What Are Hormones?

When was the last time you had a deep, restful sleep, and upon waking, you bounded out of bed with childlike energy, ready to face the day? When you look in the mirror, do you feel beautiful and happy to be you? Too many of us, even as early as our 30s and 40s feel exhausted, and depressed, and are gaining weight even though we seem to be eating less and exercising more. It’s not you, it’s your hormones!

What Are Hormones, Exactly?

Hormones are chemical messengers produced by glands in your endocrine system. Gland health is a key factor in how youthful and energetic we feel. These glands, like the thyroid, adrenals, and ovaries, secrete hormones into the bloodstream, which travel to cells and organs, delivering essential messages. These messages influence almost everything—your energy, mood, metabolism, sleep, and even skin radiance. Hormones are not just independent agents; they work in synergy. If one hormone is out of balance, it disrupts others. It's a delicate system.

Each Hormone Has Its Own Job

Hormones regulate heartbeat, breathing, and how your body responds to stress. They build bones, maintain muscle tone, and protect joints. They influence your menstrual cycle, manage sex drive, and support emotional and cognitive health. Hormones even determine how food gets converted into energy! If all our hormones were suddenly removed, we would die within minutes—that’s how crucial they are to our survival.

How Does Hormone Balance Work?

We have trillions of cells in our bodies, and they all bathe in hormones every second of the day. The levels of these hormones fluctuate depending on what you eat, your stress levels, your age, your environment, and more. For women, especially those in their late 30s and beyond, this becomes even more critical during peri-menopause when hormones like estrogen and progesterone begin to fluctuate. These fluctuations can lead to a cascade of symptoms: weight gain, sleep disturbances, mood swings, and changes in skin elasticity.

During this time, it’s not just your reproductive hormones at play. For example, the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls your body’s stress response, plays a massive role. Chronic stress elevates cortisol, your primary stress hormone, which can destroy your hormonal balance. This is why many women during perimenopause experience increased belly fat, anxiety, and disrupted sleep – it’s all connected to how the HPA axis regulates stress hormones like cortisol.

There are several other key hormonal axes that regulate different physiological processes in the body, each involving complex interactions between the brain, glands, and target organs. Here are the main hormonal axes:

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis – Governs the stress response, regulating cortisol and other stress hormones, as described above.

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) Axis – Controls reproductive hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Thyroid (HPT) Axis – Regulates metabolism, energy, and thyroid hormones.

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Growth Hormone (HPGH) Axis – Manages growth hormone release, influencing growth and metabolism.

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Prolactin (HPP) Axis – Controls prolactin levels, essential for lactation and reproductive health.

Each of these axes plays a crucial role in maintaining hormonal balance throughout the body.

Why Hormone Balance is the Key to Health

When our hormones are balanced, we feel fabulous. We wake up energized, maintain a healthy weight, have glowing skin, and experience mental clarity. But when they’re out of balance, it reduces our quality of life. Some common causes of hormone imbalance include stress, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, ageing, environmental toxins, and even genetics.

Declining hormones accelerate the ageing process, affecting everything from skin health to metabolism. Many women start to feel the effects as early as their mid-30s. Symptoms like insomnia, weight gain, hair loss, low energy, and even brain fog are often tied to hormone imbalances, yet these symptoms are frequently overlooked as part of 'just getting older.' But it doesn’t have to be that way.

The Holistic Approach to Hormone Balance

Luckily, there is hope. Hormones respond incredibly well to holistic, mind-body approaches. By improving nutrition, managing stress, optimizing sleep, and using tools like mindfulness and movement, we can support our hormones naturally. For instance, consuming more omega-3 fatty acids, managing blood sugar levels, and reducing exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in personal care products can make a big difference in how balanced your hormones are.

Sometimes we don’t know which hormones are out of balance; we just know that we don’t feel our best. However, understanding how our hormones work and taking a proactive approach can help us achieve a state of balance. When our hormones are in balance, life feels better, skin glows, and energy soars.