Hormone replacement therapy research

What is Hormone replacement therapy?

In order to have a better view of what hormone replacement therapy research is, it is first necessary to understand what hormone replacement or HRT is. Hormone replacement therapy is a process whereby which artificial hormones are implanted into the body in order to balance a woman's hormone levels. The imbalance of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone is primarily as a result of women reaching a menopausal stage of life.

What is menopause?

Hormone replacement therapy revolves around a stage in women's lives when their bodies lose the ability to sufficiently reproduce enough estrogen and progesterone. Such hormones are key to women's general health and well being and a shortage of it can cause havoc to the natural balance in women's bodies. Hormone replacement therapy research has shown that such an imbalance can cause a number of menopause symptoms, some of which HRT can help to curtail.

Menopause symptoms can include physical:
. Vaginal dryness
. Hair loss
. Tingling extremities
. Osteoporosis (after a few years)

And mental:
. Mood swings
. Depression
. Irritability

What has hormone replacement therapy research shown?

Hormone replacement therapy research has revealed that the treatment is capable of treating the symptoms of a woman's hormonal imbalance. Artificial hormones are not identical to natural human estrogen but they still perform an adequate job. Hormone replacement therapy research has shown particular effectiveness at treating hot flashes and night sweats. In addition to this hormone replacement therapy research has found that in the long term hormone replacement therapy may help to combat heart disease and osteoporosis.

Other benefits from hormone replacement therapy include:

. Reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by increasing good cholesterol and decreasing bad cholesterol
. Combats osteoporosis by preventing bone thinning
. Strengthens the vaginal wall and keeps them lubricated
. Could offer protection from colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease
. Increases memory and other cognitive functions that could deteriorate with age

The negatives of hormone replacement therapy have often been said to outweigh the positives however and there's some hormone replacement therapy research that concurs with this conclusion. The primarily involves its links to breast cancer.

What are the alternatives? Because of the side effects involved with hormone replacement therapy for women sometimes opt for alternatives in the treatment of symptoms related to a drop in testosterone levels. To find out more about these alternatives please continue here.