By Dr. Richard Chern, MD
As we age, it seems like it’s more difficult to get a good night’s sleep. For some of us, it’s harder to fall asleep and others have difficulty staying asleep. Then there are those who have difficulty with both falling asleep and staying asleep. A lack of sleep leads to daytime sleepiness, an inability to concentrate, emotional instability, poor decision making and a decrease in mood. A lack of sleep is also associated with increases in disease such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease, depression and more. It’s easy to see how important a good night’s sleep is.
It should not be a surprise that the main reason sleep problems occur as we age is from dysfunction in our hormones. After age 40, the amount of sleep problems that occur from a lack of hormones increases rapidly. Progesterone plays a major role in the ability to fall asleep at night. By dosing progesterone correctly, we are able to eliminate those hours of staring at the ceiling waiting to fall asleep. And with the proper use of testosterone and estrogen, we are able to get your sleep cycles to continue not only through the night, but also well into the morning. You can say goodbye to those mornings of waking up at 3 a.m. staring at the ceiling trying to decide if you should start your day or fight that losing battle to get a few more hours of sleep.
Most people think of hormones as only affecting libido or sexual function. In my mind, these are the least important reasons to consider hormone optimization. Improving sleep, waking refreshed and ready for the day, reducing your risk of disease and death, reducing your risk of multiple different cancers, improving your mood and increasing your overall feeling of well-being are far more important.
As always, keep in mind that what is considered “normal” or “reference range” is not the same as optimal. A quick example of this is your Vitamin D level. A level of 30-100 is considered normal, but levels below 40 are associated with a 40% increase in cancer and levels below 50 are associated with a 6x increase in breast cancer. Are you going to be happy with a level of 35? Does your doctor know what the optimal ranges are of hormones that they rarely, if ever, even order? If you have to ask your doctor to order the lab, do you think they are going to know how to interpret the result? Come see us and get your labs done. Let the experts evaluate your levels.
Dr. Richard Chern, MD specializes in hormone optimization in both women and men. He travels throughout the U.S. teaching doctors how to properly optimize hormones in men and women, including providers here in Northwest Florida. Dr. Chern along with nurse practitioner Sue Griffin ARNP are both currently accepting new patients. Call (850) 830-3012 today to make an appointment. It will be a life changing event.
