How you feel at menopause is about much more than oestrogen and progesterone.
All your hormones work together like an orchestra and when one is out of tune, there is a knock on effect on all the rest.
Here’s a quick overview:
1. Oestrogen, progesterone & testosterone [your sex hormones] control your repro-ductive cycle and sense of wellbeing. At menopause it’s natural for these to be low-er.
2. Cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline [your stress hormones] regulate your body’s response to stress. If cortisol is high all your other hormones will by knocked out of balance.
3. Insulin, leptin and grehlin [your energy-balance hormones] control your energy, hunger and blood-sugar balance. Insulin can increase/decrease your sex hormone levels and if too high will cause weight gain.
4. Serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine [your mood hormones or neurotransmitters] govern your focus, mood and daily wellbeing.
5. Thyroid hormones [T3, T4 & TSH] control your metabolic processes and are very sensitive to stress.
This complex interplay of hormones has a profound effect on your menopause.
With every emotional response you have, there’s a hormonal response inside you that’s mimicking it.
Learning how to work with this internal communication system can help you man-age everything from brain fog to stress to quality of sleep.
The objective is to support your body to produce a balance of hormones [not too many stress hormones and a good amount of ‘happy hormones’] with good nutrition and lifestyle practices.
Are you surprised by anything I’ve covered? I’d love to know!