Common Problems of Imbalanced Hormones
When no other cause of your symptoms or ailments can be determined, it can be your hormones at work. Depending upon the hormone or hormones involved, you can experience anything from sleep problems to chronic acne to anxiety. Many people are surprised to discover that their symptoms are the result of their hormones. Hormone imbalances can affect both men and women.
Sleep Problems
Progesterone and estrogen levels can both play a role in your sleep, and they react in different ways. If you have trouble falling asleep or do not feel rested after sleeping, your progesterone might be lower than it should be. It can sometimes make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. If your estrogen levels are low, you may experience hot flashes or night sweats that can make sleep much more difficult. Estrogen levels being too high may cause hot flashes in some people as well. These two hormones often work in conjunction to regulate a lot of the body's functions.
Anxiety
Very sudden hormone changes can cause you to experience increased anxiety and sometimes even depression and mood swings. Your hormones, especially estrogen, play a role in the release of some chemicals in your brain - dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and much more. Some other hormones also travel along the same pathways and can affect your mood and emotions if their levels are either too high or too low.
Weight Loss Issues
A decrease in estrogen levels can cause an increase in appetite in some people. Along with eating more because of this hormone imbalance, it also makes it more difficult to lose any weight you have gained. Digestion and the storage of fats are regulated by hormones.
Acne
It is normal to experience acne breakouts during adolescence, and many women often continue to break out during or before menstruation. Unexplained breakouts, as well as persistent acne, can be from a hormonal imbalance. Adult acne is usually the result of higher than normal androgen levels. Androgen can make your oil glands over-produce your body's natural oils, and this can clog your pores. It can also affect the skin around your hair follicles, which may also clog your pores.
Bloating
Bloating can be mild to severe and sometimes cause a great deal of discomfort. Women often experience some bloating with menstruation. Just like acne, this is because of the hormone fluctuations associated with their cycle. Bloating at other times with no other known cause can also be the result of fluctuating hormone levels. As mentioned with appetite and weight loss issues, progesterone and estrogen play roles in things like fluid retention and digestion, which can lead to bloating.
Low Libido
Testosterone is the hormone that regulates your sex drive, commonly referred to as your libido. Lower testosterone can cause a lower sex drive, while higher testosterone levels result in an increased desire for sex. This is true for both men and women, although testosterone is often thought of as only a male hormone. In actuality, this hormone is present in everyone, but in different levels for men and women.
Hot Flashes
Hot flashes at night can impact your sleep, but they may also occur during the day, and they can vary from being manageable to a major issue that interferes with your life. The hormone changes that occur with menopause often cause hot flashes. Hot flashes are one of the most common symptoms associated with this major bodily change. Hot flashes can occur at other points in a person's life as well and are the result of abnormal hormone imbalances. For some people, they are caused by low estrogen, and for others, they are due to high estrogen and very low progesterone.
Dr. Donna Sergi is a leading Chiropractor in Brooklyn who uses Nutrition Response Testing to help people maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle with diet modification and whole food supplements. Learn more by visiting her website at www.healthieruny.com.
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