The Importance of Adrenal Glands and Sex Hormones
Adrenal glands affect how the body responds to stress, help control blood sugar, promote healthy gastrointestinal and cardiovascular function, and more. These glands secrete hormones in addition to cortisol including DHEA, aldosterone, and adrenaline, among others. DHEA and cortisol are natural anti-inflammatories and support a healthy immune system.
Sex hormones are produced by the adrenal glands and gonads, and play a key role in reproduction and sexual development. While you may think sex hormones are only related to women and men in a sexual sense, these hormones are also responsible for general overall health and well-being. These hormones are involved in not only puberty, sexual desire, and reproduction but how the body responds to inflammation, distribution of body fat, and bone/muscle growth regulation.
In women, sex hormone levels fluctuate depending on several factors including stress, menstruation, menopause, environment, age, pregnancy, medications, etc. Imbalances can affect fertility and result in health issues including bone or hair loss.
The primary sex hormone in men is testosterone which regulates the production of red blood cells, fertility, muscle mass, sperm production, and sexual desire. Women also have testosterone which contributes to sexual desire and bone/muscle strength, but too much of this sex hormone can cause infertility and male pattern baldness in women.
What happens when the adrenal glands and sex hormones aren’t functioning properly?
When your adrenal system is out of whack, you feel out of whack. Problem is, Western medicine doesn’t have a really good way to asses the nuances of these hormones unless the imbalance is big. Therefore, you find yourself leaving your doctors office not feeling well with an “everything looks normal.” If you are experiencing symptoms such as:
- Sleep problems
- Thyroid dysfunction
- Blood pressure problems
- Lowered immune system
- Blood sugar problems
- Increase in abdominal fat
- Brain fog
- Fatigue, particularly during the morning and mid-afternoon
- Inflammation
- Slow wound healing
- Cravings for salt or salty foods
- Dizziness
- Dry skin
- Low libido
- Poor muscle tone
- Poor circulation
- Anxiety
- Depression
Then checking your adrenal function is crucial, as many of these symptoms don’t improve without focused lifestyle, nutrition, and nutrient changes.
What happens with the sex hormones become out of balance?
As we stated, both men and women can experience hormone imbalances. The sex hormones also rely on the adrenal glands to be functioning optimally, so testing them together is ideal.
If you feel
- PMS modd changes
- Fluid retention
- Cramping and back pain
- Heavy, light or irregular periods
- Breast tenderness
- Breast lumps and cysts
- Weight gain
- Migraines and headaches
Then it’s clear that your hormones are begging or some attention.
It\’s easy to see why testing adrenals and hormones is essential not only to sexual health, but general health as well.
What is the DUTCH Test?
If you haven\’t heard of the Dutch Test, it\’s said to be the most comprehensive assessment of adrenal and sex hormones available today. The Dutch (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones) Test is an efficient, effective way to test adrenals and sex hormones, preferred by many functional medicine practitioners and patients over saliva, serum, or 24-hour urine testing, as the dried urine method represents a clearer picture of hormonal functioning throughout the day. This is because the DUTCH test measures hormones AND hormone metabolites. It is the most cutting-edge way to truly see what’s going on when it comes to your hormones as it measures the production and breakdown of your hormones. This allows us, your healthy care practitioner, a better overall picture of hormone production. It takes away the guessing and allows us to offer a very targeted approach to your healing.