This week, it’s time to get a little more specific with hormone health and discuss what could really be going on with your hormones and their relationship with each other.

Hormones essentially tell our cells what to do by sending chemical messages around the body. We have over 50 different hormones which flow around the body. All of these hormones work together and play a large role in how we feel on a daily basis; coordinating our mood, digestion and energy levels.

“Most of the functions our body performs will happen as a result of a hormone!”

Most of the functions our body performs will happen as a result of hormones! Because everything in the body is so closely connected when a client is experiencing a hormonal imbalance, the cause of this ranges from nutrients, gut health, adrenal function, mood, sleep and stress.

Let’s take a closer look...

1) Nutrients

We know nutrients are incredibly important, without them our body wouldn’t be able to function normally on a daily basis.

B-vitamins in particular, play a key role in supporting the detoxification process of the liver. One of the key functions of the liver is hormone detoxification. If we aren’t getting enough b-vitamins from our food, we might find it harder to detoxify any excess hormones. When we have excess hormones, this can make it difficult for our body to find normal hormonal balance.

“One of the key functions of the liver is hormone detoxification.”

Common signs of hormonal imbalance include weight that just won’t budge, tender breasts, headaches, fatigue and severe PMS.

2) Gut Health

Research is continuing to be published about the importance of gut health for our overall health and vitality. At the BePure Clinic, we’ve found that gut health also plays an important role in normal hormone balance. Let’s take a closer look at this;

Digestion: 
If digestion is compromised, it makes it difficult to get the necessary nutrients from your food. As we now know, nutrients are essential for creating and detoxifying hormones.

Unfriendly bacteria and yeasts:
Another thing that we see a lot of in the BePure Clinic is a pathogenic bacteria or yeast overgrowth in the gut. When we have a bacteria or yeast of the unfriendly kind, our immune system is constantly trying to deal with it. It can also overload the liver, making it harder for your liver to detoxify hormones.
“When we have a bacteria or yeast of the unfriendly kind, our immune system is constantly trying to deal with it”

Understand your gut and liver health:
With the BePure Gut and Liver Screening you can now scientifically screen for normal liver function and balanced gut health. These unfriendly bacteria and yeasts produce specific organic acids which can be measured in your urine, providing an indication of both your gut health and liver health.

3) Adrenal Function

The adrenal glands produce many hormones required for the everyday functioning of the body, such as DHEA, cortisol and cortisone. DHEA (among others) also happens to be an important precursor for our sex hormones, which means if there's too much cortisol due to stress, it's more difficult for your body to balance your hormones. Let’s take a look:

Cortisol:
Cortisol is our daytime hormone - it gets us out of bed in the morning! Having optimal levels of cortisol means we have a good amount of ‘stress’ each day. However, in the modern world prolonged stress has become increasingly common. When we experience stress, our body prioritises cortisol production over sex hormones, essentially prioritising survival over reproduction. This is known as the ‘flight or fight’ response.

Pregnenolone Steal:
In order to produce extra cortisol for survival mode, our body has to steal the hormone precursor which is supposed to be for our calming hormone progesterone. This means the body may find it more difficult to produce enough progesterone. Low progesterone levels can also mean that oestrogen levels could be high in relative terms, this also creates more work for your body to balance the hormones.

“When we experience stress, our body prioritises cortisol production over sex hormones, essentially prioritising survival over reproduction.”

Understand your adrenal function:
With our BePure Adrenal Function Test, we are able to directly test for adrenal function by looking at your daily cortisol pattern. This gold standard test takes four samples over a 24-hour period, mapping the relationship between these hormones to give an indication of normal adrenal function.

4) Mood, Sleep and Stress

Women have incredibly complex hormonal systems, compared to men, which is why mood, sleep and stress all play a role in your normal hormonal balance too. These three areas of our health are key to relaxation and restoration; they work together and support your normal hormonal balance.

Understand your mood, sleep and stress levels:
In the BePure Mood, Sleep and Oxidative Stress Test we look at levels of neurotransmitters associated with mood, our sleep time hormone melatonin and oxidative stress to look at where we can better support these key pillars of health.

Hormones and why they are so important:
Sex hormones play a large role in how we feel on a daily basis, both physically and emotionally, from our weight to our energy, mood and menstruation or menopause for women.

When our hormones are balanced, we feel great and have an abundance of energy to do the things we love.