Your body uses inflammation in beneficial ways to fight infections and heal from injuries.
But, like so many good things, inflammation has a dark side. It can do more harm than good if there’s too much of it, or when it sticks around for too long.
So what does inflammation have to do with hormones?
Your hormones do a lot of hard work within your body. It’s no exaggeration to say that these vital compounds are busy day in and day out ensuring the various systems within your body function properly.
That includes keeping inflammation under control.
Let’s take a look at how hormones like cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, insulin, thyroid, and testosterone can help your body to manage inflammation.
Cortisol
Cortisol is released as part of your body’s “fight or flight” response. When faced with a crisis (whether real or imagined), cortisol will work in the short term to limit inflammation. In other words, it prevents your immune system from over-reacting to stress experienced in the form of illness or injury.
However, this hormone can cut the opposite way when it comes to long term stress. When under chronic stress, the adrenal glands may release too much cortisol for too long.
The result can be cortisol resistance, where the immune system no longer responds to cortisol’s inflammation potentiation as it should. The result can be inflammation run amok.
Exercise, adequate rest, and meditation are just few of the many strategies that can be implemented to combat the effects of chronic stress.
Estrogen and Progesterone
Before menopause, estrogen and progesterone work in tandem to modulate immune system function and inflammatory responses within the female body.
Estrogen, in particular, has anti-inflammatory properties, and is therefore protective when it comes to heart, joint, and brain health. Meanwhile, progesterone has a calming effect on the immune system.
While men do produce some estrogen and progesterone, these amounts are a fraction of what is produced by pre-menopausal women. It has been theorized that this may be why pre-menopausal women are less likely than men and post-menopausal women to be impacted by inflammation-related conditions like cardiovascular disease.
Insulin
Insulin is responsible for moving glucose from your bloodstream into your cells, where it can be used for energy.
But when the body no longer responds to insulin as it should (a condition known as “insulin resistance”), glucose can accumulate in the bloodstream.
This excess glucose triggers inflammatory responses throughout the body, thereby increasing the risk for developing illnesses like diabetes and heart disease.
Natural strategies for avoiding insulin resistance include:
- Eating balanced meals with plenty of lean protein, fiber, and healthy fats
- Avoiding refined carbohydrates and processed foods
- Getting regular exercise
Thyroid
The thyroid gland is involved with regulating metabolism, a chemical reaction that impacts every system within the body…including the inflammatory response.
When thyroid hormone levels are low (a condition known as hypothyroidism), metabolism slows down and can cause the immune system to over-react. The inflammation that results can lead to joint pain, brain fog, and autoimmune conditions.
Testosterone
While women need substantially less testosterone than men for optimal health, this vital hormone provides similar benefits for both sexes in terms of libido, muscle mass, and more.
One of those many benefits is reduced inflammation.
What If a Healthy Lifestyle Isn’t Enough?
Exercise, a healthy diet, good sleep, and managing stress can go a long way toward promoting balanced hormones and healthy levels of inflammation while people are young.
However, a healthy lifestyle won’t be enough to keep hormones optimized once age-related hormone decline kicks in.
Women will stop producing progesterone during perimenopause, and they will stop producing estrogen once they reach menopause. Surgical menopause will halt production sooner.
Testosterone production in men declines gradually starting around the age for 30 (and sometimes earlier). For women, testosterone levels often diminish during perimenopause (and sometimes earlier).
Insulin resistance tends to increase as a consequence of age-related changes in body composition.
As people age, the thyroid gland often produces less of a thyroid hormone called “T4”. The body also becomes less efficient at breaking T4 down into T3 and T3 Free (with T3 Free being the most bioactive version of thyroid hormone).
And chronic stress can negatively impact cortisol production.
All of the above can put a person’s inflammatory response into overdrive.
Alternatively, when hormones are balanced, the immune system and the body’s inflammatory response are more likely to be in balance.
Renew Youth is the leader when it comes to physician-supervised hormone therapy and other solutions for protecting against chronic inflammation. To learn more, call us at 800-859-7511 or use our easy contact form to schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation.