Aging too fast? Weight not coming off? Maybe its time to learn about DHEA.That's short for dehydroepiandrosterone. But DHEA is an easier name to pronounce, don't you think?
Your adrenal glands produce many hormones, and DHEA is one of them. Soon after production your body converts this hormone to DHEA-S (dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate) and that's what's measured when you have a blood or saliva test for the presence of this hormone.
This is an important hormone because it’s the precursor for many other reproductive hormones. As you age your levels of reproductive hormones decline, thanks in part to lower levels of DHEA-S. In women this means the onset of menopause; in males this can result in andropause, a time when their testosterone levels drop enough to produce physical symptoms of aging.
And so what? I hear you say. Why should I know where my DHEA-S levels are at? Because from a functional medicine point of view, your DHEA-S level can give you valuable insights into how fast you're aging, and how healthy your adrenal glands are.
As your levels of reproductive hormones decline with age (remember that DHEA-S helps create the reproductive hormones), your body composition changes. Healthy levels of oestrogen and testosterone promote the growth of skeletal muscle in preference to fatty tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the faster your metabolism runs, making it easier to lose weight.
Some diseases of aging and a chronic sedentary lifestyle have been associated with low levels of DHEA-S; although this hypothesis is still debated in some scientific circles.
Usually people don't discover that they have perilously low DHEA-S levels until they experience weight that just won't budge any more; or menopausal symptoms that aren't responding to treatment; or a lack of libido; or they find they're aging faster than they expect.
My clinical experience has been that the lower a person's DHEA, the less responsive their body will be to natural therapies; even more so if they don't already have a healthy lifestyle that includes resistance weight training to build muscle.
You can't prevent getting older, but you can take lots of positive action to slow the decline of your endocrine system. Ask your health practitioner (or me if you're in the Murwillumbah area) about the actions you can take to slow your own aging process.
Comments