What is Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy?

As humans grow older, hormone levels within the body begin to diminish. Women entering menopause—and men entering the male equivalent, called andropause—often require hormone replacements that imitate the hormones the body is losing. These substitutes are referred to as bioidentical hormones, natural hormone replacement therapy, or simply NHRT.

Many types of synthetic hormones have been banned in countries around the world, including the US. As such, natural hormone replacement therapy often utilizes non-synthetic hormones. These all-natural substitutions are obtained from plant sources and replicate the effects of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Natural hormone replacement therapy equals out the imbalances in the body's endocrine system brought on by menopause.

Natural hormone replacement therapy has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine. For thousands of years, Chinese medicine has harnessed the positive effects unique to certain plant-derived hormones. The hormone progesterone was first harvested from plant sources in the 1930s, and by the 1980s, a full line of natural hormone replacements was first available on the market.

Women enduring the challenges of menopause often find great relief after starting a natural hormone replacement therapy regimen. There have been numerous benefits experienced from this natural approach to equalizing hormone levels. Hot flashes can reduce drastically and often dissipate altogether, keeping the body temperature comfortable and ensuring a more restful night's sleep. Mental clarity, better short-term memory, depression relief, and an all-around better quality of life are among the other reported benefits of hormone replacement therapy.

Natural hormone replacement therapy also offers strong barriers against certain diseases. Risks of colon cancer and heart disease can be dramatically lowered and osteoporosis can be successfully fought. As an added bonus, hormone replacement therapy also restores and heightens the female sex drive.

Men going through andropause face symptoms similar to those of women going through menopause. Reported warning signs include hot flashes, sleep disruption, loss of sex drive, erectile dysfunction, depression, weight gain, and an inability to gain muscle mass. Men on a natural hormone replacement therapy treatment plan usually find these symptoms much more manageable, or in some cases, eliminated completely.

There are few side effects of natural hormone replacement therapy. Naturally occurring hormones are typically not as strong as the old synthetic replacements, so the side effects typically are not as severe as the ones experienced by those who once took the manufactured replacements. Women may have menstrual cramps or bleeding, swollen or tender breasts, nausea, or weight gain, while men sometimes report irritability or restlessness. All of these side effects, however, can be lessened or eliminated by slight changes in the hormone replacement therapy treatment.