The connection between mind and body has been a matter of debate for most of human history. But in the modern era, we know that the mind is heavily influenced by the hormones circulating through the body.
Unlike neurotransmitters, hormones exist everywhere in the body rather than just in your brain. This ubiquitous nature makes them able to influence the body, mind, and the interplay between them. You can think of hormones as a balancing system of sorts between these two elements of your being. You’ll feel great when you have healthy hormonal levels. But if your hormone levels drop, then you’ll typically feel like you’re living in a fog or will experience mood swings.
Physical changes that signal hormonal shifts
Hormones, mind, and body are so tightly linked that you’ll typically see physical side effects alongside hormonal imbalances. The following are some of the most common examples of symptom pairs that you’ll see with hormonal imbalances.
- Weight gain: Comes with loss of concentration and fatigue.
- Muscle atrophy: Is paired with a decreased sense of determination or desire.
- Insomnia or difficulty getting a full night’s sleep: Is seen with poor memory and sudden bouts of irritation.
The role of HGH
Physical and mental side effects can be especially significant with particular hormones like HGH (Human Growth Hormone), while others will have a more subtle effect. As such, it’s typically best to consider the major risks, like low HGH, before moving on to other possibilities. That raises the important question of why HGH plays such a significant role in this balance between mind and body.
HGH might sound like it’s only involved in helping you grow larger as you age. However, people are continually growing in any number of ways over the course of their lives. Your height is just the most obvious example. Your hair is another part of your body that you can see grow, as are your fingernails.
But think about what happens if you get a paper cut. It’s a seemingly minor thing, but your skin needs to do a considerable amount of repair to grow new skin cells to mend the damage. If you work out, the same thing is happening with your muscles as your body mends the damage incurred from exercise while increasing your muscle mass. Most of the repair work in your body, and this includes your brain, is influenced by HGH. The hormone helps regulate energy and directs cellular repair.
Now think about what happens when you’ve pushed yourself to your limits and beyond. When you’re low on sleep, overworked, and your body is fighting to maintain itself. That’s similar to the feeling you get when your levels of the hormone are low. But there’s a big difference between your body putting that hormone to good use before replenishing itself and simply running low as the norm.
When you’re running low on the hormone, your body will naturally build it up again over the course of a day and night. However, some conditions will result in continually low levels. These low hormone levels create that same feeling of being in a fatigued haze in both mind and body. Except in this case, the feeling never goes away. Or at least the feeling doesn’t go away without outside intervention.
Restoring balance
Thankfully, it is usually possible to restore hormone levels to their natural state. This can sometimes be done through careful attention to diet, fitness, and proper sleep schedules. Of course, the catch-22 here is that low hormone levels often make all of these more difficult. Proper attention to diet and exercise is considerably more difficult when you’re suffering from lethargy and brain fog. And sleep is typically disrupted by low hormone levels. But medical therapies and supplementation are common and effective methods of intervention and can typically restore flagging hormone levels.
Staying healthy in mind and body
In the end, one of the most difficult things about hormone imbalances is how all-encompassing they can be. It’s hard to work on your mental state when your body is exhausted. It’s hard to work on your physical health when you’re existing in a mental fog. But this is also why it’s important to be open to help and the various methods of restoring your health before it has a chance to fall too far from your ideal.
Tim Williamson, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.