HOW THE WEALTHY STAY IN SHAPE: HORMONE CREAMS – FIRST CLASS
You are in a meeting. Opposite you sits a man who is practically falling asleep and struggling to concentrate. A lack of testosterone is often behind tiredness even during the day. Or you are greeted by a woman in her forties whose facial contours and the skin on her arms have begun to sag. She seems more tearful, upset by the slightest thing. These are signs of declining oestrogen, growth hormone and progesterone levels. Hormones influence almost everything in the body, inside and out. When medicine meets cosmetics, a small miracle emerges: a pot containing precisely what the body is missing. A made-to-measure cream.
At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about it. The special hormone cream contains no colouring or perfume unless the client specifically requests it, and its packaging has no unusual design. What matters becomes apparent after one, two or three weeks: firmer facial skin, a greater zest for life, quicker reactions or better memory. In America, anti-aging medicine is taught at university and has its own specialist certification. In the Czech Republic, few people know much about it yet. Successful people who want to achieve their goals and keep themselves in excellent condition also consult the Czech Republic’s only certified specialist in anti-aging medicine, Dr Monika Golková.
THE GENTLEST TREATMENT
Most people arrive with a list of complaints and difficulties. This is followed by an interview and the collection of blood, hair and DNA samples. Screening, carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Endocrinology and sometimes laboratories abroad, identifies both existing problems and those that could develop over time if habits remain unchanged. Sometimes vitamins or dietary changes are sufficient; where hormone treatment is necessary, a cream is the gentlest and most effective form. “It is prepared individually, and the hormones have exactly the same structure as the body’s own, so side effects are minimal,” explains Dr Monika Golková, Medical Director of A2C, the Czech Republic’s only certified anti-aging clinic. “It is gentler than conventional hormone treatment, which is given across the board. That works fully for some people but not for others. This is why some doctors do not recommend it at all.” The active substances are released gradually from the cream, unlike injections, which produce a very high initial level that then falls below normal. Unlike tablets, the cream does not pass through the digestive tract, so there is no need to fear liver damage. Application is pleasant and easy to remember: once a day, apply the cream to an area without hair, usually the inner arms or thighs. The substances are then absorbed. What can they do?
HAIR
Hair loss or a decline in hair quality is usually caused by heavy metal poisoning—lead, cadmium or arsenic—which can also cause eczema or a rash around the mouth and on the neck. The source may be the diet or poor-quality amalgam fillings. Chemical analysis of a hair sample can reveal this. The hormones in the cream can deal with these toxic metals.
EYES
Puffy eyelids and a swollen face, as well as a deeper voice, slower reactions, fatigue and depression, stem from reduced thyroid function. The key hormones that may be deficient at any age are T4 (thyroxine) and its active form, T3 (triiodothyronine). Some people, however, mainly need the enzyme that converts T4 into T3.
FACE
Youthful, supple skin is maintained by the “youth hormone” DHEA, whose production declines around the age of forty. A deficiency shows itself in sagging, loss of moisture and reduced energy. Although nothing hurts, the person does not quite feel themselves. Joint problems begin to appear.
UPPER LIP
Fine vertical lines appear over time. Oestrogen, which counters wrinkles, is responsible for keeping the skin taut. When its levels fall, bones become fragile because oestrogen is needed to form new bone tissue. Progesterone, with its moisturising and anti-inflammatory effects, helps prevent swelling of the body and face.
ABDOMEN/THIGHS
Women know the feeling too. A previously flawless figure starts to become rounder for no apparent reason, despite not eating even one extra sugar cube. In women, this is caused by the sex hormone oestrogen, which declines from the age of fifty. The body then tries to retain enough hormonally active tissue, including fat.
HIPS
You may be going under the knife or having liposuction unnecessarily. The fat deposits you want removed may also result from a lack of growth hormone, a problem that plastic surgery or liposuction cannot resolve. Growth hormone regulates the balance between muscle and fat, affects skin firmness, boosts immunity and speeds up thinking. Its decline begins around thirty, falling by 14% with each subsequent decade.
WHY an individually formulated cream is better
We know the pattern from ordinary tablets: they are all the same, standardised. But every person is different. Hormones formulated for an individual, known as bioidentical hormones, match personal needs. The cream contains a precise dose that helps adjust the levels of other important hormones too: insulin, cortisol, adrenal hormones, thyroid hormones and sex hormones. Because the body recognises and welcomes them, bioidentical hormones place no burden on the organism.
WHY supplement hormones at all?
We age, and our own hormone production begins to decline around twenty-five. From thirty onwards, the skin becomes drier, loses firmness and elasticity, and develops more wrinkles. Using cosmetics containing small doses of natural bioidentical hormones can slow ageing by up to ten years. Hormonal activators in the cream stimulate cell function, potentially doubling it. Wrinkle formation alone can fall by up to 30%! Take growth hormone as an example. From the age of twenty, its concentration in the body falls by 14% every ten years. Stress, too little sleep and overeating late at night accelerate the decline. Assertiveness fades, while anxiety, emotional instability and feelings of isolation increase. Some people overdo artificial growth hormone supplementation, leading to swelling and pain in the joints and fingers, headaches and tingling in the limbs. Paradoxically, they end up harming themselves.
WHY be careful with screens at night?
Melatonin is a popular hormone among the wealthy. Abroad, it can be bought without a prescription, especially at airports, because it counteracts jet lag—the disruption of sleep patterns caused by travelling between time zones. Difficulty falling asleep is usually caused by stress. In a healthy person, sleep should return to normal once the causes of stress disappear. If stress continues, however, anxiety about falling asleep develops. People then take third-generation sleeping pills, but these must not be used for longer than a month. Otherwise, they disrupt sleep architecture and suppress the dreaming phase, leaving people feeling hungover in the morning. Memory and reasoning suffer. Unfortunately, most people take sleeping pills for an average of two years, and a third for as long as five. Melatonin does not have these effects. It can be taken long term and is not addictive. In the Czech Republic, the only product sold is Circadin, a melatonin medicine costing CZK 450, but this too uses a standardised approach and does not work equally well for everyone. The best solution is to produce melatonin in the brain, which it can do at night. When the hormone level rises, the body receives the signal: “You can go to sleep.” To have enough melatonin for healthy sleep, we need to expose the body to a great deal of light during the day. That is why sleep worsens in autumn. People who sleep poorly, wake frequently and cannot get back to sleep can increase production through steady exposure to sunlight during the day and complete darkness in the bedroom at night. Just two hours of looking at a backlit screen can suppress melatonin production. LED lighting affects the brain in a similar way. The easiest approach is to leave devices in another room, use an alarm clock, remove the television from the bedroom, fit bedside lamps with conventional bulbs and use dark curtains and blinds.
Source: First Class magazine