Changes to your hormone levels may cause low mood, mood swings, and even depression. Estrogen has an impact on your brain's chemicals, such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Other hormones can also affect the way we feel, so it's worth investigating your hormone levels if you are feeling low.
Mood swings are another effect of low estrogen. You may feel sad, anxious, or frustrated. Shifting hormone levels and night sweats may disrupt your sleep. This can cause fatigue, which may make mood swings worse.
A blood test is one of the most common ways to test hormone levels. This test can detect testosterone, estrogen, cortisol, and thyroid levels.
Sometimes, excess fat around the belly is due to hormones. Hormones help regulate many bodily functions, including metabolism, stress, hunger, and sex drive. If a person has a deficiency in certain hormones, it may result in weight gain around the abdomen, which is known as a hormonal belly.
There are many potential causes of hormonal imbalance, including pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), thyroid disorders or being under or overweight.
The five most important hormonal imbalances are diabetes, hypo- and hyperthyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, polycystic ovary syndrome, and hypogonadism.
Common symptoms can include weight changes, skin and hair changes, constipation, diarrhea and menstrual abnormalities. Thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH) and the thyroid hormones (T3/T4) are tests we draw often, and honestly it's usually normal. However, this is always important to rule in or out.
How long does it take to balance hormones? As you can imagine, this varies. However, research shows that by taking a holistic, well-rounded approach, you can balance your hormones in less than four months. In fact, you can significantly reduce the amount of chemicals and pesticides in your body in one week.
Processed foods such as cookies, bread, and other packed foods are high on preservatives, sodium, and sugar. This dangerous combination increases inflammation and stresses the adrenal glands, putting you at risk of weight gain and severe hormonal imbalance.
Eating a healthy diet rich in complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and whole grains, exercising regularly, and managing stress levels are essential for reducing hormonal belly fat.
Even if you're thin, you can still have too much visceral fat. How much you have is partly about your genes, and partly about your lifestyle, especially how active you are. Visceral fat likes inactivity.
The primary hormone related to anxiety is cortisol. You might have heard people mention cortisol before, referring to it as the “stress” hormone. This is because cortisol levels are elevated during prolonged periods of stress.
Some of the most common symptoms of hormone imbalances include unexplained weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, and changes in hair, skin, and nails. Root causes of hormonal imbalances include compromised gut health, elevated inflammation, and high stress levels.
Sometimes the testosterone levels change and rise or fall out of their normal level. When that happens, it can change your moods and make you feel like you're not yourself. It can cloud your mind and make it difficult to focus. If you have estrogen or progesterone imbalances, you can have difficult remembering things.
The only way to confirm a hormone imbalance is to test your hormone levels. Both blood tests and saliva tests are proven techniques in assessing a hormone imbalance. i-screen uses blood tests to accurately determine sex hormone and thyroid hormone levels, but prefers saliva testing to assess cortisol levels.
Usually testing of all hormones is done in the luteal phase, day 19, 20 or 21. That is the right time to test estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. The other timed test is an FSH (follicle stimulating hormone).