Is it Your Hormones or Your Sleep?

Whether it’s menopause or man-opause, our sex hormones decrease with age. A healthy lifestyle can slow or minimize this, but it can’t be stopped.

When our sex hormones decrease, it affects hundreds if not thousands of metabolic activities at a cellular level. To a large extent, hormones influence the DNA of every cell in your body and affect what DNA is expressed (epi-genetics). This can affect what proteins a cell makes, how much energy a cell produces, and even how long a cell lives. This includes brain cells, which control almost every other cell in your body.

I don’t think most people need a peer-reviewed, double blind, placebo controlled study published in a prestigious medical journal to know that young adults are stronger, faster, more flexible, better looking, and more resilient than us older adults. There are many reasons for that, but hormones are a major reason.

Unfortunately, most of our hormones are measured, adjusted, and balanced while we are asleep. If we don’t sleep well, we don’t do this well. 

“Wait, that’s not all,” it gets worse. When your hormones are inadequate or out of balance, you don’t sleep well. AND, when you don’t sleep well you can’t properly manage your hormones. So if your sleep gets out of whack, the entire situation is likely to continue to get worse.

So, if you are worried about your hormones, the best step to take first is improving your sleep. Once you have done everything within your control to optimize your sleep, then go get your hormones checked.

Improve your sleep by following a good sleep hygiene ritual—easy to find on the internet. Try to sleep as long as you are able to (usually around 8-9 hours), and as close as you can get to the same time every night.

Ideally, you should be able to fall asleep within 20 minutes and wake up without an alarm clock.

I have recorded many videos and lectures, and written extensively about sleep routines. All of that and more can all be found on my website: DocParsley.com.

If you’d like to push the easy button and get ahead on your sleep improvement goals, please consider the many benefits of my all-natural, non-habit forming, drug-free, sleep supplement.

Sleep well my friends,

Kirk Parsley, MD