Are You Waiting Up For Santa Or Is It Insomnia?

Dr. Gino Tutera 

Remember being a little kid trying to stay up to hear Santa and his sleigh on the rooftop?    Do you even remember fighting the urge to fall asleep but you always did anyways?  As you aged, the anticipation may have dwindled listening for reindeer hoots, as you find yourself unable to fall asleep. 

As men and women age, their testosterone and estrogen levels naturally decrease. This affects your body in a number of ways. Unfortunately, one of these ways is an increase in difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. Insomnia is no longer limited to Christmas Eve. With menopause and andropause, insomnia can affect your sleep on a nightly basis. There are a number of ways that we can help you to decrease the negative effects of this sleeping disorder.

SottoPelle® Hormone Replacement Therapy

SottoPelle differs from creams by using your internal system to regulate what your body knows it needs and when. Unlike other methods, Hormone Pellet Replacement Therapy does not invite foreign synthetics into your body. This method uses pure hormone and a small percentage of human fatty acid to work with the existing hormones in your body. SottoPelle has been shown to decrease the effects of insomnia and a range of other symptoms that come with growing older.

Reduce Caffeine and Alcohol

Caffeine stimulates your brain and makes it difficult to fall asleep. By eliminating caffeine consumption after 12 pm, it can help make falling asleep a little easier. Alcohol may make you feel drowsy and help you fall asleep,  but it can leave you with a headache the next morning.  Alcohol can also cause you to reawake during the middle of the night and make it more difficult to fall back asleep. Wise not to use as a sleep aid! http://www.webmd.com/menopause/sleep-problems-menopause

Exercise

If you find yourself with a lot of energy at night, try exercising to tire you out. Sleep studies have shown that exercising can help insomniacs sleep better and have more energy during the day. Be sure to not to do vigorous exercising within 3 hours of going to bed as this may keep you more awake. http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/how-does-exercise-help-those-chronic-insomnia

Put Down the Phone

The light from your phone, television, computer, or other electronic device, can stimulate your brain and prevent you from falling asleep. The blue wavelengths these devices produce have also been shown to prevent melatonin production, the hormone that makes you sleepy. By keeping your phone out of reach and turning the television off it can help you fall asleep more easily. http://www.prevention.com/health/sleep-energy/insomnia-cure-10-simple-sleep-remedies/step-away-your-phone

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md

How You Can Avoid Holiday Weight Gain This Season

Dr. Enrique Jacome

During menopause and andropause, your body’s cortisol levels rise dramatically. Cortisol is the hormone commonly related to stress and during the holidays stress is felt by many. Cortisol helps the body use sugar and fat for energy. As levels rise, the rate of this function slows down; as a result, metabolism also slows. As you age, your muscle mass decreases which slows the rate that your body can use calories. This loss combined with high cortisol levels make it difficult not to gain weight as you age.

The holiday season is known for its abundance of sweets and piles of food. It’s difficult to find a holiday recipe that doesn’t have a pound of butter and sugar so how are you expected to avoid the excess weight gain during this time of year?

Exercise – It’s difficult during the most wonderful time of year to get to the gym but doing just that could help you reduce some of that holiday stress. While you exercise, endorphins are released in your brain that make you feel better. Allowing yourself to focus on one task can help you release stress and feel refreshed. Research has also shown that regular exercise can help improve self-confidence and anxiety making the holiday season a more important time than ever to stick to an exercise routine or start one!

Drink Water - While you’re enjoying your meal, put down the holiday cocktail and help yourself to a glass of water. You will avoid drinking empty calories and providing your body with hydration that can help you feel full faster.

Portion Control – Instead of filling your plate up with mountains of your favorite holiday treats, limit yourself to small portions of them. If you still think you are hungry after you finish, try waiting fifteen minutes before getting seconds to allow your brain to register that you have already eaten.

Bio-Identical Hormone Pellet Therapy – The SottoPelle® Method helps the body release hormone when it is needed and decrease it when requiring less 24/7 improving a vast number of symptoms related to andropause and menopause. Some symptoms the SottoPelle® Method helps improve are anxiety, depression, fatigue, difficulty losing weight, increased body fat, and carbohydrate cravings. The holidays seem synonymous with many of these symptoms so speak to your doctor about how SottoPelle® can help you.

Enjoy Yourself – The holidays are a chance for many to reconnect with friends and family. Instead of obsessing over calories, spend your time cherishing your loved ones and counting the blessings the year has brought you. Make healthy choices but remember to enjoy yourself.

There is nothing better than giving yourself the gift of health this holiday season with SottoPelle®.

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md

Study Shows HRT For Postmenopausal Women May Decrease The Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

Dr. Gino Tutera

A recent study found that one type of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for postmenopausal women may decrease the risk of pancreatic cancer. In the study, women from California who took estrogen-only HRT for symptoms of menopause were 41 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer over a 14-year period than women who never took hormone replacement therapy.

Generally, estrogen-only hormone therapy is only provided to women who have had their uterus removed, therefore, most therapies have a combination of hormones including ones like progestin. The study found associations, and cannot prove that estrogen in hormone replacement therapy actually causes an increase or decrease in pancreatic cancer risk. In addition, pancreatic cancer is rare, so the risk of any woman in the study developing the condition was small.

About the Study: The new study involved more than 118,000 female public school professionals in California who were surveyed in 1995 to 1996 about their use of hormone replacement therapy and current or past use of oral contraceptives, and were followed until 2009. At the start of the study, 60 percent of the women were postmenopausal, 25 percent of whom were current users of estrogen-only HRT, and 33 percent of whom were current users of estrogen-plus-progestin HRT. During the study period, 323 women (0.27 percent) were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California, was published online Sept. 5 in the journal American Journal of Epidemiology.

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md