Feeling tired or moody? Maybe experiencing hot flashes, night sweats, or insomnia? You’re not alone – many of us face these symptoms, and they may be red flags of a hormonal imbalance. The good news is that a solution exists: Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT). So, if you’re wondering, ‘What are the main health benefits of BHRT?’ you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll delve into some of the top benefits of bioidentical hormones for:
- weight management
- sexual vitality and performance
- cognitive abilities and brain health
- menopause transition
- energy and mood levels
- skin, hair, and nails health
- immune system and overall health
Benefits of Bioidentical Hormones for Natural Weight Management
One of the most common complaints among aging men and women is weight gain, especially around the abdomen. This can be due to several factors, such as decreased metabolism, increased appetite, reduced muscle mass, or hormonal changes.
Your hormones affect all those things. For example, low levels of testosterone can reduce your ability to burn fat and build muscle, while high levels of cortisol can increase your stress and inflammation, which can also contribute to weight gain.
A top benefit of BHRT for weight management is that it balances your testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid, and cortisol levels and helps you to:
- burn more calories
- reduce your fat storage
- increase your muscle tone
- curb your cravings
- manage your stress and inflammation
- lower your cortisol levels
At Nava Health, we recommend you join our NavaRX weight loss program as well as having BHRT. One of the benefits of bioidentical hormone treatment is that it can help you manage your weight in a natural and healthy way without resorting to yo-yo diets or surgeries. However, the support of a clinical nutritionist and nutritional counseling is crucial to reaching and maintaining the right target weight for you.
How BHRT Benefits Sexual Vitality and Performance
As we age, our sex hormones, such as testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone, can decline or become imbalanced, affecting our libido, arousal, orgasm, and satisfaction. Some of the symptoms of hormonal imbalance in this area include low sex drive, vaginal dryness and pain during intercourse, erectile dysfunction, and premature ejaculation.
Benefits of BHRT show up in improved sexual vitality in areas such enhanced blood flow, lubrication, sensitivity, stamina, improved desire, arousal, orgasm, and satisfaction. There is no reason to let aging spoil your sexual life!
Benefits of Bioidentical Hormones for Your Cognitive Abilities and Brain Health
BHRT can also positively impact your cognitive abilities and brain health. Hormones play a vital role in maintaining your memory, learning, concentration, and mood – protecting your brain from degeneration and diseases. As you age, fluctuations and decreases in your hormone levels can lead to symptoms such as brain fog and difficulty focusing, memory loss, depression, or anxiety – and possibly contribute to dementia.
BHRT benefits your cognitive abilities and brain health by optimizing your hormone levels, bringing benefits that include:
- improving blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients to your brain.
- boosting testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid, and cortisol levels.
- improving your memory, ability to concentrate and learn, and your mood.
- helping preserve and even improve brain function during and post-menopause.
- reducing the risk of cognitive decline and impairment as you age.
- helping prevent or delay brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke.
Benefits of BHRT for Your Menopause Years
As touched on above, one of the most common reasons why women seek BHRT is to relieve the symptoms of menopause. Menopause can cause a range of physical and emotional symptoms that can vary in severity and duration and affect your quality of life and wellbeing.
One of the most well-known benefits of bioidentical hormones is that they can help you ease the symptoms of menopause by replenishing or replacing the ones your ovaries have usually produced, such as estrogen and progesterone.
During these years, BHRT helps you reduce the frequency and intensity of hot flashes, night sweats, and insomnia. If you then sleep better, you’ll find your mood during the day is more balanced. Replenishing with bioidentical hormones also helps prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, and breast cancer.
Overall, the benefits of BHRT for women in perimenopause lie in helping you manage the years of transition into menopause not only happily but also safely and naturally, without the potential side effects and risks of synthetic or animal-derived hormones.
How Bioidentical Hormones Benefit Your Energy and Mood
Your hormones play a major role in managing your energy levels and emotional equilibrium at any age. We’ve mentioned how disturbed sleep affects your mood. But when your hormone levels decrease or go off-balance, your energy and mood can swing wildly. One moment, you’re “just fine,” and another, you’re tired, feeble, sluggish, depressed, anxious, and irritable!
The benefits of bioidentical hormones in restoring optimal levels for you mean that you have increased energy, stamina, and endurance; improved mood stability; less stress from the swings in how you feel; and an enhanced sense of overall happiness and wellbeing.
Maintain Good Skin, Hair, and Nails Health with BHRT
Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are in charge of maintaining your skin, hair, and nails healthily. When these hormones are lacking, BHRT can restore them and help to
- prevent aging signs and damage (dryness, wrinkles, sagging, thinning, brittleness, and breakage),
- reduce inflammation, acne, and rosacea,
- improve the elasticity and hydration of your skin, and
- grow stronger hair and nails faster.
Benefits of BHRT to Support Your Immune System and Overall Health
Your hormones are in charge of modulating your immune system and regulating its inflammatory response. When hormone levels are low or imbalanced, your immune system can become weakened, dysregulated, or overactive, making you more susceptible to infections, allergies, autoimmune disorders, and cancers.
One of the many bioidentical hormone benefits is helping to strengthen your immune system and prevent or treat these conditions by optimizing your hormone levels and restoring your immune balance.
Experience the Benefits of Bioidentical Hormones with Nava Health
We’ve described some top benefits of BHRT for your health and wellbeing. However, BHRT is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires careful evaluation, prescription, and monitoring by a qualified and experienced doctor. At Nava Health, our functional medicine specialists tailor bioidentical hormone therapy to your needs and preferences and monitor and adjust it to ensure maximum benefit for you.
Whether you’d like an in-person or online consultation, call us to schedule your appointment today?
A Medical Director, and one of the first physicians to join the Nava Health & Vitality Center, Dr. Douglas Lord has made significant contributions to our Center and its founding principles. Dr. Lord has helped develop and implement the Nava Method™—Nava’s proprietary approach to total body wellness. He has also been instrumental in liaising with other expert practitioners to successfully implement Nava’s range of therapies, treatments, and products.