Melatonin Regulates Circadian Rhythm to Tell You When to Eat

There are many factors that can contribute to unintentional weight gain. If dietary improvements and exercise have not worked for you, there could be underlying hormonal causes to consider. Saliva-based hormone tests can indicate if the weight you’ve gained or your inability to lose weight is related to hormonal changes. Thankfully, once imbalances are identified, the cause of a deficiency or excess can be treated.

Strategies for restoring hormone balance can vary greatly depending on each individual’s specific hormone panel. Weight loss treatments generally target how to decrease fat and increase fat-burning muscle mass to restore health and wellness. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle through a balanced diet, regular physical activity, improved sleep habits, and adopting better methods for stress management can help to reverse hormonal weight gain and reduce certain health risks.

As you eat, hormones are being released into your bloodstream. These help your body decide how food much food is converted for energy and how much is stored as fat. Imbalances in the hormones discussed below can lead to weight gain and metabolic syndrome:

• Melatonin - Melatonin is secreted by a gland in your brain and regulates a cycle called the circadian rhythm, which is your body’s natural clock that tells you when to sleep, wake, and eat. Disruptions to your sleep patterns can lead to unintentional weight gain.
• Estrogen - High levels of estrogen are a common cause of estrogen dominance that can inhibit normal thyroid function and lower metabolism often resulting in weight gain, especially around the hip and thighs in women and as belly fat in men.
• Insulin - Carbohydrate intake has the biggest impact on insulin production and release but eating too much fat can also cause insulin dysfunction. Unfortunately, your body’s ability to manage excess energy only gets worse.
• Testosterone - Testosterone hormone plays a vital role for both men and women who generally gain excess weight with sex hormone imbalances that are also linked to a number of serious health problems with inflammation and fat accumulation.
• Leptin - Although leptin hormone is your body’s appetite suppressant, overproduction of leptin hormone can cause fat cells to produce even more leptin, but your body doesn’t get the signal and you do not feel full.

If you a needle phobia, saliva hormone testing offers many advantages over blood and urine in terms of accuracy and convenience when you need to screen and monitor imbalances. If you have experienced unexplained mood swings, changes in weight, or an overall lack of energy, it is a good time to check your hormone balance. MRC Hormone Test Kit is a non-invasive at home process using saliva testing. Simple salivary testing allows the specialists at MRC to use your personal biomarkers to identify specific areas for improving hormonal balance and reduce your risks for chronic health problems. A broad range of treatments, including natural therapies and lifestyle changes, can be successful in addressing hormonal imbalances. To get started, you have the option of connecting with MRC online or in person.