Oestrogen (1): The Unsung Superpower Hormone

Perhaps it is hard for women to gain optimal health without paying attention to this landmark hormone: oestrogen. Although both men and women have and are indeed affected by oestrogen, women are gifted with producing more of it than men ever will. I say "gifted" because, truthfully, without this superpower hormone, our species would have stopped before it had a chance to begin.

The reality of every superpower is that it will always play a major role in shaping the body within which it lives. Some of its effects are obviously advantageous for the purpose of the superpower—like how oestrogen shapes the physical body of a woman. Others are necessary, with menstrual cycles being a prime example. Beyond advantage and necessity, the side effects of having such reproductive ability are also abundant: pain, cramps, lower iron storage, and cyclical irritability, to name a few.

In my experience, most women don’t seek help dealing with oestrogen’s advantageous, necessary, or side effects. I mean, if we were to copy their symptoms and paste them into men’s lives for even a few months, medical services would be saturated with men seeking help to alleviate them. Women, however, rightfully access services when something has gone wrong. This is when the advantageous effects cross the line and become disadvantageous, when the necessary effects fail to show up or show up too soon, or when the side effects have gone wildly out of control.

Hormones, and by extension everything else in our physiology, are not out to get us. But being as powerful as they are, these influencers must be kept in a beautiful balance to serve their purposes for our benefit—until they are not. This is what my writing will focus on: imbalance as the cause of oestrogen-related problems. Let’s hope that if we can work out what the problems are, we can find their corresponding solutions, shall we?

Assuming you have read some of my articles from the previous series, you won’t be a stranger to my style of medicine. I am going deep into physiology while keeping everything relevant to every Jack and Jill. I intend to dissect the case of this hormone enough for you to understand why I recommend what I will recommend at the very end. I may disagree with interpretations of tests that others have made popular, and likewise, I might have a different opinion on which supplement is most beneficial. I don’t guarantee your holy grail will be mine too, but I can certainly promise you that there will be no "lazy medicine" in the entirety of my articles.

First, let’s clarify how important oestrogen is to any individual, male or female. Without oestrogen, osteoporosis is everyone’s reality, as bones have a non-negotiable need for this hormone. Without oestrogen, the skin won’t be able to make an effective hyaluronic acid "sponge," and is therefore pretty much guaranteed to lose its hydration and defense. As a testimony to its importance, the brain makes its own oestrogen from scratch to maintain its health. It can’t risk depending on the body’s production, which may or may not happen at the right concentration to reach the central nervous system with precise timing. It is happening right this very moment—every time you learn something new, you make oestrogen in the brain and use it to make sense of that learning by connecting neurons.

Building on from the circadian series, brain oestrogen increases the activity of our TPH2 to churn out more serotonin. It doesn’t just do that; it is also our natural SSRI, as it does what the pharmaceutical does—slowing the reuptake of serotonin into cells. That means we have more available serotonin for longer. If you have been unfortunate enough to sustain a brain injury, your oestrogen production will be ramped up to prevent further cell death.

In essence, there is no doubt that this hormone plays a major role in our health. You might as well call it the fountain of youth: strong bones, glowing skin, and a sharp mind. These are its obvious roles we can easily appreciate outside of what the hormone does for reproduction. But that is not all there is to it; behind the scenes, it cleans up our blood vessels, increases insulin sensitivity, repairs muscle damage, maintains lubrication of the eyes and ears, reduces overall inflammation, modulates the immune system, and even keeps the lungs elastic, among many other functions.

I hope you are now closer to appreciating my earlier claim that oestrogen is a superpower hormone. As you can see, women have more of this superpower than men do. It gives them all of the above, plus the ability to ensure the continuation of our species—which needs to be fully respected and valued. For all the women out there, where my role comes in is in explaining what science knows about this superpower hormone, so you are best equipped to keep it in its intended balance and harmony.