Stress, is a hormone the answer?

In life it is very difficult to define stress, forget about quantifying it. With more and more modernization and heightened expectation of better and better performance, stress is increasing along with failure and depression.

Some of the high-risk groups prone to stress related problems include professionals in the fields of software, pharmaceutical, banking & financial services.

Individuals suffering from STRESS may fail to perform on personal as well as professional front. Young professionals continue to suffer from ‘stress’ and related health complications like

Physical Level: Erectile Dysfunction, Sleeplessness, Acidity, Insomnia, weight loss, loss of muscle mass, etc.

Emotional Level: Depression, inability to concentrate, Lack of confidence, Low self-esteem, Irritability.

Eventually, we have youngsters who are depressed / dejected running away from challenges. This has been causing lot of anxiety even to the top-line management who want their team to be energetic, confident and aggressive.

Health Check-ups commonly available address basic components of health such as Haemoglobin, Sugar, ECG and X-Ray. They are usually ‘normal’ giving no hint of the actual problem.

Significance of test parameters:

Hormones	Role / Benefit / Effects
Cortisol	Sleep, Blood Pressure, Glucose metabolism
Testosterone	At physical level – Male maturity, libido, sexual desire, fertility, sperm count At emotional level – Confidence, Aggression, Courage
TSH/Thyroid hormones	Controls secretion of thyroid hormones (t3 and t4) which play a vital role in entire metabolic activity and emotions
FSH / LH	Helps in ovulation in females and spermato-genesis (production of proper quantum and types of sperms) in males. Also controls secretion of sex hormones like testosterone, progesterone, estrogens from testis in males & ovaries in females.
DHEAS	Is a precursor to the production of testosterone, progesterone and estrogens – imbalance in which can show-up odd characters / characteristics of opposite sex such as – Hair growth, muscle development, aggression in females Breast / flabbiness / soft-voice, feminine behavior, sensitivity in males. Strongly correlates with libido in women.
E2 – Oestradiol	Female maturity, fertility, bone metabolism (supply / recycling of calcium to bones, which gets affected during menopause)

Catecholamines – They are the hormones of Adrenal glands on top of kidneys, commonly referred as fight or flight hormones, namely Adrenaline and Nor-adrenaline. In any stressful situation, be it physical or mental, their level go up physiologically to take our systems out of stress.

It is difficult to tell how much of these are related to hormones but hormonal changes are commonly seen in stress disorders. Deficient states can be corrected with physiological replacement.

Also see,

• What is Steroid? Is it good for health?
• Can stress be responsible for Metabolic Syndrome?
• Steroid Use and Abuse