What 20-something Women Should Know About Their Hormones

Hormones change with aging. The sooner a woman can learn about her hormones, the better prepared she can be as her body develops through the years.

Because hormones contribute to physical and mental health, it’s important young women know how to keep their hormones regulated as much as possible. This allows your body to function in harmony, allowing you to feel healthy and happy.

Knowledge is power. The more educated a young woman, the more invested she will be in taking care of her health. If you don’t know much about your hormones, you may be likely to ignore dangerous symptoms. You may even try to self-treat your symptoms, causing greater hormonal problems.

Some women do not know the exact hormones that can cause hormonal imbalances. A good first step in your learning process, is to get to know the hormones.

WHAT YOUNG WOMEN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THEIR HORMONES

Estrogen is like the boss of female hormones. It is the primary hormone produced by the ovaries. Without enough estrogen, you may experience changes in mood, energy, periods, and even bone density.

Progesterone is connected to pregnancy. Testosterone helps you build muscle and burn fat. It also helps with your sex drive. Cortisol is the stress hormone and too much of this can cause weight changes, anxiety and depression.

The thyroid hormone helps keep your body regulated when it comes to the basics of breathing, heart rate and other vital signs.

Finally, DHEA is extremely important and shows up during puberty for most. It is the hormone that allows all the other hormones to appear later. It is like a signal telling the other hormones it is okay to do their job. It is also one of the first hormones to help protect your immune system.

Hormones are connected to weight gain, weight loss, sex, pregnancy, mental health, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, periods, menopause, and much more. Learning how they are connected can help you figure out what to do to maintain positive health in each area.

Below are additional reasons young women should learn more about their hormones.

AVOID MISDIAGNOSES

There are hormonal symptoms that can mimic disorders doctors may not consider to be related to hormones. For instance, if you suffer from headaches or migraines, your doctor may tell you to take medicine that can make the headaches stop. He or she may only diagnose your headaches as being a result of tension or stress.

They have not gotten to the source of your headaches, however, and it could be due to hormone levels in your system. Too much or too little of a hormone can cause headaches. Addressing the source, or hormone levels, could prevent headaches and you would no longer need to take medication for headaches.

Anxiety, depression, weight gain and fatigue could be related to your thyroid hormones, not chemical imbalances. Bipolar disorder has been mistaken for hormonal imbalances. Inability to concentrate and focus may be a hormonal imbalance, not attention deficit disorder.

Even birth control pills can create hormonal imbalances in young women. Therefore, it is so important for you to be able to recognize imbalances in your hormones.

RECOGNIZE HORMONAL IMBALANCES

In young women, hormonal imbalances can appear in many different forms. When a girl has tender breasts, it is often associated with her menstrual cycle. But there are other times when tender breasts could be a system of a greater hormonal imbalance.

Hot flashes mostly happen during menopause, in women who are older. But if there are times when a young woman has hot flashes, receiving medical attention may be necessary. Other symptoms of an imbalance can be extreme fatigue, mood changes, clouded thinking, irregular periods, and excessive sweating.

Bloating, digestive issues, sleep disturbances, acne, brain fog, low sex drive, changes in breasts, and unhealthy skin could also be contributed to hormonal imbalances.

GET THE RIGHT HELP

Acne, for example, often appears during teenage or young adult years. It is typically diagnosed as being a hormone related problem. But most doctors do not prescribe hormone related treatments to fix the acne. Instead, they prescribe chemical medicines to treat the symptoms.

If your doctor is simply treating the symptoms of a hormone imbalance, it’s time to seek help from a hormone specialist. Choose a doctor who focuses who take a varied approach based on your individual needs, including testing your hormones first.

Natural doctors may use detox diets, stress management, and sleep hygiene to help balance your hormones. They can test your hormones to see which are lacking. And then they can offer replacement hormone therapies.

CONSIDER NATURAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY

Natural hormone replacement therapy is a treatment in which doctors treat patients whose bodies are not producing enough of a hormone. And because of this, patients are experiencing negative side effects.

In a simple procedure, doctors can create as many identical hormones as you need to help you achieve rebalance. The hormones are created in a lab, often derived from natural sources.

The process is quick and very effective. It involves a simple injection. You can receive a treatment on your lunch break and return to work afterward. Replacement therapy doesn’t stop after the injection. Maintaining hormone health is part of the program.

MAINTAIN OPTIMAL HORMONE HEALTH

Working with a natural doctor, you can develop a long-term plan to keep your hormones balanced. This plan can focus on diet and nutrition, because what you eat and drink, can affect your hormonal balance.

Because stress can wreak havoc on your hormones, stress management techniques, including yoga and meditation, are important tools to use. Your doctor may also want to establish an exercise plan and therapies to replace vitamins and nutrients.

In conclusion, the more you know about your health, especially your hormonal health, the easier it will be to restore hormone levels. If you have been struggling with physical or mental symptoms that are unexplained, or don’t seem to improve no matter what you try, seek help from a professional hormone specialist.