5 Things Most People Get Wrong About Hormones
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The body is this impressive machine that has like loads of things packed inside it. It is all muddled up with thousands of nerves, tons of vessels, lakhs of cells, and a lot of innumerable and unpronounceable gooey, murky stuff. Thankfully, it is all neatly arranged and beautifully wrapped though! Out of these millions of things inside, hormones are those chemical messengers that are secreted right into the blood in very minute quantities. The quantity shouldn’t be mistaken for anything trivial, for, they have a terrific potential to either make or break the harmony of your body. Amidst this haywire, I guess we should all be forgiven for the myths we create and happily dwell in. However, today, I am about to debunk many of the most popular myths about hormones. Go ahead and read about the misconceptions you might possibly be having about these mini monsters.
1. My Sex Drive Is Reduced. It Is Because Of My Hormones.
Low sex drive or libido is said to be difficult to explain because decreased levels of estrogen in females and reduced levels of testosterone in men are just two among the myriad reasons that could be causing it. However, apart from blaming it all on the hormones, it is also important for couples to reassess the quality of their intimacy. Sometimes, trying out some erotic activities is enough to stimulate one another. Also, you could consider keeping your cell phones and the televisions on mute for some time, you know. Just saying!
2. Women Have Female Hormones And Men Don’t.
This is probably 5th-grade science that we all OUGHT to know. Little amounts of female hormone aka oestrogen or estrogen, however you want to spell that, is secreted in men too. Also, women’s bodies secrete tiny amounts of testosterone – the male hormones. So, basically it all comes to this equation – Males Are Just Less Female Than Females, and you could get a little redundant with Females Are Just Less Male Than Males – only concerning hormones, though. Otherwise, men definitely are from Mars and their counterparts from Venus.
3. Women Stop Producing Female Hormones After Menopause.
That’s a big fat myth, again. Women don’t stop producing their hormones at any stage of their life. Menopause marks the stage where their hormones are reduced to a very low level, but it is never completely zero. That’s the same with men. Hormone production diminishes with age, and this is quite normal. Nonetheless, it causes discomforts like hot flashes, night sweats, and some not-so-pleasant mood swings, or maybe I should call them mood “oscillations.” Swing is too mild for that. Other than that, you needn’t worry that your body will stop secreting these hormones altogether.
4. Menopause = Andropause.
The Greeks have a name for everything, and it intimidates the rest of the world. “Andropause” is one such word that simply means HUMAN male + pause. Women, in their late forties, begin to produce lesser and lesser female hormones, and when they hit menopause, it is the least. Apart from the hormone drop, what also occurs is the cessation of their ability to produce eggs. Andropause is something similar to this, but in males. Remember, it is only similar and not the same. In men, the androgen levels begin to drop after they reach thirty, but just by 1% every year. This could lead to a host of other issues like fatigue, irritability, decreased cognition – and of course, reduced libido is just one of them.
5. Contraceptives Are NOT Safe To Regularize Periods And Reduce PMS.
Many women are prescribed contraceptive pills or injections to regularize their otherwise irregular cycles. They can be rendered completely safe not just because well-qualified doctors prescribe it, but also because there is empirical proof that suggests that the side effects are rather mild and can be tackled with continued use or changing to another type of pill (1). What contraceptives actually do is suppress your cycles while you are on the pill, and when you stop taking them, you get your period. In fact, they also help reduce the grueling symptoms of PMS, acne, and ovarian cysts. This is again backed by reliable scientific evidence. So, all the women taking The Pill, go ahead if you are okay with the little mood swings that happen because of it.
I have to make a confession at the end of that list, though. I was convinced all my life that the estrogen and progestin combined contraceptive pill that my endocrinologist prescribed to regularize my period was definitely going to have lots of dangerous side effects and was a sure shot method to have medical complications later in life. It was only much later that I got to know about their plausible benefits. Did I help debunk any myth that you always believed was true? Comment below and let me know if you got any of your hormone myths busted.
