The Metabolic Hormones Pyramid
When you hear the word hormones you probably think of your sex hormones: oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. But your hormones are much more than just your sex hormones, and they have a huge impact on your metabolic health.
In fact, key hormones like insulin, cortisol, thyroid hormones, melatonin and appetite-regulating hormones can directly influence your energy, weight and overall health, and need to be in balance if your sex hormones are going to function optimally and you remain in good health as you age.
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Key Players in Metabolic Hormone Health
Insulin: This hormone, produced by your pancreas, manages blood sugar levels. It’s highly responsive to your diet, your lifestyle, and your stress levels. If insulin is out of balance, you may feel exhausted, struggle with weight gain, and even experience raised blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels, and much more. When insulin functions well, it stabilises energy and helps to prevent longer-term metabolic health issues such as type-2-diabetes.
Cortisol: Known as our “stress hormone,” cortisol is released by the adrenal glands (the little glands on top of your kidneys) and is vital in managing your “fight or flight” response. High levels of cortisol are often caused by chronic stress and can lead to sleep issues, fatigue, high blood pressure, and mood swings. Balanced cortisol is crucial for good metabolic health because it helps regulate blood sugar levels, manage stress responses, and maintain energy balance, ensuring that the body can effectively respond to physiological demands.
Thyroid Hormones: The thyroid produces hormones like thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), which influence nearly every cell in your body. These hormones regulate your metabolism, digestion, brain function, heart health, energy production, fertility, growth and development and more. When thyroid function is low, it can lead to fatigue, weight gain, and even hair thinning. Balanced thyroid hormones keep our metabolism strong and our energy levels steady.
Melatonin: Melatonin, commonly known as the "sleep hormone," plays a crucial role in metabolic health by regulating circadian rhythms, which influence energy balance and insulin sensitivity. It helps control glucose metabolism by improving insulin function and reducing oxidative stress, thereby supporting weight management and lowering the risk of metabolic conditions like type-2 diabetes. Additionally, melatonin supports mitochondrial function, which is essential for efficient energy production and overall metabolic balance.
Appetite-Regulating Hormones: Ghrelin and leptin are key hormones that help regulate our appetite and energy balance. Ghrelin, known as the "hunger hormone," is produced in the stomach and signals to the brain when we need to eat. On the other hand, leptin, often called the "satiety hormone," is released by fat cells and tells the brain when we have enough energy stored, helping to suppress hunger. When these hormones are imbalanced—like in obesity, where high leptin levels can lead to leptin resistance—it can cause increased hunger and overeating making it harder to maintain a healthy weight.
Sex Hormones (Oestrogen, Progesterone, and Testosterone): Produced mainly in the ovaries (and a little by your adrenal glands and fat cells), these hormones influence not only the menstrual cycle and reproductive health but also mood, energy, and muscle mass. Sex hormone balance is influenced by all the other metabolic hormones. These can affect body weight, fat distribution, and energy balance, all of which play a crucial role in the production and regulation of sex hormones.
How Are These Hormones Connected?
Hormones work across different systems in the body but are far more connected than we often realise. Imbalances in one area, like blood sugar or stress, can set off a ripple effect, impacting other hormones such as thyroid, appetite-regulating and sex hormones. If you’re facing issues like weight gain, fatigue and gut problems, it’s vital to understand how all the metabolic hormones are linked.
The Three-Legged Stool Analogy
Imagine your metabolic health as a three-legged stool with each leg representing a core group of hormones: appetite-regulating hormones, thyroid hormones, and adrenal (stress) hormones. When one leg is shorter—say, due to stress affecting your adrenal hormones—it creates an imbalance, causing strain on the other “legs” over time. To stabilise the stool, the “seat” needs a solid base, which in this case, is insulin and blood sugar regulation. Without balanced blood sugar, the whole stool wobbles, affecting energy, mood, and hormonal stability.
But underneath all of this sits an even larger piece of the puzzle: gut health. Your gut is like the foundation beneath the stool, influencing not only hormone production but also absorption and regulation. A healthy gut helps maintain balanced insulin levels, supports adrenal resilience to stress, and plays a crucial role in producing and managing thyroid, sleep and appetite-regulating hormones.
When your gut is functioning well, it supports all these interconnected hormones, helping to regulate appetite, optimise energy production, maintain a healthy weight, ensure restful sleep, balance your sex hormones, and support overall metabolic health.
The Metabolic Hormones Pyramid
The hormone pyramid outlines hormone balance in a layered order of importance, helping you understand where to focus for optimal metabolic health. While the three-legged stool analogy shows how hormones are interconnected, the pyramid digs deeper into how these systems build on one another to create overall metabolic balance. Here’s how it breaks down:
Gut Health as the Foundation – Gut health is like the soil beneath the entire pyramid, supporting all levels. A healthy gut is essential for nutrient absorption and hormone production, especially for blood sugar and adrenal health. Balanced gut health helps regulate insulin, supports immune function, impacts the effectiveness of all hormone levels above it, and is a key component of good metabolic health.
Insulin and Blood Sugar Regulation – Blood sugar management forms the first layer of the hormone pyramid. Proper regulation of your blood sugar is essential, directly impacting everything from energy production, heart health, mood and weight stability. Blood sugar regulation is a fundamental process in your body; it’s very tightly regulated and is a matter of life or death if things go wrong.
Adrenal Health – Above blood sugar regulation sits adrenal health. Your adrenal glands manage cortisol, your primary stress hormone, which is critical for your fight or flight response, your daily resilience, your energy regulation, and your sleep-wake cycles. Balanced adrenals support stress management, which is essential for keeping all levels above it in the hormone pyramid stable.
While adrenal health isn’t quite as fundamental as blood sugar regulation, it’s extremely important and so the first two levels of the pyramid are really about “surviving”.Thyroid Health – The thyroid gland, which sits in the third layer, isn’t as critical as the other two layers to your survival but still has a big influence on your health. Nearly every cell in your body has receptors for thyroid hormones and their influence extends to your metabolism, growth and repair, your digestion, your bone health, and even brain function. Imbalances in thyroid health can have body-wide impact and play a big part in your general well-being.
Melatonin - Good gut health supports melatonin production by aiding the creation of serotonin, a precursor to melatonin, and reducing inflammation that can disrupt sleep-regulating hormones. Balanced insulin and cortisol levels help maintain stable blood sugar and a healthy stress response, which are essential for a consistent sleep-wake cycle and preventing disruptions to melatonin secretion. Optimal thyroid hormones support metabolic regulation and energy balance, creating the hormonal stability needed for restful and restorative sleep.
Appetite Regulation - Leptin and ghrelin are particularly influenced by the hormones beneath them in the metabolic hormone pyramid. Higher levels of thyroid hormones can increase leptin production while enhancing leptin sensitivity, and they can also help regulate ghrelin levels, thereby supporting appetite control and metabolism. Elevated cortisol levels can increase ghrelin secretion, stimulating appetite and potentially leading to weight gain, while also affecting leptin signaling, which may lead to leptin resistance. Finally, insulin helps regulate leptin production, as higher insulin levels typically promote leptin secretion from fat cells; conversely, insulin resistance can disrupt this process and lead to imbalances in both leptin and ghrelin, increasing hunger and affecting energy regulation.
Sex Hormones (Oestrogen, Progesterone, and Testosterone) – At the peak of my pyramid are the sex hormones, crucial for reproductive health but also impacting your mood, muscle mass, and overall wellbeing. While they are essential for ensuring you “thrive”, they depend heavily on the stability of the foundational layers below them.
The Metabolic Hormone Hierarchy: Why the Gut Health Foundation Matters
At the base of the Hormone Pyramid lies gut health-the foundation for optimal metabolic health, which is essential for maintaining a healthy balance of adrenal, thyroid, sleep, appetite-regulation and sex hormones. A well-functioning gut is crucial. If your goal is to enhance your metabolic or hormonal health—perhaps because you’re facing energy dips, mood swings or weight management challenges—it’s essential to focus on the gut’s role in digestion and nutrient absorption.
When your gut health is robust, it supports stable blood sugar levels and reduces inflammation, creating an environment conducive to balanced hormones. For example, when your gut is healthy, it helps regulate insulin. Proper insulin regulation prevents metabolic issues that can negatively impact adrenal and thyroid function, or disrupt appetite regulation.
By focusing on improving your gut health you create a solid foundation for good metabolic health. This not only enhances your body's ability to convert food and fat stores into energy but also supports the hormonal balance necessary for optimal insulin, adrenal and thyroid function, restful sleep, efficient appetite regulation, and balanced sex hormone function.
Conclusion
The Metabolic Hormone Pyramid shows why it is vital to pay attention to all your hormones and to your gut health, even if your primary concern is in only one area. The cumulative effect of addressing metabolic hormonal imbalances can have a positive ripple effect throughout your whole body leading to weight loss, improved energy levels and better metabolic health.
