The Aging Process

A large and rapidly growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that a number of hormones decline with aging and these declines can result in many of the manifestations of aging. The first to be recognized, of course, is the precipitous decline in Estrogen and Progesterone production in women called “menopause”. Menopause was easily recognizable because of the obvious signs and symptoms brought on by ovarian failure. These signs and symptoms include: the absence of menstruation, infertility, and relatively acute symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats. The other hormones that decline are Testosterone in men and women and the Adrenal Hormones: DHEA and Pregnenolone. The decline in these hormones starts much earlier and is more gradual. Recently adopted terminologies are: Andropause, the precipitous decline in testosterone; Somatopause, the precipitous decline of growth hormone; and Adrenopause, the precipitous decline of the adrenal hormones. The production and release of melatonin, which is produced by the pineal gland, also declines in most individuals.

These hormone levels begin to decline by our early 30′s. We measure the level of these hormones in your body by blood tests and then prescribe natural hormone replacement doses to restore them to their optimum levels. The hormones discussed above are not the only ones that contribute to our well-being and vitality. The entire endocrine system participates in the aging process; therefore, the supplementation of other hormones and nutritional supplements have a significant impact on our “youthful aging” experience.

Hormone modulation is the science of optimizing hormones that are no longer being adequately produced by the body. While genetic programming does many wonderful things, nature’s plan brings us to the age of reproduction and nurturing, and then seems to have little use for us. At this point we begin to fail. In fact, much of aging can be seen as deficiencies in many of the substances that our body once produced in abundance. The goal of hormone replacement is to modulate our hormones to the levels at which our immune system is the strongest, our metabolism is the most efficient, and our ability to develop muscle is the most prolific, however, this differs based on the natural occurring hormones once produced by each sex.