Women's Hormone Health

Fatigue & Low Energy

If you aren’t sleeping like you used to, chances are your hormones are not in balance. This can happen when hormone production shifts because of aging – or for that matter, at any age, if you are beset by chronic stress that lasts for more than three months.

Normally, a sudden, acute stress, like getting called on the carpet by your boss, signals the adrenal glands to produce more adrenaline. The surge signals fat cells to quickly release the energy you’ll need to respond to a personal threat. But when the body is under prolonged stress, the adrenal glands begin secreting extra cortisol to keep up with the constant demand for more. Over time, the adrenals may become exhausted, as happens with chronic fatigue syndrome, and cortisol production falls well below normal levels. High or low, cortisol imbalance depletes your immunities and is dangerous and debilitating for the body. For women already grappling with estrogen dominance (or related hormonal imbalance), the situation can be a double-whammy.

Whether you suffer from estrogen dominance, cortisol imbalance or both, sleep patterns will typically suffer. Getting less than eight hours sleep a night are likely to upset the balance of two other hormones:  ghrelin and leptin.  These hormones regulate appetite.  If you aren’t getting enough sleep, odds are that your ghrelin levels will shoot up – making you feel constantly hungry – while your leptin levels plummet down – causing you to never feel full.  No wonder you find yourself reaching for the candy bar right after a big business lunch! It’s your hormones.

Insomnia leads to many other problems: chronic fatigue, low energy, dull mental processes, burnout and decreased sexual desire and/or pleasure. The solution lies in taking the necessary steps to balance your hormones naturally. This may begin with over-the-counter bioidentical progesterone, vitamin-mineral supplements and herbal remedies, combined with beneficial exercise, diet and lifestyle changes. Take the free hormone imbalance quiz to find out if you are at risk.

Dr. Randolph’s Natural Balance Cream, his signature formulation of bioidentical progesterone, can be your first step towards restoring your body’s optimum hormone balance. The progesterone molecule in this cream is encased in a unique liposomal delivery system that disperses progesterone through the skin for up to 12 hours to ensure proper absorption rather than a quick spike of progesterone. [Dr. Randolph’s Natural Balance Cream is compounded under the strict guidelines of the National Association of Compounding Pharmacies and meets the U.S. Pharmacopeia gold standards for quality and purity.