Understanding your body can help you live a healthy and more productive lifestyle. One essential element is your hormones. When there’s an imbalance of hormones in your body, too many or too little in your bloodstream, many negative impacts can happen. Read more to learn the importance of having balanced hormones and signs to look if you think yours are out of whack!
What are hormones??
Hormones are your body’s messenger. They are chemicals produced by your glands that travel throughout your bloodstream to the tissues and organs, delivering important messages that tell your organs to do different functions. An easier way to understand this is to think about baking a cake — if you use too little or too much of an ingredient it can ruin the final result. Just like hormones! If one is just a little too high it can throw your body’s functions out of control.
Hormones help regulate your:
- Heart Rate
- Metabolism / Appetite
- Sleep Cycles
- Reproductive Cycles / Sexual Functions
- Growth and Development
- Mood and Stress Levels
- Body Temperature
Overall, your hormones do…A LOT! Both men and women can be affected when there is an imbalance. Here is a list of different hormones that you might be familiar with, but may not really know their importance:
- Insulin
- Steroids
- Growth Hormones
- Adrenaline
- Estrogen [Mostly affects women]
- Progesterone [Mostly affects women]
- Testosterone [Mostly affects men]
Symptoms of Hormone Imbalance
The symptoms of hormone imbalance range depending on which glands aren’t releasing hormones correctly and what organs are never receiving their signals. Here are some very common signs that both men and women may experience:
- Weight gain
- Hump of fat between your shoulders
- Unexplained weight loss
- Fatigue
- Muscle weakness
- Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness
- Joint pain
- Increased or decreased heart rate
- Excessive sweating
- Constipation or more frequent bowel movements
- Frequent urination
- Increased thirst
- Increased hunger
- Decreased sex drive
- Depression
- Nervousness, anxiety or irritability
- Blurred vision
- Infertility
- Thinning hair
- Dry skin
- Puffy face
- Rounded face
- Purple or pink stretch marks
There are certain signs that only women will experience. As women age, different hormonal cycles naturally change during these stages: puberty, pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause. But it’s still important to look for these symptoms:
- Heavy or irregular periods
- Excessive hair on your face, chin or other parts of the body
- Acne on your face, chest or upper back
- Hair loss
- Darkening of the skin — along neck creases, groin and underneath your boobs
- Skin tags
- Vaginal dryness
- Vaginal atrophy
- Pain during sex
- Night sweats
- Intense headaches
For men, testosterone plays a very important role in hormonal development. If not enough testosterone is being produced a variety of issues may present themselves:
- Development of breast tissue
- Breast tenderness
- ED
- Decrease in beard growth / body hair
- Loss of muscle mass
- Loss of bone mass
- Difficulty concentrating
- Hot flashes
Hormones are a vital part of your health. If they are off balance, they can sometimes cause mental health issues, hindering your way of life, which is why getting bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is encouraged, especially for people who have declining hormones. If you ever have any questions about your hormones and would like to get your levels checked, do not hesitate to give us a call or schedule a consultation online.
