Estrogen

For the longest time, I had no idea what on earth hormones were.
Was it just a female thing?
Are they little demons in the body that wreak havoc and are involved with the cycle?

NOT 👏 A 👏 FUCKING 👏 CLUE

What I HAVE learnt is that hormones are quite interesting to understand what they are and their roles in the body.

Men and Women will have different levels of Estrogen, Progesterone & Androgens.
Women will have 9x more Estrogen than men.
Men will have 15x more Testosterone than women.

Shall we start with Estrogen?
It is a female sex hormone and its primary function of the female body is to develop the secondary sex characteristics, starting at puberty.

These include the growth of breasts, the uterus, endometrium and also to regulate the menstrual cycle. It has other roles in the body such as bone health and cognitive function.

Its function in the menstrual cycle is to grow and mature the oocyte.
The oocyte is an immature egg, it matures in a follicle, which is then found in the outside layer of the ovary.

It has anti catabolic effects which helps decrease our muscle loss.

Estrogen levels are most dominant in the Follicular phase and there are a number of things that can cause the levels to drop or rise. Menopause being the main contributor to the dramatic drops.

There are also 3 types:
Estradiol - the main type in women during reproductive years
Estroil - this main type during pregnancy
Estrone - the only type left in the body after menopause.