Category: Hormones
15 Posts
Stress and Periods: How Stress Affects Your Menstrual Cycle
Read moreStress is a natural part of life and impacts us almost on a daily basis. Whilst a small amount of stress can actually be good for us (believe it or not), chronic stress and burn out can end up negatively impacting almost all of our body’s processes—including our menstrual cycles. In this article we’re going to cover exactly what stress is, the science behind it, how it can impact our…
Can I test my hormones and fertility while on birth control?
Read moreWhether or not you can test your hormones and fertility while on birth control depends on the type of birth control you use. Despite most of us only being able to reel off a handful, there are actually 17 different types of birth control, or contraception. These include both hormonal and non-hormonal options, plus, long-term and short-term methods. Whatever method of contraception works best for you is personal and will…
5 Things AMH Testing Can (and can’t) Tell You About Your Fertility
Read moreAnti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) is a really important hormone for your fertility and overall health. Because of how closely it is linked to your eggs, AMH testing can help you understand your fertility and give you insights into your overall reproductive health. There are some myths out there about exactly what AMH testing can and can’t tell you, so in this blog post we’re going to explore exactly that and give…
Hormones and Smoking: How is it Affecting Your Health?
Read moreIt’s a well-known fact that smoking can have a negative impact on health, with both active and passive smoking being associated with multiple forms of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Despite this, in the UK, as of 2019, 28% of men and 22% of women aged between 25 and 34 years are current smokers, according to published health data in England (1)—and a whopping 175 million people assigned-female-at-birth (AFAB) smoke…
Oestrogen 101: What it is, what it does and how it changes
Read moreOestrogen truly is the matriarch of female sex hormones. It helps to control the menstrual cycle, enable ovulation, produce female sex characteristics helps us to feel feisty, frisky and fabulous. There are three different types of oestrogen, also sometimes spelt estrogen (the American spelling). Like all of our hormones, our oestrogen levels can sometimes become off-balanced—with many different lifestyle and genetic factors impacting its production and regulation throughout the body.…
Prolactin 101: Everything you need to know about prolactin
Read moreProlactin is perhaps best known as the ‘milk hormone’ because of its vital role in breast growth and breast milk (lactation) production. But prolactin actually has a myriad of functions within the body, playing a vital role in overall health for those both assigned-female and male-at-birth. In this article, we’ll dive into exactly what prolactin is, what its functions are in the body, discuss imbalances in its levels and the…
Luteinising Hormone: What Do Your LH Levels Mean?
Read moreLuteinising hormone (LH) plays a huge role when it comes to fertility and ovulation, despite it being one of the lesser known cycling hormones. In this article we’ll explain exactly what luteinising hormone is, how it works and take a deep-dive into its importance for female fertility. We’ll also take a look at LH levels and why they’re important, as well as how to recognise the symptoms of low or…
What Do Your SHBG Levels Mean?
Read moreSex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is an important protein involved in the regulation of our sex hormones. Just like our menstrual cycle, thyroid and fertility hormones, our SHBG levels can affect our reproductive health—including our ability to conceive. So what is a good, or ‘normal’ range for our SHBG levels? And how do we know when ours might be too high or too low? We’ve broken down all you need to…
Follicle-Stimulating Hormone: What Do Your FSH Levels Mean?
Read moreFSH stands for Follicle-Stimulating Hormone and is one of the main hormones involved in the regulation of your menstrual cycle and ovulation—making it an important hormone not only for your health but your fertility too. In this article we’re giving you the lowdown on everything you need to know about your FSH levels, including how to know what normal FSH levels look like, symptoms of high and low FSH levels…
Thyroid Hormones 101: Hypothyroidism and Hyperthyroidism
Read moreKey takeaways: Our thyroid hormones are a trio of hormones that all have really important roles in the body. This love triangle influences a whole host of bodily functions, including our metabolism, our growth and development, our digestion, temperature, mood, heart health and of course, our periods, menstrual cycles and ovulation. Seriously, these little hormones are always busy. But just like many of our other hormones, our thyroid hormones are…