Choosing to be “optimized” and not just “normal”!

Yes, I personally chose to utilize Bio-Identical hormone replacement therapy and with that choice I avoided the potential risks of synthetic hormones as previously discussed in an earlier blog post.  Yet, just using bio-identical hormones is not really adequate to reap all the benefits offered.

Optimization vs. Vitality

What is meant by optimization, you might ask?  Every lab test has a result.  Some can be as simple as positive or negative, while many others, including hormone levels, are reported as a numerical value that is accompanied by what is termed a “reference range”.  Some reference ranges are gender specific, some age specific, and some include all ages and genders.  The reference range is also considered the range of “normal” …meaning if your personal result falls within that reference range then your level is considered “normal”…end of story!

Very important is how the reference range or “normal” is established.  Many, but not all tests utilize the Gaussian Distribution or bell shaped curve to include the middle 95% of results, excluding the top and bottom 2.5%.  However, if a person’s lab result falls in the lower end of the curve or reference range, and still considered “normal”, does that person really have a level that is best or optimized for health & wellness?

An example that falling in the “normal” range is not necessarily optimal can be demonstrated by the following:

100 healthy women are randomly chosen to establish a normal range of shoe size.  Two women wear a size 4 and three women wear a size 14 while all the rest have shoe sizes ranging from 5 to 13.  The 5 women at the extreme ends of the spectrum are not considered “normal” sizes, while all of the remainder who wear a 5 to 13 are “normal”.  Now consider  how comfortable a woman who typically wears a size 11 will feel when she walks around in a size 8 or how efficient is her walking by the lady who typically wears a size 7 but is barely making any forward progress wearing a size 13 shoe.  Just because it’s normal doesn’t make it optimal.

Next time we’ll look at actual optimized hormone levels!