Out of Adolescence Doesn't Mean Out of Options

By Jessica Wilhelm, CN, May 30, 2019

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Hormones are not just chemicals that spike during adolescence and then never have to be a concern again. They’re chemical messengers that control all of your body’s functions, desires, moods, emotions, and drives of hunger and reproduction.

The deal is that hormone imbalance can occur at anytime in life and, with aging, hormones become more difficult to maintain and balance.

Hormones are created and released from the endocrine system made up of the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals, pineal body, pancreas and the reproductive organs (ovaries and testes). Know what else the endocrine system manages? Stress. As a result of this connection between stress, the endocrine system, and hormone levels, the stresses of life can have a significant influence not only on stress hormones but also on the balance of sex hormones.

Stressing the Point

It is estimated that 75-90% of all doctor’s office visits in the US are for stress-related complaints. Different types of stressors, from emotional situations to food sensitivities can negatively impact the brain, gut, and hormones, leaving us wondering what happened to our youth and zest for life.

Over time, stress wears on the endocrine system and can deplete the body of important hormones, neurotransmitters, and nutrients—leaving lasting effects on your overall health and wellbeing. That’s why it’s important to take tests to get accurate imbalance results before starting any kind of personalized vitamin plan. Other ‘create your own vitamin pack’ companies really like to skip over this step.

Why So Many Adults Need a Brain Balance Supplement & Custom Vitamins

Within the endocrine system, the adrenal glands play a key role as our stress response organs. The adrenal glands are located on top of each kidney and are responsible for releasing hormones such as cortisol, DHEA, and sex hormones. These hormones are important for helping the body manage blood sugar, regulating blood pressure, responding to stressors, and metabolizing fat and protein. Our bodies are naturally inclined to have higher amounts of cortisol within 30 minutes of waking in the morning.

Cortisol levels should decrease at a steady rate throughout the day and reach the lowest levels late in the evening. The natural rhythm of cortisol becomes disrupted and fluctuates when we experience chronic stress. While an acute stressor results in a brief spike in cortisol, chronic stress can cause more consistent spikes in cortisol throughout the day. Consistent spikes in cortisol can contribute to mood issues, anxiety, headaches, feeling overwhelmed, irritability, muscle pain, low energy, and sleepless nights.

If the body cannot keep up with the demand for cortisol, it compensates by stealing DHEA to make cortisol, rather than completing our normal hormone pathways to also create estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, etc. These hormonal changes result in decreased libido, weight gain, fatigue, and low motivation.

Sex Hormones Drive Life

Irritability, brain fog, low motivation, depression, extreme emotions or mood swings, low libido… These are just some of the symptoms that you may experience when your sex hormone levels are low or out of balance. Is it only women approaching their 50s and 60s who experience hormone changes? Nope. Men have fluctuating hormone levels as well.

1. Testosterone

Sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen are important for more than just increasing libido. Testosterone is often thought of as a “men-only” hormone that helps to rev up the male libido. But testosterone is a complex sex hormone with many important roles in the human body for both men and women.

In men, testosterone is produced in the testicles and the adrenal glands. In women, testosterone is produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands. In women and men, testosterone has many functions including regulating sex drive, supporting bone mass, increasing lean muscle mass, supporting production of red blood cells, and encouraging overall sense of wellbeing. In men, testosterone also helps to increase sperm production.

Neuro multivitamins can help with symptoms of low testosterone, like:

Fatigue
Low motivation
Muscle weakness
Low sex drive
Bone loss
Thinning skin

2. Estrogen

Estrogen is the main female sex hormone while testosterone is the main male sex hormone. However, like testosterone, estrogen affects both men and women. In women, estrogen is responsible for female sexual characteristics, menstrual cycle regulation, and is a vital part of the reproductive system. In men, testosterone plays an important role in male sexual health and reaches its highest levels during teen years, but as testosterone levels decrease with age, estrogen levels gradually increase.

For both men and women, hormone imbalances make it easy to develop elevated estrogen. Xenoestrogens are found in plastics, pesticides, chemicals, and makeup, and can mimic estrogen in the body and contribute to excess estrogen levels. Incorporating cruciferous vegetables in the diet, maintaining healthy digestion, and supplementing with DIM (diindolylmethane) can help to support healthy estrogen levels.

Custom vitamins for men can help relieve symptoms of high estrogen, like:

Erectile dysfunction
Enlarged breasts or gynecomastia
Infertility
Emotional disturbances

Custom vitamins for women can help relieve symptoms of high estrogen, like:

Weight gain
Bloating
Fatigue
Low Sex Drive
Memory problems

3. Progesterone

Progesterone is often thought of as a female hormone because of its role during pregnancy. Progesterone helps to thicken the uterine lining in order to provide a supportive environment for a fertilized egg. During perimenopause and menopause, progesterone levels drop, which is why this hormone is often used to treat symptoms of menopause.

Men actually require optimal levels of progesterone to produce adequate testosterone. Males produce progesterone in the testes and adrenal glands. Also note: In traumatic brain injury (both acute and chronic) progesterone is now being recommended by cutting-edge neurosurgeons and neurologists. Progesterone has many functions in both men and women including helping to calm the brain, promoting neuroprotection, counteracting the effects of estrogen and helping to support mood.

Brain balance supplements for men can help with symptoms of low progesterone, like:

Low libido
Hair loss
Weight gain (especially around belly)
Fatigue
Depression
Gynecomastia (breast development in men)
Erectile dysfunction

Brain balance supplements for women can help with symptoms of low progesterone, like: :

Sleep problems
headaches or migraines
anxiety or depression
low libido
hot flashes
irregular menstrual cycle
weight gain
fibroids, endometriosis
thyroid dysfunction

What can contribute to hormonal imbalances, and will custom vitamins help?

Natural aging
Metabolic factors (unhealthy BMI, increased waist circumference)
Excessive alcohol intake
Smoking
Chronic diseases
Comorbidities (hypertension, metabolic syndrome)
Stress!!

Vitamins Delivered to Your Door for Hormonal Imbalance

Supporting a hormone imbalance depends on the individual and may vary by the individuals age, hormone levels, and root cause of the hormonal imbalance.

Exercise is an important lifestyle habit that helps to support hormone production. In some cases, you can support hormone health by correcting nutritional deficiencies and utilizing clinically researched herbs to support sexual health and energy.

Hormonal imbalances can also be treated by a qualified healthcare professional utilizing hormone replacement therapy (pellets, transdermal or injections). Your Wellnicity Clinicians can provide nutritional support utilizing diet, lifestyle, and nutritional supplements to support balance. Consider:

Testing your female hormones with Wellnicity’s My Female Hormone Health: Includes testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, DHEA, Cortisol x 4, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), Free T3 (fT3), Free T4 (fT4), and Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO)
Testing your male hormones with Wellnicity’s My Male Hormone Health :Includes testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, DHEA, Cortisol x 4, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), Free T3 (fT3), Free T4 (fT4), and Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO)
Speaking with your Wellnicity Clinicians regarding your diet, lifestyle, and/or nutritional supplements to support hormones

More about vitamins delivered to your door:

Wellnicity’s Clinical Team can help to customize a nutritional supplement pack/vitamin pack to support vitality and energy utilizing key nutrients to support reproductive health in both men and women.

Get started with us today.