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Did you know low levels of thyroid can bring on not only low energy and weight gain, but also depression and even brain fog?
This can make thinking, problem-solving, and just coping with the everyday stresses of life, much harder.
With the rise in hormone-blocking toxins in our environment, processed foods and processed sugars, and the low amount of protein most of us consume, low thyroid is affecting more and more people, especially among women and the elderly.
In this article we dive into what thyroid is, how low thyroid occurs, how it affects our mood, mental alertness, and our ability to think and cope with the problems of everyday life and what we can do to raise it.
Let’s jump in.
The Thyroid is a gland located in the front of your neck which produces our thyroid hormones.
These play a very important role in weight gain and weight loss, our energy levels, our temperature, our skin, hair and nail growth, and our metabolism (the process in which our cells turn food into energy).
This is so much the case that thyroid actually drives the production of our mitochondria, the tiny organelles in our cells that make ATP (Adenosine triphosphate), the energy source our cells use to function.
Higher thyroid leads to higher levels of ATP (cellular energy), and lower thyroid leads to less ATP.
But thyroid even determines how many mitochondria our cells have with which to produce this energy.
The average cell in a healthy person has about 1000-2000 mitochondria to produce ATP.
But you can do a biopsy on someone with very low thyroid and come up with 500 mitochondria per cell — very low.
So this isn’t just energy production that thyroid regulates, it also regulates how many mitochondria we have in the first place with which to produce this ATP (cellular energy).
This is why we can have such low energy levels when our thyroid is low, and why it can take longer to build it back up again when addressing thyroid levels. We don’t just have to increase energy production, we have to increase energy producers.
So when we give thyroid to a patient, not only do their energy levels rise from increased production by the mitochondria they have, we also see increasing numbers of mitochondria.
But when thyroid is low, this can lead to more than just low levels of energy. It can also lead to depression and brain fog.
The brain is only about 3% of the body by weight. But as far as energy use, it’s about 20%. Meaning, the brain uses about 20% of the total energy our body produces.
But when our thyroid is low, the mitochondria in nerve cells in the brain produce less energy (ATP), and there are less mitochondria than there should be.
Thus, the brain is getting much less energy than it needs to do its job.
Low thyroid can also lead to decreased blood flow in the brain, preventing brain cells from getting the oxygen and nutrients they need. And it’s oxygen and nutrients (sugars, fats or amino acids) that the mitochondria use to produce ATP.
So we get even less energy production.
On top of that, thyroid is vital to the production and use of neurotransmitters in the brain such as serotonin, which raises mood, and norepinephrine, which helps us to be more alert and attentive.
And, as thyroid is essential for maintaining the health of neurons (nerve cells in the brain), as well as the formation of new connections between neurons (synapses), which information travels along in the form of electric impulses, this low thyroid can also contribute to a lessened ability to think as quickly.
Lastly, as thyroid also helps to regulate the other hormones, when thyroid is low, insulin and cortisol can rise, bringing on higher levels of stress.
All of this can show up as brain fog, inability to concentrate attention, think fast or be alert. It can lower our mood, bringing on depression, or stress us out with raised anxiety.
And, while there may be very real things in our environment that could be causing us to be depressed or anxious, we don’t need this to exaggerate those troubles, making them harder to cope with, or lowered mental ability to prevent us from figuring out solutions to our problems.
Thyroid is a very simple hormone made from iodine and the amino acid tyrosine.
Tyrosine is a non-essential amino acid which the body makes from the essential amino acid phenylalanine.
When we’re low on iodine or essential amino acids from protein, our body has less of what it needs to produce thyroid in the amounts we need for optimal energy production.
But there is more here. Certain toxins can disrupt the production and/or use of thyroid, or even make it so the cells aren’t able to receive or use it when thyroid levels are in optimal ranges.
As toxins are so high in today’s world, along with low levels of thyroid, we truly need to work harder than ever to ensure as few toxins are coming into our body as possible through properly filtered water, only organic foods to the best of our ability, and personal care products that do not contain harmful toxins in them.
Check out the Environmental Working Group for a full list of toxins to look out for in personal care products.
But there’s another key factor here.
There is something called estrogen dominance, where estrogen levels get too high in women and men. (Too high estrogen can also contribute to depression and anxiety.)
These too-high levels of estrogen are caused, mainly, by too much sugar (processed sugar really is the worst). And this high estrogen also brings on high cortisol (raises stress levels), lowers progesterone levels (a hormone that lowers stress levels), lowers testosterone levels and… destroys thyroid.
Literally.
You see, estrogen does a few things with regard to thyroid. It can block the receptors on cells that thyroid uses to communicate with the cells. But it can also create something called thyroid binding globulins, which literally “eat up” the thyroid in your blood stream.
And there is the matter of vitamins, as well as magnesium, all of which contribute to properly functioning pathways in the cells which are needed for the optimal use of thyroid.
But these are the key things.
We need to lower the toxins coming into our body and work to remove the toxins we do have.
We need to lower sugar levels or at the very least remove processed sugars and processed foods from our diet, only eating organic foods to the best of our ability.
We need to get properly filtered water — reverse-osmosis is the best.
And we need to make sure our iodine levels are in optimal range and that we’re getting enough high quality protein in our diets.
Doing this can significantly improve thyroid levels, helping raise our mood, energy levels, and mental ability.
I hope this helps.
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Anyone who works out, runs, bikes or does any type of intense exercise, knows about DOMS — Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.
This is the soreness you feel not right after a workout or exercise, but 24-48 hours later.
At one point it was thought this was caused by lactic acid build up, but this isn’t the case.
Lactic acid is an acid that starts to build up just before we reach our VO2 Max and can’t go any further in our exercise or workout. (VO2 Max is literally the Maximum amount, or Volume, of Oxygen (O2) that your cells can utilize during intense exercise, before you burn out.)
But lactic acid actually helps you. Your body can metabolize it (burn it and use it as fuel).
So what really causes DOMS? And how can we prevent it or lessen it?
Let’s see.
The body requires all kinds of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins for optimum health. And in the Standard American Diet (SAD), none are more deficient than Omega-3 fatty acids.
An array of critical bodily processes are dependent on these fats for proper function, particularly in the immune system and brain.
When it comes to eating healthy fats and oils, most people don't realize that the ratio of the right kinds of fats is really important.
Most experts agree that a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 of Omega-6 to Omega-3 is ideal, but the average American intake is more like 20:1 – over ten times more than needed.
Unfortunately, many of our sources for healthy Omega-3s are poor, degraded by modern food manufacturing processes, by our polluted environment, and by the lack of choices available in restaurants and grocery stores. Unless you're paying vigilant attention to your dietary fat intake, you're probably out of balance.
You probably need more Omega-3s.
This is where supplementation can make all the difference.
At BodyHealth, we've put together the most advanced, high-quality Omega-3 supplement available to optimize your brain health: Omega-3 Health.
We know about amino acids, hormones, and how different foods affect our ability to build lean muscle, burn fat and stay healthy.
But if we want to achieve maximum levels of energy, recovery, health and performance, and build the most lean muscle, then we need to go down to the cellular level.
After all, our bodies are just one big mass of some 100 trillion cells all bonded together.
How well we're doing is an exact reflection of how well our cells are doing.
And they require a multitude of nutrients and biochemicals, all held in equilibrium, to ensure they can work properly, produce energy, build muscle, and keep our body going.
When these aren't properly balanced we can get headaches, brain fog, low levels of energy, muscle cramps, slower recoveries from workouts, and imbalances in hormones.
But when everything is in place, we have the most powerful you that you can be.
So let’s see how this works.