Cortisol

Cortisol helps the body respond quickly and constructively to stress. It also stimulates appetite, boosts energy levels, improves digestion, eases movement in the joints, eases inflammation and pain, soothes allergies, fever, and reactions to toxins, and enhances the immune system (though at excessive doses cortisol actually depresses the immune system). Assuming the correct balance with androgens ("male" hormones like testosterone) is maintained, cortisol might help you live longer.

Cortisol, sometimes called hydrocortisone, comes from the adrenal glands. Casual investigation might lead you to associate cortisol with stress - and, indeed, Cortisol levels soar when you are under a great deal of stress. But it is really the anti-stress hormone. It rises under stress because it is actually helping your body handle stress, trying to give you a way to get rid of it. Cortisol frees up your energy reserves at opportune moments. At times of stress, Cortisol makes the heart beat faster, increases blood pressure (and so the supply of oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body), and boosts blood-sugar levels to provide strength and energy. Cortisol drives blood toward strategic parts of the body, including the head, shoulders, trunk, pelvis, and hips - basically preparing you for "fight or flight". These are all short-term responses you need in the moment of greatest stress, though this hormone also works over the long term. Cortisol helps keep you ready for anything and eager for action.

Cortisol stimulates the brain, muscles, heart, and circulatory and respiratory systems. It fights certain forms of cancer (at reasonable doses), like leukemia and certain lymphomas. It also fights jet lag, fatigue, confusion, hypoglycemia, sugar cravings, anxiety, irritability, low mood, "burnout", and low blood pressure. It stimulates the immune system, helping ward off the flu and other viral, bacterial, or parasitic infections as well as cancer.

Humans cannot live without Cortisol. Even mild deficiencies can wreak havoc in the body, resulting in hair loss, emaciation, low blood pressure, rapid pulse and/or palpitations in response to the least stress, painful and inflamed joints, and skin problems including eczema, psoriasis, hives, allergies, vitiligo, or spots of excessive pigmentation (melanoderma). Insufficient levels of Cortisol can also cause flu-like fatigue that gets worse under stress, cravings for sweets and/or salty and spicy foods, a dazed feeling and confused thoughts or empty-headedness, inability to handle stress, loss of appetite, nausea, digestive problems (including colitis), allergies and asthma, medication intolerance, rheumatoid arthritis, and regular spiking of fevers.

Cortisol Questionnaire

1.	Do you have low resistance to Stress?	Yes	No
2.	Do you have a low Blood Pressure?	Yes	No
3.	Do you feel better after Eating Something Sweet?	Yes	No
4.	Do you have Inflammatory Arthritis?	Yes	No
5.	Do you have Digestive Problems?	Yes	No

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, we recommend you undergo an Anti-Aging Evaluation. Please contact us to schedule your appointment.

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DHEA

DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) is made into several different active substances by the body, including testosterone and estradiol (estrogen). It strengthens muscles, keeps mucous membranes soft and moist, promotes hair growth under the arm and in the pubic area, stimulates immunity, boosts energy levels, fights anxiety and depression, improves mood, increases libido (in women), enhances memory, and (at least in animal studies) fights cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It also relieves joint pain.

Over a lifetime, you'll secrete more DHEA than any other hormone. In young adults, its concentration in the blood is almost twenty times higher than any other hormone. Tissues, including the brain, may also have high levels. Just the production of DHEA would keep the adrenal glands plenty busy.

A great part of what DHEA does, however, is achieved after it is converted into a variety of different substances. These derivatives, or active metabolites, include several androgens, including testosterone and estrogen. As powerful as DHEA can be, its derivatives pack an even bigger wallop. For example, the metabolite androstenediol stimulates immunity one hundred times more than the original DHEA - and androstenetriol three hundred times.

One final important benefit to DHEA is its ability to control some of the negative effects of excess Cortisol.

Without sufficient DHEA, your face will look strained, your eyes will be dry and lackluster and your hair dry and lifeless. You'll have a tendency to a pot belly, cellulite on the thighs, and even a flattened pubic mound. You'll tend to feel insecure, anxious, gloomy and sad. If you are female, your libido will flag. You won't have enough energy; one idiosyncratic way a lack of DHEA may manifest itself in people over sixty-five is in difficulty climbing stairs.

DHEA Questionnaire

1.	Do you have Sparse Axillary (under arm) Hair?	Yes	No
2.	Do you have Thin and Sparse Pubic Hair?	Yes	No
3.	Do you Feel Sick (non well being)?	Yes	No
4.	Do you suffer from Frequent Illnesses?	Yes	No
5.	Do you have a Fatty Lower Abdomen?	Yes	No

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, we recommend you undergo an Anti-Aging Evaluation. Please contact us to schedule your appointment.

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Melatonin

You can thank the pineal gland for most of your melatonin, though other tissues, including the intestines and the retina, are also capable of producing it.

Melatonin is the sleep hormone; it functions primarily in helping you fall asleep at night; sleep well, soundly and deeply; and wake up in the morning. It is what makes you yawn and want to go to bed at night, and (by activating thyroid hormones) it's what prompts you to arise - if you have the luxury of not handing that job over to an alarm clock. Melatonin creates your body's day/night rhythm, including the timing with which other hormones are released. It is helpful with sleep problems, including those from shift work and jet lag.

Without enough melatonin, you'll get poor, superficial sleep deprived of dreams and full of agitation and brooding. You'll be quite the night owl, because your body won't know when to go to bed. You'll have a hard time getting to sleep and going back to sleep when you wake up during the night. You'll feel tired when waking up and will never feel well rested, so you'll often be in a bad mood. You'll be hard hit by jet lag.

If you don't have sufficient melatonin, you'll often feel tense, anxious, irritable, and aggressive. You'll look older than your age, thanks in part to prematurely graying hair and bags under your eyes. No one looks his best when not well rested, and few of us hide it very well.

Researchers have discovered that the pineal gland is the body's "time clock" and regulates the body's rate of aging. Melatonin given to 18 month-old mice (the human equivalent of 60 years) has been shown to dramatically reverse aging, extending their life to the human equivalent of 105 years. (ref: Pierpaoli et el The Melatonin Miracle 1995).

Like many other hormones, melatonin levels decrease with age. This can lead to a reduced immune system and increased exposure to disease like cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Melatonin Questionnaire

1.	Do you have Difficulty Falling Asleep?	Yes	No
2.	Do you awaken at night and have difficulty falling back to sleep?	Yes	No
3.	Do you feel unrested upon waking in the morning	Yes	No
4.	Do you have a tendency to sleep fewer hours per night?	Yes	No

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, we recommend you undergo an Anti-Aging Evaluation. Please contact us to schedule your appointment.

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Pregnenolone

Think of Pregnenolone as the memory hormone. in animal studies it improves memory one hundred times more than even DHEA at the same dose. It enhances memory at least in part because it clarifies thinking and stimulates concentration and prevents memory loss. In addition, Pregnenolone at higher doses might reduce fatigue, fight depression, protect the joints, relieve arthritis, and speed healing. Perhaps its most unusual effect is that, according to some patients' experiences, it might intensify the way you see colors.

Produced in the adrenal glands and the brain, Pregnenolone is a precursor of all the adrenal and sex hormones. It is the most abundant hormone in the brain, where you'll find two to four times the amount of DHEA, which already has a brain concentration double that of its very high blood concentration. Pregnenolone's concentration in the brain is seventy-five times higher than it the blood.

Without enough Pregnenolone, you're sure to have memory problems and poor concentration. You'll be vulnerable to stress and depression and at risk for chronic fatigue and reduced capacity for physical exertion. You might have joint pain and produce excessive urine.

Because Pregnenolone feeds production of so many other hormones, if you don't have sufficient levels of the one, you'll create a domino effect with the others - with a host of other symptoms following.

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Thyroid Hormone

Thyroid Hormones are made by the thyroid gland, situated at the base of the neck. What it secretes is primarily (90 percent) thyroxine (T4). The secondary thyroid hormone, about 10 percent of what the thyroid gland secretes, is triiodothyronine (T3). The pituitary gland is part of the act, too, as it releases a hormone (called, appropriately enough, thyroid stimulating hormone, or TSH) that stimulates the thyroid to release its hormones.

Since the greater part of thyroxine is converted into triiodothyronine in the liver, we usually refer to triiodothyronine. It is the one that is truly active - between three and five times as active as thyroxine.

Thyroid hormones speed up metabolism and help control weight, thinning the face, torso, and calves in particular. They boost blood circulation, thereby increasing the supply of nutrients, oxygen, water, and hormones to cells all over the body. They keep the skin soft, flexible, and warm thanks to a good blood supply and improved production of sweat by the sweat glands. Thyroid hormones also keep muscles and joints supple and pain-free with this increased blood supply. They prevent dry hair, hair loss, puffy faces, and swollen eyelids. They prevent memory and concentration problems. Thyroid hormones are important in keeping you looking and feeling young and healthy.

Thyroid hormones energize all the cells and organs by stimulating the mitochondria - the cells' little powerhouses - freeing heat and energy. Thyroid hormones warm the body (and especially the extremities) and prevent excessive sensitivity to cold. They prevent morning fatigue, fatigue at rest, low mood (particularly in the morning), and general slowness. Thyroid hormones provide a certain quickness of mind. They protect not only the brain, but also the kidneys and the digestive and immune system organs, among other body tissues - the heart and arteries prime among them. They stimulate fat-burning and dissolve cholesterol, thereby opening up the arteries and moderating blood pressure as they encourage the elimination of waste from the cells and around the cells of the arterial walls, making them more supple. They prevent constipation by activating the smooth muscle cells of the intestinal walls and eliminating the swelling, and they help you avoid diffuse headaches, also by eliminating the swelling and improving blood flow through the brain. Thyroid hormones reduce the risk and severity of heart disease, cancer, and other conditions with otherwise high mortality rates.

Without sufficient thyroid hormones, the body bloats. You'll have a particularly swollen face, with puffy eyelids and thicker lips - especially the lower lip. If that's not enough to make you want to ensure proper levels, you might also want to know that the effect is thanks to waste materials that accumulate between the cells.

You'll also have dry, rough, brittle, and sparse hair, lifeless eyes, a pale face, cold hands and feet, constipation, and dry skin. You'll have problems with memory and concentration. You'll get fat, without changing anything about the way you eat or how you exercise. You'll feel tired, especially in the morning and when you are resting. You'll feel cold, especially in the evening and when you are resting. You'll have stiff and painful joints, especially in the morning and after resting. Some people get slowed down in their movements and their thoughts, while others get agitated, hyperactive, and hyperkinetic, moving constantly, probably in an unconscious attempt to accelerate blood circulation and so the supply of nutrients and hormones to the tissues. In any event, you'll feel better when you are on the move than when you are still.

Thyroid Hormone Questionnaire

1.	Do you have Cold Hands or Feet?	Yes	No
2.	Do you Lack Energy?	Yes	No
3.	Do you have Slow Hair Growth?	Yes	No
4.	Do you have Swollen Hands or Feet?	Yes	No
5.	Do you have Slowed Digestion (constipation)?	Yes	No

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, we recommend you undergo an Anti-Aging Evaluation. Please contact us to schedule your appointment.

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