You’ve got hot flashes, night chills, and you’re never “in the mood.” Sounds a lot like menopause—but wait—you’re only 30! While aging certainly affects our sex hormones, something more serious, and treatable, may be lowering your levels.

Signs Your Sex Hormones Are Low

When you’re not busy standing in front of a fan, wrapping yourself in a blanket, or giving intimacy the cold shoulder, you may find yourself experiencing the following symptoms if your sex hormones are low

• Loss of ability to lose weight
• Loss of ability to gain muscle mass
• Menstrual cycle abnormalities
• Decrease in vigor or energy
• Loss of sexual function

So, you’re overweight, under stimulated, and completely exhausted. It’s no wonder all you want to do is sleep in your bedroom. But what’s causing the decline? It could be any number of the following.

Metabolic Adaptation

When sex hormone output is low and you’re under 40, metabolic adaptation is usually in full swing. Just ask our friendly baboons from a few blog posts back. Researchers found that their hormones, like humans’, are brilliantly adapted to turn off everything that’s not essential to surviving when under stress. If you’re suffering from metabolic adaptation or damage, your adrenal glands get pushed to their limit (known as adrenal gland suppression), creating a stress response that shuts down the production of estrogen and testosterone.

Synthetic chemicals affect hormone production (Photo by Ethan Hoover via Unsplash)

Synthetic Chemical Exposure

As mentioned in our last blog post, plastics, resins, and pesticide interfere with hormonal processes. The intense chemical stress placed on the body causes the adrenals to fail, which trickles down to the sex hormones, often decreasing their production. Add to this any increased inflammation caused by biochemical issues like food allergies and yeast overgrowth, and your adrenals don’t stand a chance.

Missing Precursors

Just like prerequisites in school, if you’re missing “precursors,” your hormones aren’t going to function very well. Take DHEA, for instance. Your body uses this precursor hormone to make estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—so without it, you’re operating at a loss. Other precursors like vitamins, minerals, and nutrients are also needed for the body to make sex hormones. If you have nutritional deficiencies, you simply may not have the raw material needed to make them

Age-Related Decline

Hormone levels naturally decline as we age (Photo: Matthias Zomer via Pexels)

We’d all love to find that elusive fountain of youth, but until we do, aging is inevitable. Everyone has a natural slowdown of hormone production as get older—especially women entering menopause. For men, testosterone peaks at about age 18 and falls from there, until it appears to plateau for good around age 40. So, yes, age does affect hormone levels, but should you put too much stock in that? No. Far too many people abandon their health too soon with the justification that, “I’m getting older…there’s nothing I can do.” But there are plenty of people who are incredibly healthy, vibrant, and amorous well into their 70s.

Getting a Hold on Your Hormones

Nobody should have to live with the symptoms of hormonal imbalance. High or low, there is hope for your health. Check back next week as we dive deeper into diagnosis, treatment, and maintaining a hormone-balanced life.