Skip to main content

Hormones Are Affected Daily By Things You May Not Expect

>>> The functioning of the body is highly dependent on hormonal balance, particularly if you happen to suffer from conditions like thyroid disease. Even when you take measures to ensure a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine, you may be exposed to everyday things that can affect the production of your hormones. Here are five of them that may surprise you: Beauty Products Studies have pointed out some cosmetic products may contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals. If you suffer from thyroid disease or endocrine conditions, in particular, it is recommended you avoid products with ingredients such as formaldehyde, lead, oxybenzone and more. These disruptors may be present in everyday makeup such as lipstick, sunscreen, nail polish, eye makeup, etc. You may also be exposed to them if you make regular trips to the beauty salon. For example, formaldehyde has often been used in permanent hair straightening treatments despite numerous associated health risks. Physical Touch Experiencing human touch in the form of hugs, hand-holding, massages and cuddling can set off receptors, releasing a hormone called oxytocin. Matt Hertenstein, an experimental psychologist at DePauw University in Indiana, noted it also reduced stress hormones. Similar to our responses to pleasant smells and tastes, a soft or friendly touch "makes the orbital frontal cortex light up, just like those other rewarding stimuli," he said. Smartphones Hormonal suppression can also be added to the long list of health risks linked to excessive use of smartphones. While all kinds of light can affect hormones, the light emitted from electronic screens (known as blue light) is twice as powerful in suppressing them. Blue light can reduce the levels of melatonin in your body, which is the hormone that influences circadian rhythms. In the long run, this can cause a build-up of neurotoxin and increase the risk of depression. Hand Sanitizer Studies suggested excessively pumping antibacterial sanitizer to clean your hands may actually end up doing more harm than good. Overuse can weaken your immune system by altering the balance between good and bad bacteria. Triclosan, an ingredient often found in sanitizers, was suspected to negatively affect thyroid hormones and potentially lead to hypothyroidism. In addition, reports have found exposure to sanitizers (as well as deodorizers, disinfectants, and sterilizers) may also be linked to the development of thyroid cancer. Travel Traveling can affect the hormones melatonin and cortisol. "Even subtle changes to your daily pattern—waking up early one day and then sleeping late the next—can have a small effect on your melatonin levels," said Dr. Anita Mitra, a gynaecologist with the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. "So it’s less the flight and more that the flight has taken you to another destination and time zone." When these levels change, they can affect testosterone in men. On the other hand, women may face changes in their period cycle due to disruption of the ovulation schedule <<<<

Popular posts from this blog

PF-ROM Exercises

"Pain-free range of motion’ or early mobilization exercises can help you heal" PF-ROM is physical therapy talk for “pain free range of motion.” When a therapist evaluates an injury, he or she will be interested to see how far you can move affected joints without hurting. Sometimes, of course, you can’t move at all without pain. But in most injuries, even many serious ones, you will have at least some painless movement. And whatever you’ve got, you should use. When you are hurt, the pain-free range is your new best friend: that’s the range you’ll be exercising in for a while. Pain free range of motion exercises are also known as “early mobilization.” Use it or lose it “Use it or lose it,” they say. And it’s true. While many seemingly simple medical questions are controversial, this one appears to be straightforward: plenty of recent research demonstrates that early mobilization is A Very Good Thing. A 2006 study of people with surgically repaired achilles tendon ruptures sh...
Read more

Don’t waste your money on expensive trainers

Expensive running shoes offer no benefit in terms of cushioning impact and overall comfort compared with 'cheap' trainers, reported The Times and other newspapers on October 11 2007. The researchers found that “no amount of built-in air bubbles, shock absorbers or other cushioning makes a difference to the overall pressure on the foot.” The stories are based on a study that compared the performance of low-, medium-, and high-priced running shoes in men while they were walking, and in a smaller group who ran. The interpretation by the newspapers that this study has shown that expensive trainers do not protect runners’ feet is not quite accurate as the “running” part of the experiment was small and the researchers themselves state that “it was not possible to reliably detect differences between pressure in shoes from different brands and across cost ranges”. Importantly, the participants in the study were normal runners. They didn’t have any gait abnormalities such as over or ...
Read more

Being overweight

"Four million people died in 2015 as a result of being too tubby, struck by cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other killer conditions," reports The Sun. This is based on a global study that looked at how the proportion of people who are overweight and obese has changed over time. This was determined by recording body mass index (BMI), where a BMI of 25-29.9 means being overweight and 30 or above is being obese. Researchers then assessed the link between having an unhealthy BMI and health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. It found that, despite public health efforts, obesity is on the rise in almost every country and in both adults and children. Prevalence has doubled in most countries over the past 30 years. Researchers also estimated that having a high BMI accounted for 4 million deaths globally, 40% of which occurred in people who were overweight but not yet obese. This demonstrates that being overweight may almost be as risky to health a...
Read more