I'm Sensing There's Chemistry Here

Okay. I say hormones. You say: ________________

What's the first thing that comes to mind? I'm curious. Comment below, please.

In the meantime, I'll tell you what I thought. I thought I was pretty smart in rattling off a list that included estrogen, testosterone, insulin, adrenalin, and wait what else... oh yeah, I'm a migraine girl, so I know about serotonin. And there's the happy chocolate hormone, dopamine! Ooh, and the one that makes you go to sleep. The Thanksgiving turkey stimulates it. Whatsitsname.

Well, well. Turns out what's really brilliant about me is not my knowledge of hormones, but the fact that I have so many that go about their business with hardly a flutter to gain my attention unless something is amiss on the inside. And the business of hormones is complex and beautiful.

I have a whole new respect for endocrinologists, now that I've counted the list of over 50 different hormones in our bodies. Look at this chart for cryin' out loud: Human Hormones

It's a challenge to Pick One in this instance. So many functions, so many connections, all the signals and gate keeping involved...hormones are hard! I've decided to go with my first response, which I bet will be the first response of many, because of this little gem's notorious nature.

Pick One Thing: Your Hormones, starting with Estrogen

Men. Don't leave the room. This matters to you. And if you leave the room I might cry.

Estrogen, or as the biology site I'm using for reference says, estrogenS, presents a topic that matters to both genders. Mostly because everyone has a mother, and/or possibly likes female breasts and pubic hair. (several men deciding to stay just a little longer)

Anyway, it's interesting that estrogen is really a plural. There's a cocktail of all sorts of female ingredients related to estrogen, including sexy stuff like the aforementioned breast and pubic hair development, along with the beloved increasing of adipose (fatty) tissue also known as the "I used to have a better body" syndrome of middle age. To a certain degree, you can go ahead and blame the estrogen, ladies.

The roommate of the estrogens is progesterone. A bunch of regulating and timing functions going along with fertility, pregnancy and birth, that's what you get with that one.

You can read all about this stuff, here: Check out the difference between Female and Male!

Indeed, the human species turns out to be utterly dependant on estrogen and its good friend progesterone. Seems people just can't get themselves conceived and born without some.

Bone density--estrogen. Blood clotting--estrogen.

And on and on. It's no wonder that medical science has been somewhat confused by what to do about estrogen. And we all tend to get confused by all the bad things that tend to happen as estrogen decreases, sometimes cruelly and not at all rapidly, in women between the ages of 40 and 52. Oh, and don't forget the part when it's all coming together in that magical brew known as puberty, followed by further adjustments to the recipe in adolescence and then every 28 days or so thereafter...and after giving birth and what about going off the pill, and remember, there are hormones in some of the meat and dairy products you eat now, too, so.....

So. Let's get to picking this one thing to care for. Poor estrogen gets such a bad rap.

1. Accept it. It's part of life, LITERALLY, and the whole world has to put up with estrogen. S.

2. Eat a healthy balanced diet with a bit of extra protein, calcium, whole grains, plenty of fruits and veggies, and get those good omega 3 fatty acids in there. All of these things keep the whole chemical set in better balance and harmony. Estrogen likes balance and harmony.

3. Exercise. When you do, other hormones get to jump in and calm the darn estrogens down.

This is the same (good) ole' advice over and over. But it comes to the rescue again, as best it can. No matter what, it does seem like female hormones get the best of everyone sometimes.

Side Note: Did you know MEN have estrogen receptors? hmmmm, that means they need estrogen. I'll look into that further for the next installment of Hormones. Because it's going to take another time or two of picking this One Thing to do it justice.

Teaser: Next time we'll get to the feel good drugs, like oxytocin. Really nice stuff.

But before we do get there, I'll be taking a short hiatus from the Project. A couple of weeks, probably. I've got some stress hormones that tell me they need my attention at this time. As soon as I'm back in the blogsaddle, I'll be bringing you Hormones, Part II--Focus on Your Feelings.

(okay, so there go the rest of the men. ;-) ...I tease the men, really.)