Hormone fluctuations in women

[Xilya]

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[TD="width: 100%"] I am a 30 years old female, and I have been training very hard for the past 6 years. Next week I will be doing some blood work, and I have a question related to it. As far as I know, men will have a different testosterone level throughout the day, and it will be less after the train, sleep bad, and stress a lot. Does the same happen to women?


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[Lev Butlerov]

There are definitely lots of hormonal fluctuations in women, especially around the menstruation date. However, if I am not mistaken, they do not follow such a fixed patter as male's hormones do...

 

[stevesmi]

women suffer the same medical problems from stress, lack of sleep, adrenal fatigue, drug abuse, etc.

a proper diet and exercise is important

 

[SteveMobsterG]

In a word - yes. The obvious difference is the testosterone to estrogen ratio. There will be others. As with men you're just as likely to have hormones affected by stress, lack of sleep, diet and even (yes it's true - although it's very small) the lunar cycle. The big one, as mentioned by Lev, is menstruation.

In other threads, depending on what's being tested, what for and how, even the use of Creatine can affect blood marker (like Creatinine). The same is true of a high protein use. You can either come off Creatine, in this example, for a few days or, as often happens, have another blood test a few days later to get a good set of averages.

In some tests (although not so much hormonal or blood tests) so-called 'white coat syndrome' can affect the results. It's more likely in Blood Pressure and heart rate tests. People get nervous and so the numbers are skewed.

In some famous examples of how test levels are affected hey measured the levels of fans on the winning side and the losing side of a football match. Although minor the levels of losing fans were lower than the winning fans. Equally colors, like red, can affect both mood and test levels. Again not in any major way but still enough to be measured. Again both for men and for women.

I should also mention that being on the contraceptive pill will have a big effect. They will ask. Ditto any other meds you might be on.

 

[muskate]

Women are almost a different person each week. Their menstrual cycle causes their hormones to fluctuate week by week.

When you get blood work done, you need to make sure it's at the same week in your menstrual cycle each time so you can compare apples to apples.

Also - testosterone levels are highest in the morning and decline as the day goes on. Make sure to get the blood work done at the same time each day as well.

 

[MasonicBodybuilder]

Yes, hormone levels fluctuate throughout the day and even more as a female. If you are going to compare them you would want to get them at the same time of the day and in the same place in your menstrual cycle.

 

[Xilya]

Thank you Muskate for the advice of doing blood work on the same day of the cycle - I will try to do so. One more question - is there any particular time of the day for blood tests?

 

[muskate]

It's best to get blood work done first thing in the morning after fasting for a minimum of 8 hours.

Your testosterone levels are highest in the morning and decline as the day progresses. For the most accurate readings, get the blood work done as early as possible.