Women's Hormone Health

Hormones In Brief

Most people know that the sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, play important roles in human reproduction. What you may not know is that they also help regulate many other functions in the body, from sleep patterns, to your moods and memory, bone growth, muscle strength, and much more. To understand the many negative effects of an unbalanced hormone ratio –the most common of which is the condition of estrogen dominance -- where there is too much estrogen relative to progesterone – it is important to first review the actions of these hormones inside the female body. Their actions are complex, and you should know the basics, especially the functions of estrogen and progesterone.

Estrogen (actually a group of related hormones that includes estrone, estradiol, and estriol) is needed to:

• develop female sex organs and secondary sex characteristics such as breasts and pubic hair,
  
• maintain the menstrual cycle,
  
• support the growth and function of the uterus, specifically by creating the blood-rich lining of the uterus to prepare it for pregnancy, and
  
• stimulate cell growth.

Estrogen dominance begins in the mid-30s.
Everyone has a genetically pre-determined hormonal balance. For the typical teen starting menstruation, the balance of hormones produced in the body is a healthy ratio of estrogen to progesterone. This balance begins to shift after about age 30, with production of both hormones declining. Progesterone is the first hormone to drop. In fact, progesterone declines 120 times more rapidly than estrogen in the absence of ovulation.

As progesterone levels drop, estrogen, the hormone that promotes cell growth or proliferation, begins to dominate. A contributing factor is xenoestrogens found in our modern world in certain pesticides, petrochemicals, herbicides, plastics, fuels, car exhausts and drugs as well as phthalates, or plastic-softening chemicals, that enter the body and add to the estrogen load. Lifestyle choices are also at fault: the wrong foods, too little exercise, too little sleep and too much stress can increase and accelerate estrogen load and dominance.

Estrogen dominance is a serious health concern.
Symptoms may include:

• fatigue
  
• depression
  
• low libido
  
• mood swings
  
• hot flashes
  
• night sweats
  
• headaches/migraines
  
• tender/fibrocystic breasts
  
• weight gain
  
• insomnia
  
• bone loss
  
• irregular bleeding
  
• bloating

Disease risks, as mentioned above, include:

• breast, uterine and ovarian cancers
  
• heart disease
  
• blood clots and strokes
  
• osteoporosis
  
• hypothyroidism
  
• Alzheimer’s disease

Estrogen Dominance = Progesterone Deficiency

Progesterone is the sister hormone to estrogen, working in tandem with it to regulate and protect the health of the reproductive system throughout our fertile years. Like its teammate, progesterone is primarily made in the ovaries, but unlike estrogen, it can only be produced at ovulation. (The ruptured follicle that releases an egg upon ovulation pumps out progesterone for the rest of the cycle.)  Apart from governing the second half of the menstrual cycle, maintaining a possible pregnancy, protecting breast, brain and bone health, and a myriad of other vital functions, progesterone’s most important role in the body is to balance estrogen.