesterone, you can be at risk for ectopic pregnancy, preterm labor, or miscarriage.
Progesterone levels, like estrogen levels, also drop off as you age and begin to enter menopause, and this decrease in progesterone is associated with the common symptoms of menopause, like night sweats, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and mood swings.
What Happens if You Have High Progesterone?
High progesterone levels aren’t often seen outside of pregnancy, but they are to blame for some of the common unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy, including nausea, breast tenderness, and fatigue.
If you do have high progesterone levels when you’re not pregnant, you may notice these symptoms, as well as anxiety or depression, low sex drive, or bloating and weight gain. These elevated levels might be due to hormonal birth control that you’re taking, or it could be a sign of an ovarian cyst or another abnormality with your reproductive system. If your blood work shows high progesterone levels without any other explanation, your medical provider should discuss these possibilities with you.
What to Do About Progesterone Imbalances?
The most common reason people have trouble with progesterone imbalances is menopause. The dropping levels of this hormone can make life extremely difficult for some women! If this is true for you and you’re interested in feeling better, hormone replacement therapy might be the right path for you. Make sure you contact the team at Renewed Vitality to learn more!
When it comes to understanding your body and how it works, understanding your hormones is very important. Hormones are the chemical messengers of your body. They tell each organ, system, and structure what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. That’s a big job, and if one of your hormone levels is out of balance, it could cause things not to work right all over your body.
Understanding your hormones, however, is a little easier said than done. There’s a lot of them, and they have complex and varied jobs that are hard to keep track of. To help you get a better handle on your hormones, the team at Renewed Vitality is breaking down what you need to know about these major body chemicals. Today, let’s take a look at testosterone!
What is Testosterone?
Testosterone is a sex hormone, meaning that its primary functions are related to the reproductive system. It’s largely known as the male sex hormone since it performs lots of very important functions in a man’s body, but just like estrogen, everybody has some level of testosterone in their body, regardless of sex or gender.
What Does Testosterone Do?
As a male sex hormone, testosterone is vital to a man’s sexual development and function. Testosterone levels in the body start to rise around puberty, and contribute to increasing height and muscle development, the development of the penis, testes, and prostate, and body hair growth.
In maturity, testosterone plays an important role in sperm production and libido. Aside from this, it also affects your blood health, signaling the body to make new red blood cells, and is important to the health of your bones and muscles. Testosterone levels can even affect your mood and how your body stores fat!
Where is Testosterone Made?
Testosterone, like the other sex hormones, is produced mainly in the “gonads,” or the primary reproductive gland of the body. For men, testosterone production takes place in the testes. For women, the ovaries make the levels of testosterone they need.
What Happens If You Have Low Testosterone?
Low testosterone is a common complaint among men in their later years. While the symptoms of falling testosterone levels as you age are difficult to deal with, they’re not uncommon or unnatural. Testosterone levels naturally start to drop off as you age, but especially low levels can lead to symptoms like decreased sex drive or erectile dysfunction, low energy, low mood, memory problems, weight gain, thinning hair, and thinner or weaker bones. These effects of low testosterone can happen in women with an imbalance in the hormone as well as men, although they are much more common in males. The condition is often abbreviated to “low T,” but you might also see it referred to as “male hypogonadism.”
What Happens If You Have High Testosterone?
Unhealthily high testosterone levels can lead to acne, weight gain, high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack or blood clots, low sperm count, and mood swings, among a number of other side effects. High testosterone in men is often seen as a result of steroid use, but it can also be a sign of tumors or genetic mutations.
In women, high testosterone levels can lead to increased hair growth, weight gain, reduced fertility, and other symptoms. It’s most commonly a sign of PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, a fairly common reproductive condition.
What to Do About Testosterone Imbalances?
If you suspect you may be suffering from an imbalance in your testosterone levels, HRT, or hormone replacement therapy, might be a good option for you! At Renewed Vitality, we offer highly advanced bioidentical hormone replacement therapy that can help you feel more like yourself again! Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
Menopause is one of the biggest physical changes that a woman will go through in her life. It’s a shift in everything you’ve gotten used to about your body over the last few decades, and it’s going to be a big adjustment to deal with! However, with menopause, you get to have the benefits of foresight. You know this change is coming, and that gives you the opportunity to work on preparing yourself so that it’s easier to deal with.
Preparing yourself ahead of time for menopause can have a good deal of positive impact on both your mental and physical health during the process. Here are some of the ways that you can do this!
Educate Yourself
When it comes to menopause and your hormonal health, knowledge is power, and learning what to expect ahead of time can make the process much easier to deal with. Most people know about how menopause deals with the stopping of your period and symptoms like hot flashes, but other signs, symptoms, and side effects are less-well discussed, like weight gain, vaginal dryness, hair loss, or urinary problems. Being aware of the possibilities of these symptoms can help you to be less scared and concerned if and when they show up, and you can prepare coping strategies to deal with them ahead of time.
Set Up Healthy Habits
Because menopause heavily affects your hormones and your hormones affect nearly everything in your body, heading into menopause can mean serious physical changes are at hand, not all of them good. Struggling with your weight, dealing with low bone density, and living in fear of cardiovascular problems are all things that can happen as you age and your period stops, but a healthy lifestyle that includes lots of nourishing foods and exercise and limits things like drinking and smoking can help to counteract these symptoms.
It’s never too early to start taking good care of your body, but it’s also never too late. Even if you feel like you have a while before menopause is upon you, or you feel like you missed the boat to prepare, try to work in some healthy habits anyway. They’ll pay dividends when you’re on the other side of this process!
Find a Doctor You Trust
Dealing with the symptoms of menopause is not something that you have to do without help. On top of having a good support system of friends and family around you, it’s important to have a strong and trusting relationship with a doctor that you can turn to for help when you need it.
If you don’t feel comfortable and confident with your doctor, that might be a sign that it’s time to look for a new one. When you find a doctor you like, discuss your concerns with them! Bring up symptoms you’re particularly worried about experiencing when menopause arrives and ask advice for coping. Your doctor may be able to help you alleviate unpleasant symptoms.
Develop Stress Coping Skills
Chronic stress is never good for your health, but particularly during and after menopause, it can be especially detrimental, with effects on your blood pressure and your heart health. While reducing the sources of stress in your life can be beneficial, sometimes your stressors are unavoidable. Building coping skills to help you deal with this stress can make a big difference in your health during menopause.
Consider HRT
Sometimes it’s possible to deal with the symptoms of menopause on your own, but if you’re finding yourself struggling, hormone replacement therapy might be helpful, relieving bothersome symptoms and helping you to feel comfortable and in control again. If you’re interested in learning more about hormone replacement therapy, make sure to contact us at Renewed Vitality.
When you start paying close attention to your hormones and looking for ways to keep your levels optimal, you’ll immediately start running across diet tips and recommendations. Your body is a complex system where every process affects others, and what you put into your body through your food intake has a major impact on your hormones. In the midst of the lists of hormone-balancing foods, you might start to see the words “whole food diet” get mentioned pretty frequently.
A whole food diet basically involves a person avoiding processed foods and eating things only in their most basic and natural form. Most whole food diets rely heavily on fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, and poultry and fish. When done properly, a whole food diet can have a lot of good effects on your body’s hormones, and it might be worth considering this lifestyle change if you’re looking for natural ways to balance your levels. Here’s how a whole food diet might help your hormone imbalance!
Encourages Protein Intake
One of the things that your body absolutely requires in order to maintain healthy hormone levels is enough protein, which is something that many Americans don’t get. Protein from your food provides your body with amino acids, vital building blocks that the human body needs but can’t make on its own. A whole food diet tends to be rich in protein because it encourages you to eat lean meats like chicken and fish, as well as high-protein legumes like lentils, beans, and chickpeas.
Includes Nutrient Dense Foods
Vitamins and minerals are also important things that you need to get in your diet in order for your hormone levels to be healthy, and a whole food diet, which is packed with fresh fruits, leafy greens, and non-starchy vegetables, is very high in these nutrients.
Promotes Healthy Weight
A healthy and sustainable weight plays a large part in how your body produces and uses hormones, especially hunger-related hormones like insulin and ghrelin. Your weight is far from the only factor playing into your hormone health, but it does have a large role. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a challenge for many people, but a whole food diet can be a step in the right direction.
It’s important to note that any diet can become unhealthy and unsustainable if taken too far, including this one. However, a whole food diet that promotes nutrient-dense foods and avoids processed foods with high sugars and fats is often a good baseline for people trying to keep their weight under control.
Helps Your Gut Health
Eating in a way that keeps your gut microbiome happy and healthy is something that’s being talked about more and more these days, and if you’re making meals with your gut health in mind, your hormone levels will be happier for it. A whole food diet can be extremely beneficial to the millions of good bacteria that live in your digestive tract. It provides them with the fiber they need to flourish, and keeps your hormone production in check by extension.
You should always consult your doctor before making any major changes to your diet and lifestyle. However, incorporating more whole foods into your regular meals can be great not only for your hormone health, but for your overall wellness! If you’re interested in learning more about ways to balance your hormones naturally, make sure to keep reading our blog here at Renewed Vitality.
There are dozens of different hormones in the human body. These so-called “chemical messengers” are responsible for triggering the various processes and rhythms throughout your body over the course of your life, from your circadian rhythm to your hunger levels to a woman’s menstrual cycle. These small little chemicals play a vital role in the way your body functions because of this!
Of the many different types of hormones, one of the most talked-about ones is estrogen. Most people know that it’s a hormone that has to do with the female reproductive system, but how much do you actually know about estrogen beyond that? At Renewed Vitality, we’re the hormone experts, and so we’re giving you a crash course in what you need to know about estrogen!
What is Estrogen?
Estrogen is one of the sex hormones, meaning it’s involved in your sexual and reproductive systems. It’s commonly thought of as a specifically female hormone, but that’s not entirely true! While women have estrogen in much higher levels in their bodies, men have it as well, and not having it can cause problems to their health. While it performs more functions in a woman’s body, estrogen can be found in the endocrine systems of all healthy humans.
What Does Estrogen Do?
Estrogen is a vital component in female sexual maturity. Levels of this hormone begin to rise as a young girl enters puberty, and it causes the changes associated with that point in development, such as breast growth and the start of the period.
In adult women, estrogen plays a major role in the menstrual cycle. Rising levels of the hormone stimulate the ovaries to produce the egg, and the uterus to thicken its lining. Estrogen also works to increase a woman’s chances of getting pregnant during the height of her fertile period. It thins out her cervical mucus to make it easier for sperm to enter her uterus, and it keeps the vaginal walls lubricated and elastic to facilitate sex.
Estrogen plays roles in other processes in the body as well, like inflammation, blood sugar cholesterol levels, collagen production, bone density, and mood.
Where is Estrogen Made?
The majority of the estrogen in a woman’s body at any time is produced by her ovaries. A small amount is made by other organs, like the liver or the adrenal glands, but mostly the ovaries serve this function. In men, the amount of estrogen they need is produced in the testes, the male equivalent of the ovaries.
What Happens if You Have Low Estrogen?
Low estrogen can have major effects on the entire body, not just on your reproductive system. However, not every person with low estrogen is undergoing something abnormal. Menopause is a natural process that every woman goes through, and during it, estrogen levels will drop significantly. This is associated with the common symptoms of menopause, like vaginal dryness, mood changes, fatigue, hot flashes, and breast tenderness. It’s also the reason many women suffer from brittle bones and bone density loss as they age– less estrogen means your bones get weaker. Menopause is not the only cause of low estrogen levels. They might also occur with fertility problems, nutritional deficiencies, or conditions like Turner syndrome.
What Happens if You Have High Estrogen?
High estrogen levels can be caused by anything from the medications you’re taking to conditions like fibroids, ovarian tumors, or PCOS. Its symptoms can include decreased sex drive, weight gain, worsening premenstrual symptoms, or irregular or missing periods.
What to Do About Estrogen Imbalances?
An imbalance in your estrogen levels can throw the functions of your entire body out of whack, making it a difficult and upsetting condition to deal with. Luckily, things aren’t completely out of your control! There are lots of treatments available to help you deal with estrogen imbalances, like the bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (HRT) available at Renewed Vitality! You can contact us today to learn more about how we can help you with your estrogen levels.
