Endocrine System Health.
What is the Endocrine System?
The Endocrine system is similar to our nervous system but rather that nerves and neurotransmitters for communication it uses chemical messengers – Hormones!
Yes! We’ve all heard of those!
Hormones tell our organs, glands and tissues how to function. Examples of the functions controlled are:
- Growth and development
- Reproduction and sexual function
- Metabolism (think menopause)
- Appetite
- Sleep and Waking cycle
- Body temperature
- Heart rate
- Blood pressure
Through every stage of our life, you can see how if our hormones are even slightly out of balance it can affect our overall health.
Balancing our hormones is the key to reaching our health goals.
Hormones produced by the Endocrine System include:
- Adrenaline
- Cortisol
- Estrogen
- Insulin
- Luteinizing hormone
- Melatonin
- Progesterone
- Testosterone
- Thyroid hormones
What interferes with our Hormone Balance?
- Stress
- Lack of quality sleep
- Crash diets
- Overeating
- Environmental factors
What are the symptoms of an unbalanced Endocrine System?
- Weight gain OR Unexplained weight loss
- Fatigue
- Increased sensitivity to hot OR cold
- Constipation OR more frequent bowel movements
- Increased OR decreased heart rate
Common Endocrine disorders are:
- Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
- Graves Disease
- Cushing’s Syndrome
- Addison disease
- Osteoporosis
- Diabetes
I have given you a lot of lists here! If you are worried about any of these, make an appointment to see your GP. Generally a simple blood test can shed light on your situation.
About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid, Hyperthyroidism, and while the weight loss was lovely, the other symptoms were not. I took medication to get this under control as it was dangerously out of balance and now I control it with a healthy lifestyle – most of the time – unfortunately I do swing between Hyper and Hypo (underactive) spending more time than I would like in the latter haha!! But that’s my fault!! Now I am heading towards the menopause and battling the spread, life is a rollercoaster! 🙂
Next Week
Next week I am going to share some ways we can balance our hormones naturally. This is not in place of medicine but to hopefully show how we can heal ourselves while being monitored if necessary and remove the need for medication or at least significantly reduce it.
I believe looking after our health is like investing in an ISA or Pension, we don’t see the benefits now but we will reap them in the future when we are free of dis-ease and full of energy.
I look forward to sharing more next week.
If you would like to chat with me about your unique menopause transition, book a Wild Well-Being call and come away inspired and motivated to begin your journey to optimal health.