In both men and women, it is the sex hormones that keep the human species from extinction. As we get a bit older, we have our children and our hormones are what helps us maintain pregnancies, nurture our young, and raise our families. They give us the ability to stay up all night and still have energy the next day to keep taking care of our brood.

But our ability to thrive doesn’t just come from our sex hormones. They are intimately intertwined with many, many other hormones.

Insulin affects sugar levels. Adrenal hormones like cortisol and adrenaline protect us from inflammation and keep us sharp and ready to move at a moment’s notice. These hormones also are intimately connected to our brain hormones: serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine, which all work to keep our moods well-balanced. They keep us happy and help us get up in the morning and carry on with our lives.

Another very important hormone is the thyroid hormone, which also interplays with the others, keeping our metabolism in fine shape, our weight balanced, and the temperature in our bodies in sync with the rest of our environment.

As we age, the sex hormones and the thyroid, along with the adrenal hormones, start to lose their effectiveness. Their loss leads to weight gain, mood swings, depression, bloating, insomnia, and loss of fertility.

In time, we get old, and diseases of aging connected to loss of hormones rear their ugly heads: diabetes, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s, to name a few.

But things don’t have to be that gloomy. While modern medicine focuses on getting us the most up-to-date in genetic testing and disease diagnosis, it totally overlooks the indelible role of hormones.

If we focused on replacing and supplementing the missing hormones and re-creating their youthful balance, I am willing to guarantee the diseases we are so busy diagnosing and treating would all but disappear from existence.