Hormone imbalances can cause long-lasting implications
With how critical hormones are in allowing your body to carry out key functions and processes, any small imbalance in your hormone levels can throw your whole system out of whack. This is why hormone imbalances that happen naturally with age can cause so many negative symptoms, including sleep and stress disorders.
While anyone can suffer from excessive stress or a sleep disorder, hormone imbalances can cause new disorders and can even make preexisting conditions worse, so treating those imbalances with hormone therapy is important to your holistic health and wellness.
What is hormone replacement therapy?
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT, for short) is a treatment used most often in aging adults to replenish levels of sex hormones – estrogen in women and testosterone in men – and manage symptoms of aging.
As we age, hormone levels naturally decrease, and your body can’t keep up with producing the same level over time. The result is what women commonly know as menopause and men may recognize as common symptoms of aging.
While HRT does involve supplementing hormones like estrogen or testosterone in your body, it differs from steroid therapy, because we are simply optimizing your body’s chemistry by precisely raising your hormone levels to a naturally healthy state and are not inducing any unnatural results that often results in abuse or careless administration.
HRT is often recommended when individuals start seeing the symptoms of hormone imbalances – like hot flashes, mood swings, and irregular periods in women or low libido, loss of muscle mass, and hair thinning in men – and HRT can help manage those present symptoms while also bringing several other great benefits to your body and health.
Hormone replacement therapy and sleep
Sleep disorders are fairly common in the United States, and, according to the American Sleep Association, somewhere between 50 million and 70 million people have at least one.
While you may be familiar with sleep disorders, like insomnia or sleep apnea, you may not be aware that hormone imbalances can cause sleep disorders or make a preexisting disorder more severe. Insomnia is a common symptom of a hormone imbalance in both men and women, and inadequate levels of hormones can even cause sleep-disordered breathing.
Several studies have shown that HRT can have a positive impact on sleep both by reducing the effects of sleep disorders and managing other symptoms that may indirectly lead to poor sleep, like hot flashes or body pain.
Hormone replacement therapy and stress
Stress is a very common feeling in today’s world, and excessive stress is affecting more and more adults with each passing year. High levels of stress can cause a lot of issues in your body, including headaches, high blood pressure, upset stomach, and more.
What’s more, hormone imbalances – and the symptoms that accompany them – can increase stress levels in adults, which can be detrimental to your health if not treated properly.
HRT has been shown to decrease stress associated with symptoms of hormone imbalances and can also help to reduce hormonal anxiety. In other words, if your symptoms are managed, you may not worry about them as much, and you’ll be more focused on living a healthier life.
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Managing stress and getting proper sleep are crucial to living a long, healthy life, and hormone imbalances can cause significant stress and even several sleep disorders. But, with hormone replacement therapy, stress and sleep issues can be better managed, and your health can be back on track again.
If you’re struggling with stress or sleep issues and think hormones may be the culprit, get in touch with our 10X Health team to get a comprehensive blood test and identify solutions to help mitigate your symptoms.
