Menopause probably isn’t a time in your life that you eagerly anticipate. The decline in your estrogen often causes unbearable symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings. This stage can go on for years until you finally reach the postmenopausal stage.
Hormone replacement therapy is a way to reduce the aggravating symptoms of menopause, while also improving your health.
What are estrogen and progesterone?
As a woman, your reproductive health thrives on the hormones estrogen and progesterone. These hormones are made by your ovaries and serve as the key to a number of bodily functions, including:
- Regulating vaginal health
- Making the lining of your uterus thick
- Regulating how your body uses calcium
- Assisting in preventing bone loss
- Regulating blood pressure
- Boosting your mood
- Helping with sleep
Estrogen is responsible for preparing the lining of your uterus for a fertilized egg, while progesterone also helps prepare and sustain the pregnancy once the egg has implanted. Both of these hormones are vital during your childbearing years, but they begin to decline as you get older. This stage of your life is known as perimenopause, which is the time leading up to menopause.
What is hormone replacement therapy?
Hormone replacement therapy is a type of treatment that helps restore the hormones estrogen and progesterone during perimenopause and menopause.
Without normal levels of estrogen and progesterone, your body doesn’t know what to do. These hormones regulate a lot of bodily functions, and when their levels decrease, you can endure symptoms like:
- Irritability
- Vaginal dryness
- Mood swings
- Weight gain
- Sleep disturbances
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Urinary urgency
Hormone replacement therapy helps your body ease into menopause. If you’re dealing with uncomfortable issues, this treatment can help.
5 Major Benefits of This Treatment
Hormone replacement therapy has a number of advantages when it comes to your health. Five of these major benefits are:
1. Improves Bone Health
Osteoporosis is a real threat when you enter menopause. Estrogen is vital to maintaining your bone health. Hormone replacement therapy helps you keep your bones strong to avoid osteoporosis.
2. Decreases Menopause Symptoms
Hot flashes, night sweats, and difficulty sleeping are extremely common signs of menopause. These symptoms can be mild to severe, and interfere with your regular activities.
3. Increases Sex Drive
Your libido significantly deteriorates as you get older, for both men and women. However, menopause also brings on vaginal dryness for women, making intercourse even less desirable. Hormone replacement therapy restores the levels of your reproductive hormones. This brings back your sex drive, and helps with issues like vaginal dryness.
4. Gives Your Mood a Boost
Your hormones are responsible for your mood, among many functions within your body. When your estrogen and progesterone decline as you age, you may experience depression or mood swings. Hormone replacement therapy allows you to balance out the estrogen and progesterone in your body.
5. Helps Manage Your Weight
During your journey to menopause, your weight may fluctuate quite a bit. This isn’t uncommon as you get older, but it makes losing weight very difficult. Although hormone replacement therapy isn’t a miracle cure for weight loss, it helps with the hormonal component of weight gain. When your hormones are involved, it makes maintaining or losing weight so much harder. With a healthy diet and regular physical activity, hormone replacement therapy may be able to help you improve your weight and your overall health.
How To Get Help
ReVital offers free consultations where you can speak to one of our clinicians about ReVital’s Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy. At ReVital, we can conduct simple blood tests to evaluate the levels of these hormones in your system and prescribe supplements or therapies to treat and control the majority of hormonal imbalances. We also encourage that you connect with your regular doctor about any changes in your health and moods.