Androgenix Blog

The human body is marvelously designed. It is a complex machine made up of trillions of small parts. In a healthy individual, each one of these parts functions in harmony. The functioning of the different parts of the human body has been compared to an orchestra. Each individual part is like an instrument that knows when to chime in and when to turn off. If the human body is compared to an orchestra, then the hormones would be compared to the conductor. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is a powerful tool that can help individuals whose hormones are not in balance to start living a healthier and happier life.

How Do Hormones Affect Your Body?

Your hormones are vital to your overall health and well-being. They are chemical messengers that work within your bloodstream or your organs to help them function the way that they should. Hormones work in a slow and deliberate way over time. They control a number of the most important processes of the body, including how you grow, your metabolism, your ability to reproduce, your mood, and your sexual function.

When a person’s hormones get out of whack, it can lead to them dealing with serious problems, such as unexplained weight loss or weight gain. Hormone fluctuations have been linked to the development of issues like diabetes and infertility. Many individuals who are battling with weak bones and other health issues can link the problem to issues with hormone production.

Hormone Production and Bone Health

Osteoporosis is a disease where an individual has porous bones. This is a progressive condition where the bones become structurally weak and eventually become more prone to breakage or fractures. People refer to osteoporosis as a silent disease because it happens without the sufferer realizing that it is going on.

Your bones are constantly breaking down. This is what they have been designed to do. Usually, your body is able to create a sufficient amount of new bone tissue to serve as a balance for the bone tissue that has been broken down and absorbed by the body. This is what is referred to as bone turnover.

When a person is young and their hormonal balance is healthy, the amount of bone that gets destroyed and the amount of bone that is created stays at a healthy balance. So bones can maintain their healthy size and thickness. In fact, as a person is growing through childhood and into early adulthood, they will notice an increase in the amount of bone material produced compared to what is broken down. This is going to reach its peak at around the age of 25.

As a person enters their midlife, their body starts to produce fewer hormones. At this point, the amount of bone material that is produced can be less than what is formed. The result is that bone mass slowly starts to decline.

This becomes an even bigger issue for women when they hit their late 40s or 50s when menopause occurs. During this stage of life, the body’s hormone production drastically decreases. So the loss of bone speeds up. Older men, especially older men who are experiencing issues with hormone production, also notice a significant increase in their bone loss as they get older. This imbalance can reach a tipping point where the amount of bone that is being broken down is drastically higher than what is being created. Osteoporosis ensues, and bone fractures occur.

Some individuals who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or who show signs of hormonal decreases that could lead to osteoporosis may benefit from bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. It could lead to improved bone health, which may lead to an improved quality of life.

How Hormones Affect the Heart

The heart is at the center of who we are. When your heart stops functioning properly, your entire health suffers. The endocrine system creates hormones that influence just about every aspect of your cardiovascular system. This includes the way that your heart functions, the way that your body produces blood, and the way that your blood vessels carry blood.

The irony is that, on the one hand, there are some hormones that do a great job maintaining cardiovascular function. But, on the other hand, there are certain hormones that when present in high quantities can lead to cardiovascular disease. Some hormones can lead to an increase of blood pressure and other conditions that may increase the chances of a person having heart disease and stroke. Heart health largely depends on having the proper balance of hormones.

This point is especially important for women who are reaching their late 40s. Many may have already considered some form of hormone replacement that would likely include estrogen. Estrogen has been shown to affect every tissue in the body, including the heart and blood vessels. For example, research has clearly shown that estrogen is a hormone that will increase HDL cholesterol. This is the healthy type of cholesterol that everyone needs.

Hormones and Men’s Health

Hormones play a crucial role in the way that men develop physically and sexually. In men, the testes produce testosterone. This is the hormone that allows men to produce muscle mass, to have a sex drive, and to produce sperm.

Some men battle with low testosterone production. They may benefit from bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. When administered under the supervision of qualified medical professionals, this can be a safe treatment to help men who have a consistently and abnormally low testosterone production. It is important to differentiate between simply having low testosterone production and abnormally low. Most men will experience a natural reduction in testosterone production as they get older. This is just a natural part of the aging process. Since the hormone reduction is not abnormal, most men are able to continue to live a healthy and happy life. They are able to maintain a certain measure of strength, health, and sexual drive even as they get older.

However, men who have abnormally low testosterone production tend to experience symptoms that are outside of the realm of normal for men their age. The problem is that many men who have low testosterone levels are experiencing abnormal symptoms, but they mistakenly believe that the symptoms are just part of the normal aging process. They are dealing with low libido, low energy, excessive weight gain, fatigue, brittle bones, etc. It is not until they visit a medical professional and have an examination done that they realize that the symptoms that they consider a normal part of the aging process are actually abnormal and can be treated with the right type of hormone therapy.

Most men should experience a natural decrease of about one percent of testosterone production each year. However, overall testosterone production should not become depleted even when a man reaches an advanced age. There are a number of conditions, including disorders that affect the pituitary gland, the testicles, or the brain, that might make the reduction in hormone production more apparent.

Men do not have the same level of hormone production throughout the day. Most men experience a higher level of hormone production in the morning and the lowest level of hormone production at night. There are certain circumstances like excessive exercise, severe illness, particular medications, and poor nutrition that may cause a man to have temporarily low hormone levels. However, once the condition has passed or once the medication has been eliminated, hormone levels will usually go back to their healthy range.

It should be noted that testosterone therapy is only approved by the FDA to help men who are dealing with abnormally low hormone levels. This treatment should not be used as a way to enhance physical appearance, improve athletic prowess, or improve a person’s strength.

Hormones and Your Ability to Sleep

Hormones affect how you sleep as well. As humans, we have our circadian rhythm. This is a 24-hour internal clock that dictates to your body how it should function throughout the day. It impacts things like your metabolism, when your body wants to be awake as opposed to when it wants to be asleep, cognition, and other issues.

In your hypothalamus, your body keeps track of time by relying on things such as light and darkness and your physical activity. A major part of this is the signals that are sent to the hypothalamus by hormones that cycle throughout the day.

Keeping your circadian rhythm healthy is a must if you want to maintain overall good health. If your sleeping patterns are off, you can increase your risk of developing many diseases. Similarly, not getting quality sleep will affect you physically and emotionally.

Not getting a sufficient amount of sleep can lead to impaired learning, impaired memory, increased irritability, and increased fatigue. It also negatively impacts your immune function. The impact can be so devastating that you become more susceptible to serious diseases.

In an ironic turn of events, hormonal imbalances can make it difficult for you to sleep, which puts more stress on your hormones, especially the ones that control your nervous system. This minimizes your body’s ability to regulate its stress hormones, leading to high blood pressure.

Not getting enough sleep can increase the chances of you developing type II diabetes. Not getting enough sleep can also lead to depression, anxiety, heart disease, and a reduction in life expectancy. Clearly, using bioidentical hormone treatment to address hormonal abnormalities is important for anyone wanting to stay healthy.

Your Hormones and Stress

Excessive levels of stress can harm your hormonal systems. Over time, you can have serious health problems related to these hormonal fluctuations. You could have problems with your digestive system, your immune system, your nervous system, and your cardiovascular system. This underscores the importance of keeping stress under control and being aware of the signs of stress.

Learn More During a Consultation

Your hormones clearly play a vital role in your overall health and well-being. Age, injury, stress, and sickness can lead to major hormonal fluctuations that can have an impact on your daily life. The good news is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is available right here at Androgenix in North Palm Beach. During a consultation, you can get all the facts about this treatment, including how long it takes to work. Contact us today to book an appointment and learn more!