“I think my hormones are out of balance.”
-Once we hit and move past our mid-thirties it feels like energy isn’t as long lasting as it used to be.
-Mental fogginess happens more than we would like.
-Mood shifts may feel like it’s summer carnival season and we are riding a roller coaster some days.
-Our motivation and competitive edge are now slow rolling and soft.
-And what used to work before is no longer working when it comes to getting our body’s back in shape.
-Hormones are such an important part to our overall health and vitality.
Not to mention, hormones are messengers. They communicate a message to our cells to perform certain tasks. Yet, when there is a breach in communication or the message is unclear – tasks are not performed and we may be feeling the effects of it.
I want to clear the air when it comes to hormone health and what it means to have balanced hormones.
Apart from our hormones behaving like messengers in the system, we must acknowledge that the communication between each hormone must be coordinated and harmonious. Just like the beautiful harmony of an orchestra. The orchestra has all different musical instruments, with layering of sounds, and different musical activities going on all at once, yet all are appreciated.
This is what our hormones ought to be doing. Each hormone is like a musical instrument in the orchestra, and they must be playing in tune with each other.
Furthermore, just as an orchestra has a hierarchy of players as well as a conductor so, too, do your hormones.
Hormone Balance
When we discuss hormone balance, for many people the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone may come to mind.
However, there are many other hormones that are a part of this symphony. Moreover, there are hormones that take precedence over your estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
They take precedence because there is a hierarchy of hormones. Think of a pyramid. If you do not have a stable foundational base of the pyramid, then the stability of the middle and top of the pyramid will not be able to occur.
The foundational hormones in your hierarchy pyramid are insulin, cortisol, and melatonin. These hormones are critical and your other hormones depend on these to be present and in balance.
It is important to note that you cannot adequately balance your estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone without addressing the three foundational hormones, first.
Interferences to Hormone Balance
Next, we have to recognize there can be interferences to the melody of the orchestra just as there can be hormonal interferences we need to address and remove.
Subsequently, one must take a functional endocrinology perspective and address the upstream variables that can affect hormone production, utilization, and metabolism.
It is one thing to have hormones in your system. It is another if you can even use the hormones and then properly and safely metabolize them.
So, whether you are seeking better hormone production and balance or you are seeking hormone replacement – there are critical points that must be addressed first.
Balancing Your Hormones
Now, let’s provide practical guidance and understanding to balance your hormones.
Hormone balance and control is based upon:
- Optimal insulin levels which are influenced by your blood sugar balance and meal timing.
- Balanced and regulated cortisol curve which is influenced by your stress levels, inflammation, and natural outdoor sunlight exposure
- Circadian rhythm of specific timing of light and dark cycles which regulate melatonin production and release.
- Mitochondria health
- Fatty acid and inflammatory status.
- Efficiency of your liver detox pathways to biotransform and clear hormones out of the system as well as process endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Gut health particularly your microbiome.
- Nutrient status
Hormone Truths
-Your habits and your lifestyle affect your hormone balance.
-Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy can be very therapeutically beneficial and supportive in reducing common chronic disease as well as providing quality of life – as long as physiological doses are given, routes of administration like topical vs oral are respected in their differences and metabolization of hormones are addressed.
-Your hormones are a part of the larger interconnected system and solely focusing on hormones without addressing, evaluating and optimizing nutrient status, inflammatory status, methylation, gut microbiome, liver biotransformation, and toxin load is myopic.
-Hormone health is metabolic health. Optimize your metabolic health first.
-Hormone problems can be related to your ability to produce the hormone, your ability to process the hormone, and the ability of the hormone to dock to receptor sites.
Supporting your hormones starts with:
- Optimizing your nutrition and meal timing
- Evaluating and optimizing vitamin and mineral status
- Reinstilling a circadian rhythm lifestyle
- Supporting detox pathways and removing known hormone disrupting chemicals.
- Balancing gut microbiome
- Engaging in parasympathetic behaviors throughout the day
- Enhancing your redox potential
If that feels like a lot, I know. I will walk you through your hormone reset.
