25 Jul How Sex Hormones Impact Your Health
When you think sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) and how hormones impact your health, I bet you think mostly reproductive benefits. They do play a HUGE role in this area of health! But, there are so much more these hormones do! When a woman hits menopause, they start to realize that these lower hormone levels do more than just make babies. So let’s get into the deets and get you excited about how your hormones impact your health.
How Estrogen Impacts Health
Let’s start with how estrogen impacts reproduction. When estrogen gets high enough in the first phase of your cycle, that stimulates ovulation. So, you can’t have ovulation with low estrogen levels. While estrogen is high and being a rockstar in the first phase, it’s starting to build out your uterine lining and influences vaginal lubrication! When girls hit puberty, estrogen is also the reason for breast development. Ah, good ol’ puberty.
Outside of reproduction, estrogen influences bone health. It activates osteoblasts, which are cells that make new bone! That’s why when women are going through menopause, osteoporosis becomes a higher risk factor due to the lower estrogen levels. Estrogen also plays a role in cholesterol levels and can influence blood sugar and cognitive function.
So, all the way from uterus to brain to blood sugar to bones, estrogen is the officially one of the coolest hormones. If this doesn’t tell you why we have to view health in a holistic way, I don’t know what will!
How Progesterone Impacts Health
Alright, so after estrogen comes progesterone! Progesterone is the phase two rockstar that continues the uterine lining preparation for potential baby! Whoo hoo! Not only does it impact fertility, it also helps regulate mood and promotes your calm nature. That’s why it’s known as the anti-anxiety hormone. Nature’s ultimate chill pill.
It can help with sleep. It helps with bone health just like estrogen. It interestingly promotes myelin sheath repair, which surrounds your nerves and protects it. You’ll hear this breaking down in diseases like multiple sclerosis. And if you’re trying to get your beauty on, progesterone contributes to the amount of skin oil production and overall skin health.
The question is glowin’ for a baby or glowin’ because your skin is on point?!
How Testosterone Impacts Health
Moving on to the next sex hormone, we know testosterone as the “male hormone”. Women have it too and it impacts us just as much! It regulates libido – so if you’re feeling lazy in the sheets, you may want to check testosterone levels. If you’re feeling lazy in general, testosterone increases energy. It’s a big player in helping you get those muscle gains – yesssss. You definitely want to get the most out of your workout. In addition to muscle, it can influence fat distribution.
Like estrogen and progesterone, testosterone influences bone mineral density and can better your mood. See, testosterone isn’t just for the sheets.
How To Test For Hormone Health
Our favorite way you ask….DUTCH testing! Blood testing is good too, but doesn’t get as much information and you HAVE to know what part of your cycle you are taking it. I don’t understand why patients take blood panels and they have no idea where they are at in their cycle – this is important to know since the sex hormones are on a rollercoaster ride all month! We want to understand liver metabolism and adrenals when we’re assessing sex hormones, which is why the DUTCH does have our heart.
Hormones Impact Your Health – What’s Next?
If you’re ready to take your hormones to the next level, schedule a call with our team. We’d love to learn about you specifically and where to start. Because sex hormones are FOLLOWERS, not leaders. They are following the lead of other areas in the body. Think of being in fight or flight. When you’re really stressed out, your ovulation may be delayed because your body doesn’t feel it’s safe. So, sometimes the answer is not to deep dive into estrogen and progesterone – it’s to get your body back into a parasympathetic state (or whatever else is going on in the body) and the sex hormones will follow into bliss!
Don’t worry, we simplify all of this for you, so it doesn’t feel insanely overwhelming because we get it. It’s a lot to take in! Schedule your intro call here + we look forward to chatting with you about moving toward your health goals holistically!
