Hormones. They can either make life good or a living hell, but the key is finding the balance. Inside of the endocrine sys­tem there are 50 dif­fer­ent hor­mones that secretes through­out the body, each being critical in preserving home­osta­sis. Many people suffer from hormonal imbalances and from there spawns a host of other issues into the body like Endometriosis, diabetes, PCOS, heavy bleeding, fatigue, dizziness and more. Although there are many hormones, here are the top five that play a vital role in your life:

1. Cor­ti­sol: pro­duced in your adren­al gland, Cortisol aids in reg­u­lating blood sug­ar, metab­o­lism, inflam­ma­tion and mem­o­ry for­ma­tion. It is com­mon­ly referred to as the ?‘stress hor­mone’ as it is being released dur­ing times of stress or cri­sis, resulting in tem­porar­i­ly shutting down the diges­tion and repro­duc­tion systems. When the adren­al gland is pro­duc­ing too much cor­ti­sol, symp­toms expe­ri­enced could be irreg­u­lar periods, high blood pres­sure, flushed face, low sex dri­ve, and an increase in thirst. When too lit­tle cor­ti­sol is produced, symp­toms could includ­e dizzi­ness and fatigue. Too much or too little cortisol secretion could result in mood swings, weak­ness of muscles, and/?or weight gain. 

2. Estro­gen: As we know, estrogen is the main sex hor­mone within women. When phys­i­cal changes of puber­ty begin, that is Estrogen secreting. It will also reg­u­lat­e your men­stru­al cycle, sup­port­ the body’s bones, heart and mood dur­ing the time of preg­nan­cy. Estrogen will help to reg­u­late cho­les­terol and bone health. When a woman’s estro­gen levels are too high, they may experience lumps in breasts, fatigue, depression, anxiety, low sex dri­ve and/?or weight gain. Low estro­gen typ­i­cal­ly results in menopause, which symptoms can include dry skin, mood swings, irreg­u­lar men­stru­al cycle, hot flash­es, and/?or low sex dri­ve.

3. Insulin: pro­duced by the pan­creas allowing the mus­cles, fat and liv­er to absorb glu­cose (blood sug­ar), Insulin also break­s down fat and pro­tein to reg­u­late the meta­bol­ic process. When the body secretes too much insulin, unusually low blood sug­ar lev­els (hypo­glycemia) may devel­op. Symp­toms of hypo­glycemia include heart pal­pi­ta­tions, anx­i­ety, the loss of facial col­or, dizzi­ness, hunger, sweat­ing and/?or tremors. If too little insulin is not being produced, it is can result in type 1 or type 2 dia­betes, leading to high blood sug­ar levels. Symp­toms may include dehy­dra­tion, dizzi­ness, exhaustion, constant uri­na­tion, hunger and/?or weight loss. 

4. Prog­es­terone: commonly thought to only be present in women, prog­es­terone is key in men­stru­a­tion and the sup­port­ of ear­ly stages of preg­nan­cy. High prog­es­terone secretion has symp­toms of anx­i­ety, bloat­ing, depres­sion, low sex dri­ve, and weight fluctuations. Women with low lev­els of prog­es­terone may expe­ri­ence abnor­mal uter­ine bleed­ing, irreg­u­lar men­stru­al cycle, numerous mis­car­riages, pain dur­ing preg­nan­cy, low sex dri­ve and/?or weight gain.

5. Testos­terone: the main sex hor­mone in men. Women also produced testos­terone in small­er amounts and will expe­ri­ence different effects than men. In women, testos­terone maintains bone health and repro­duc­tive tissue. In adults, when the testos­terone lev­els are high, it could increase infer­til­i­ty at a younger age. Signs of low testos­terone lev­els in women can include lethargy, mus­cle weak­ness, low sex dri­ve and/?or weight gain.

The balancing of hormones is extremely important, so if you are experiencing an imbalance talk to your doctor on ways to improve them to get to a healthier you.