How
your hormones affect your mood.
Every woman
can tell you how her hormones have played havoc with her emotions at some point
in her life; some have to deal with this monthly. Yet few women know why your
hormones do what they do to you, and what you can do about it. Do not be a
victim of your hormones, by allowing them to dictate how you feel, when there are
many powerful ways you can support them and correct their function. The incidence
of depression in young women doubles compared to men of the same age because of
the onset of puberty. A study from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
at Duke University Medical Center, ruled teenage physical change out as being a
cause for depression. With physical change ruled out, we need to turn our
attention to the influence that hormones have on the psychological wellbeing of
young girls and women in general.
Dr
Colin La Grange
The
biggest challenge women have to face is that of your hormones constantly in
flux. This means that your estrogen can go from 100 to 2000pmol/l and back down
again in the course of one month. The challenge with constant, naturally
changing levels of anything in the body is keeping them within healthy
parameters, so they don't swing too high or low. All research surrounding the
effects of estrogen and progesterone on psychological wellbeing cites that the imbalance
in mood is associated with either an excessive or deficient level of these hormones.
It is also interesting to note how miniscule these blood levels actually are and
that when they fluctuate ever so slightly, they cause extremely profound effects.
Estrogen levels are measured in trillionths of a gram per liter in your
bloodstream. Due to the powerful way hormones affect multiple body sites it is
no wonder that estrogen and progesterone affect so many varying aspects of your
psychological wellbeing. Estrogen can affect everything from the ability to
concentrate, to becoming overly anxious, feeling depressed, have lapses in
memory and disturbed sleep cycles.
It is therefore
imperative that all women are extremely cautious when using anything that contains
hormones, without fully investigating the potential side-effects. It is easy
for pharmaceutical companies to dismiss many of the side-effects of
"hormone products" because they are so generalized. This is due to the
very broad effect hormones have on your body, as explained above. However, this
does not mean that it is not the hormones that are disrupting your psychological
wellbeing.
Every
woman should ideally supplement omega fatty acids, vitamins A, E and B, as well
as magnesium and zinc. Powerful herbs like vitex agnus castus and angelica
sinensis have become quite popular as hormone balancers but should also be taken
with caution and understanding, to insure they are indicated in your condition.
Foods high in saturated fats, glucose, alcohol and coffee all have a profound
ability to disturb healthy hormonal function. Because hormone balance is essential,
the most effective long-term therapies are gentle, physiologically supportive treatments,
not powerful hormone dictators. Regulation and balance is the forte of natural
therapies, especially when it comes to hormones. Leave the powerful drugs to
crisis management in short-term emergencies, and take charge of your health
through long-term healthy living and natural hormonal support.
DR COLIN
LA GRANGE is an expert in complementary medicine, specializing in hormonal
health. Visit www.drcolins.com, follow
www.facebook.com/fertiboost, or twitter http://twitter.com/#!/.fertiboost.
