02/20/2026
Thoughts on hormones
Who needs ‘‘em anyway? Biology is no respecter of individuals. The only concern is reproductive efficiency. Anything that improves reproduction is conserved and anything that impairs is relegated. So when are hormones levels at their highest during the life cycle? During reproductive years. What happens to the body when hormone levels crash as in menopause? It begins to wither. So why do women have menopause and men don’t? I would suggest that it is the difference in the way the sexes handle the reproductive cells. Men produce new daily throughout their lifetime but women are born with every egg they will ever have. Inside the potential egg the chromosomes are paired together in suspended animation until the time that egg is selected for development during the female cycle. The longer they are in that pairing before selection the more likely they will not split correctly to form two functional egg cells and genetic complications increase. Perhaps, the increase in genetic complications surpasses the benefit of reproduction? If that is true then the experience of menopause for women might be viewed as artificial as the value of a life is not considered to be dependent on reproductive function and maintaining these levels might be necessary for maintaining a best life??
We tend to think of testosterone as being for men and estrogen/progesterone as being for women. Yet while having some testosterone is beneficial for women so also some estrogen is beneficial for men. However, reproduction cannot occur in a crisis. So levels must be surprised under certain circumstances until the perceived crisis passes and life returns to normal. I would argue that in the modern world life itself is a crisis and that those levels can be suppressed indefinitely affecting the function of the individual. Oh that we could change our life enough to feel better and function better. Is that possible, and what to do in the meantime??
