Do you know anyone who might be in “the stock market phase”?
That’s what I call the time in a woman’s life when her hormone levels (mostly estrogen) are fluctuating wildly up and down, wreaking havoc on a life that used to be mostly under control. It’s usually in our 40’s to early 50’s.
Check this out:
Today I am sharing with you my little homemade drawing of what happens to us all – an overall decline in hormone levels as we get older. I’m only showing here what I call “The Big 4”: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA. Growth hormone and melatonin also decline over time.
For now, I just want to mention that when women going through this tell their doctors, they are often given “bandaids”:
- sleeping medications – because less progesterone can disrupt sleep
- anti-depressants – because less of any of these hormones can disrupt mood
- birth control pills – since the menstrual cycle can go haywire with all this hormone craziness
How many women do you know on any of these medicines?
Men go through this natural hormone level decline also, it’s just more gradual (see the testosterone curve in the graph). When a man may feel symptoms of crossing over into “low T” is very individual. Men are also given sleeping pills and anti-depressants when in fact low testosterone is to blame.
I don’t say to throw out all these meds. I do suggest checking for underlying hormone imbalances first.
It might be the quicker and more natural way to feel like yourself again.