Are your hormones imbalanced? Doctors explain how to know if you need testing

Your body is home to more than 50 hormones — chemical messengers that compose the endocrine system — and hormonal imbalances may reflect any number of medical conditions.

Do you know what your hormone levels are? Should you?

Your body is home to more than 50 hormones — chemical messengers that compose the endocrine system — and hormonal changes may reflect any number of medical conditions. For example, low levels of the pancreatic hormone insulin may indicate diabetes, while high levels of the stress hormone cortisol can play a role in obesity.

But some hormones such as melatonin, which is important for sleep, naturally fluctuate throughout the day. Other hormonal changes are normal at different phases of life, such as a woman’s drop in the reproductive hormones estrogen and progesterone preceding menopause.

Hormones are having a moment.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Nov. 10 it was removing the black box warning on hormone replacement therapy for menopause. Agency leaders said the listed risks, including breast cancer, don’t outweigh the treatment’s long-term health benefits, such as reductions in bone fractures and cognitive decline.