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HormonesBalanced hormones are essential for good health, yet most of us know little about them. We don't talk about them, don't ask our doctors about them and certainly don't realize how easy it is to set imbalance in motion.
Basic hormonal overviews follow -- there's crossover, so read both the male and female sections. For the males among us Here are the generic guidelines for maintaining hormonal balance, per Don Bouldry of the Iron Online forum: The most important issues are estrogen control and bodyfat. The easiest way to effectively increase testosterone is to reduce estrogen. The most effective way to do this is maintain a low level of bodyfat. There are a lot of tweaks to be employed but here are the most basic of the basics. Adopt a testosterone-enhancing diet. Most of this is a no-brainer around here. Eat a balanced diet rich in vegetables and an adequate supply of both protein and healthy fats. Go heavy on things like green, leafy and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, swiss chard, brussels sprouts and cabbage. These vegetables contain phytochemicals, which are essential for healthy hormone production and estrogen metabolism. Limit excessive carbohydrate intake, especially of simple sugars and starches (breads, cereals, pasta and potatoes). High carbohydrate intake can create a rapid rise in blood sugar, creating excess levels of insulin and cortisol—two hormones that work against testosterone and diminish its production. The other edge of the sword is low carbohydrate intake. At any rate, limit carbohydrate consumption to 30-40% of calories. Make sure you eat enough protein and fat. It’s not commonly known that testosterone, and all other male hormones, are actually made from cholesterol. When fats become deficient in the diet, testosterone levels decline. This doesn’t mean we should go hog wild on fats. There are good fats and there are bad fats. Fats to be avoided include the trans-fats such as those found in margarine and other processed foods. The essential fats such as those found in cold-water fish, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and flaxseed, however, are a dietary necessity and should be eaten on a regular, daily basis. These fats are essential for normal testosterone production. When dietary fats are deficient, testosterone production is inhibited. Flaxseed is especially good for many reasons. Besides the abundance of omega 3 EFA, it contains lignans, a phytoestrogen. No need to be afraid of phytoestrogens as they mimic estriol, the healthy estrogen and displaces the more dangerous estrogens from the receptors for metabolization. We don't want estradiol (estrone) to collect in the prostate (breast tissue in women) because it tends to never go away and causes abnormal growth. Eat one to two hard boiled eggs daily. Not only are small amounts of dietary cholesterol important for the formation of testosterone, eggs provide essential fatty acids necessary for optimal hormonal regulation. Eat many smaller (instead of few larger) well-balanced meals each day. Smaller, more frequent meals will help maintain steady blood sugars and eliminate unnecessary stress hormone release. Don’t wait until you are hungry to eat. Daily physical activity is a must. Train harder for shorter periods of time. Both the lack of physical activity and excessive physical activity (overtraining) will result in decreased levels of testosterone. High levels of testosterone are needed to ensure muscle growth and repair. Exercise affects testosterone directly by stimulating the pituitary gland and the testes and it probably also raises levels by slowing down the normal breakdown of testosterone. The duration, intensity and frequency of exercise will determine the circulating levels of testosterone. Testosterone levels increase most with short intense bursts of activity. They decrease with prolonged endurance activities such as long-distance running, swimming or cycling. During endurance training, testosterone is needed to maintain muscle but frequent extended training doesn’t allow for repair and recovery of testosterone and tissue damage occurs. Studies show that exercise will elevate testosterone for about 45 minutes but after an hour, the effects become negative and levels begin to rapidly fall. Once they’re down, recovery may take as long as six days. Effects are cumulative. To maximize your testosterone response to exercise and to avoid over-training, strength train no more than forty-five minutes per session. Do it 3-4 times a week. Avoid aerobic exercise (other than a brief warm up) during strength training sessions. If you feel like you want to exercise or train more, split sessions are recommended. Bodyfat reduction can be enhanced if intelligent use of cv training is employed. Use periodization of your workouts. To ensure adequate nutrients for the body to produce testosterone and its more potent cousin, dihydrotestosterone, supplement your diet daily with the following vitamins, mineral and nutrients. Vitamin A: 25,000 IU Lose body fat and increase lean muscle mass. Fat cells, especially in the abdominal region, produce aromatase enzyme, which converts testosterone into estrogen. Reduce alcohol intake. Excessive drinking can increase estrogen levels therefore inhibiting your body’s ability to produce testosterone. Reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption to enable your liver to better remove excess estrogens. Eliminate all medications that are unnecessary for immediate health. Many commonly prescribed drugs affect liver function and testosterone conversion. They include NSAI Ds (like ibuprofen), acetaminophen, aspirin, the "statin" class of cholesterol lowering drugs, some heart and blood pressure medications, and some anti-depressants. Try to get eight hours of sleep nightly. Don’t underestimate the power of sleep. Nothing can take the place of adequate rest. If you are sleep deprived, your testosterone will suffer. Get at least one hour of exposure to sunlight daily, especially during winter. Testosterone raises and falls with the seasons and sunlight is essential for the natural yearly rhythm in the body. Sunlight is necessary for optimum brain function and, as a result, for maximum testosterone production. Increase your stress resistance. There is a strong relationship between mental outlook and physical well-being and it is largely controlled by hormones. While muscular stress is very beneficial to testosterone, the wrong kind can be devastating. Emotional stress is a frequent cause of decreased testosterone levels. Chronic stress not only interferes with testosterone function, muscle building and strength, it causes premature aging and contributes to the onset of cardiovascular disease. Set goals and determine your priorities. Create and follow a step-by-step plan to achieve them. Focus on what’s really important and don’t let the small stuff get in the way. Finally, have lots of good sex. With the exception of proper weight training, this is most effective method of increasing testosterone production. For the females among us Hormones begin dropping by around age 35, about 15 years before the average menopause, so it's really something for us all to be aware of. Things to look for include unusual moodiness, more difficult menstrual cycles, memory loss, depression, low sex drive, difficulty sleeping, weight gain (or failure of proven weight loss programs), low energy, anxiety, migraines... the list goes on, too. It's tough stuff. Most GYN docs don't test for hormones at such young ages. You'll have to ask for hormone testing -- insist, maybe, depending on the doc, in which case it's time to search out a new doctor, and as long as you're doing that you may as well find a local hormone specialist rather than the OB doc you're probably seeing out of habit. At any rate, a hormone panel is the place to start because it may spell out the answers and eliminate some of the trial and error that makes up hormone balancing. Not that you won't have your share of that, though. Hormones work together in the body, and bumping one up effects another. Bodyfat effects hormones, as does exercise and stress. That's good, because the healthier you get the more stable your hormones, but it still takes a lot of tweaking to get things right. Worse yet, our natural hormone levels continue changing throughout our lives, so what's fixed this year won't necessarily stay fixed. Offsetting that, once you've been through the process, you'll have a good idea what's going on and can tweak as you go along. Remember, this is as individual as it gets; what works for you won't work for your sister or your mother without personalized adjustments. For that reason, if you decide to optimize your hormones, test one hormone at a time and leave all others stable. This takes a couple of months per trial, and that may include increasing or decreasing that hormone for another couple of months, so seriously, just balancing estrogen could take six months to a year, before you start on progesterone, for instance. That's one reason for getting the blood panel done first so you start with the hormone that's the most out of balance. Another way to get started is to determine the biggest physical complaint and start with the hormone most likely to address it. A woman who had a healthy sex drive and finds it gone should go directly to testosterone first (a whole 'nother bucket of worms, mentioning testosterone to women, who have mostly been brought up to think of it as the bad side of macho). On the other hand, increasing depression for no apparent reason is an indicator of low estrogen and often a low dose of estrogen will bump a woman right back to normal, while at the same time offering other benefits. Now, all this is assuming the rest of your life is in order. If your marriage is falling apart, your kids are in trouble, your job's on the line and there's never enough money in the bank, forget about hormones and address the life problems first, because no amount of hormone intake will fix what ails you. Unless, of course, your life problems are a direct result of your increasing moodiness and nobody can get along with you, in which case a dose of estrogen will fix you up by tomorrow. Naturally there's much controversy over hormone replacement. One that's sure to come up is the study that was discontinued a couple of years ago, however there were particular elements to that study that should be mentioned: The hormones used were synthetic ingredients made from mare's urine. If the tests were done using natural hormones, most researchers believe the outcome would have been different. The lesson to that story is to make sure the doc prescribes natural hormones. A brief overview to get us started: Estrogen: Depression, moodiness, memory loss, low energy, migraines, PMS, sleep problems, poor sex drive, vaginal dryness, skin tone, premature aging Progesterone: Anxiety, migraines, PMS, osteoporosis, sleep problems Pregnenolone: PMS, memory loss, depression, low energy Testosterone: Poor sex drive, lack of muscle or difficulty gaining muscle, osteoporosis, excess weight, skin tone, premature aging DHEA: Depression, memory loss, low energy, excess weight, poor sex drive, premature aging, lack of muscle or difficulty gaining muscle Thyroid: Lack of energy, PMS, premature aging, fuzzy thinking, excess weight Melatonin: Sleep problems, memory loss, osteoporosis, premature aging HGH (Human Growth hormone): Lack of muscle or difficulty gaining muscle, anxiety, low energy, excess weight, osteoporosis, memory loss, sleep problems, depression, skin tone, premature aging You can begin your discovery with these comprehensive reports from Life Extension: In 2002 a major women's hormone replacement study was halted and hundreds of thousands of women went off their estrogen prescriptions. At the time, a few of us said the study itself was flawed. Here's the latest thinking on the study, which fits our scenario. You'll find a simple to understand, yet complete description of how estrogen is produced and used in the female body here. And if you scroll to the bottom of that page, you'll find further discussions including hormone replacement therapy, breast cancer, and HRT risks. Additionally, look around a bit to discover discussions of thyroid, testosterone in women, the difference between transdermal patches and pill forms of HRT and much more. Last edited by laree. Contributors: Laree and laree |