Hormone Health and Functional Ageing

Most of us believe that hormones are only responsible in controlling our emotions. However, they are responsible for some many other things too. Hormones are also known to control our growth and development and they are also beneficial in healthy functioning of our body and also play essential part in the aging process. In this article we will know how hormone health and functional ageing are linked with each other.

Ageing is defined by our Chronological age. Functional age is however, is a measure that is other than the chronological age and it could actually reflect an individual’s position in their process of ageing. Functional health is actually the how a person functions in the day-to-day life, especially the functioning of an elderly person.

Our functional health is especially important in case of older people, as aging is accompanied by a gradual decline in several physiological functions, which include our ability in performing the daily activities. Functional ageing addresses the ability of performing regular activities in elderly people.

Attaining functional ability or having functional ageing requires a person to maintain adequate amount of their hormone levels throughout their body that are important for the physical and mental health in long-term. It can be easily put as; “our hormones are responsible in controlling the speed at which one ages.” A reduced level of hormone in the body or a decline in the hormone health can result in several issues such as bone loss, lots of reduction in sex drive, depression, dementia and several other conditions which are usually experienced as we age. Hormones are also known to control our skin elasticity; and the loss of skin elasticity results in wrinkles. Hormone supplementation can help in improving the skin elasticity and be beneficial in attaining functional aging.

Depending on the type as well as intensity of the activity, and also the function of hormone; our physical activity can be influenced by the hormones as well as can influence our hormones. Proper exercise and sleep are the two most crucial non-pharmacological stimuli of the secretion of GH or the Growth hormone.

By improving functional ability and the performance in older adults, their quality of life is improved. There are several studies that show that the intensity of exercise we do; is an important factor in the response of hormones to physical activity in the elderly people.

It is found that exercise has wonderful effect on the hormones and that can actually offset some of the age-related hormonal changes, and also reduce the decline of some of the functional activities. Studies have revealed that aerobic exercises along with Resistance training have positive effects on the estrogen hormone and the growth hormone, and it is also found that long-term as well as short-term aerobic exercise can actually increase the levels of estrogen hormones in case of the elderly individuals having very low levels of fitness. However, it was found that the levels of testosterone were affected more by the resistance training. So, in order to increase your functional ability or have a functional ageing and maintain a great quality of life, you need to incorporate heavy resistance training and aerobic exercises to your workout routine.

So, hormones are quite important for human body, and they play a significant role in the ageing process. In order to age gracefully, you need to maintain your hormonal health and that would in turn help you increase your functional ability as you age. This would make you experience a functional ageing, where you not only would age gracefully, but also have longevity and maintain a youthful look and body for long.