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How Healthy Estrogen Levels Enhance Well-Being
Estrogen is a sex hormone most often associated with reproductive health. But estrogen does more than control your menstrual cycle.
At MS Family Medicine Health Care PC in Rosedale and Garden City, New York, our medical director Michele Reed, DO, FAAFP, and her team specialize in wellness and preventive care. Hormones like estrogen are important chemical messengers that keep your body running efficiently.
In this month’s blog, we want to talk about estrogen, its many functions, and how maintaining healthy levels enhances your well-being.
Estrogen 101
Hormones are tiny chemical messengers that direct your body’s functions. They control hunger, digestion, stress, and sexual health.
Estrogen is a female sex hormone. Both sexes make estrogen, but females produce more of the hormone since it plays a significant role in female sexual health and function.
Estrogen levels increase during puberty and decrease before and during menopause. Changes in estrogen levels affect female fertility.
Functions of estrogen
One of the primary functions of estrogen is controlling your menstrual cycle. During your cycle, estrogen levels increase as your body prepares for pregnancy, creating the endometrial lining of your uterus. When you don’t get pregnant, estrogen levels decline and your body sheds the lining through your period.
Estrogen is also responsible for the development of sexual characteristics like pubic hair and breasts. Males who produce more estrogen may develop gynecomastia, enlarged breast tissue.
The female sex hormone also has nonreproductive functions in your body. It helps regulate cholesterol and blood sugar, supports bone health, and helps make collagen — a structural protein that keeps your skin strong and resilient.
Additionally, estrogen supports circulation, protects your brain, and helps with memory and fine motor skills.
When estrogen levels decline
Estrogen production starts to decline during perimenopause, a transitional time before menopause. During this time, estrogen levels fluctuate, affecting your menstrual cycle, skin health, and mood.
At some point, your ovaries stop producing estrogen and you no longer menstruate. You reach menopause when you go one full year without your period.
Without estrogen, you may experience vaginal dryness, night sweats, and hot flashes.
Restoring estrogen balance
Changes in estrogen production are a normal part of the aging process. However, estrogen loss affects how you think, feel, and behave.
People with low estrogen levels that cause life-altering symptoms may benefit from hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT provides hormones your body needs, restoring balance, relieving symptoms, and enhancing well-being.
Estrogen therapy may also protect bone health, reducing your risk of osteoporosis, a serious bone disease that makes your bones brittle and weak.
Healthy estrogen levels keep your body in working order, enhancing your well-being. You don’t have to suffer through the symptoms brought on by the “change of life.” Our primary care specialists can help you feel like your usual self with the right plan.
Book an appointment online or over the phone today to schedule a consultation with our experienced, patient-focused, and compassionate team.
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