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While some hormones levels like estrogen and progesterone change monthly, significant changes can result in many changes throughout your body. Here is a brief introduction to hormonal imbalances and how they can impact you.
Symptoms:
While there are many symptoms that can be indicative of hormonal imbalance, some of the main ones include fatigue, decreased sex drive, and weight gain. Irregular periods, skin problems, and hair loss can also signify hormonal imbalance as a result of menstruation for women. For men, symptoms include erectile dysfunction, loss of muscle mass, and less body hair as well.
Causes:
Certain medications or pills like birth control can result in hormonal imbalance, while genetics can make you more prone to developing PCOS, endometriosis, or other menstrual conditions. Tumors, stress, diabetes, and thyroid imbalances can also imbalance certain hormones such as cortisol and insulin that have far-reaching effects across the body. For women, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and perimenopause are all times of great hormonal change as estrogen levels increase significantly during pregnancy, return to normal levels after breastfeeding, and decline during menopause.
Treatment:
If you think you might be suffering from hormonal imbalance, consult your physician about taking a blood test or even ordering an at-home hormone test kit to understand which hormones are higher or lower than normal. Hormone therapy is often recommended for individuals who have highly imbalanced levels of a particular hormone. In order to naturally prevent or reduce the impact of hormonal imbalance, focus on maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and reducing stress.
Let us know how you manage hormonal imbalance in the comments!
Information credit: @Healthline
Hormone University was created as an educational platform with the mission to improve hormone health through accessible knowledge and to advocate for social impact in our communities.
You’re not alone.
80% of the adult female population has experienced hormonal imbalance at one point in their life that affected not only their physical health but also their mental health. Coping with pain, infertility, anxiety, depression, body image issues, and, on top of this, judgment is the heavy load most of these women have to bear each day and an important problem we need to tackle as a society.
