As women, our ovaries are responsible for the primary production of our Estrogen, Progesterone and testosterone. Once we reach menopause however, our ovaries are no longer hormonally active, resulting in the dramatic drop of our sex hormones.
Our Adrenal glands, the little hormonally active tissue that sits on top of our kidneys like a little hat, DO have the capacity to produce SMALL amountsof these sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) as long as our adrenal glands aren’t too busy pumping out CORTISOL.
Cortisol is our body’s“low grade”stress hormone that is produced in order for us to combat day-to-day stress, shifting our metabolism, improving our alertness, supressing our immune system – but too much cortisol in our system can be a bad thing. When we are stressed or in high stress situations throughout the day, our body – being the clever functioning machine that it is, is going to prioritize making cortisol over your other sex hormones within the adrenal glands.
So, if we can support your adrenal glands, minimize your day to day stress, or at least figure out stress reducing techniques that work for you in your life, we can reduce your daily cortisol demands and allow your adrenal glands to have a chance to make small amounts of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone to lessen the dramatic drop of having plenty of hormones, to having no hormones that happens during menopause.
Hit me with your questions about adrenal health! I’d love to see you in my office so we can optimize your adrenal health and ease the menopause transition.
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