As we continue to investigate how our bodies function (or don’t), the more we see words with definitions that we have never heard before. It can become overwhelming to take it all in and process, but it helps when one of these discoveries can help improve your cognitive abilities.
Pregnenolone, like DHEA, is a steroidal hormone that occurs naturally in the body. It’s synthesized from cholesterol in the adrenal glands, liver, skin, brain, testicles, ovaries, retinas and spinal cord. It’s a nuerosteroid that controls the transmission of messages between the neurons throughout the body. Without it, your body couldn’t produce other hormones like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, or DHEA.
As we all know, in the aging process we lose a lot of hormonal production, and it’s no different with pregnenolone. In fact, it’s levels in the human body are so noticeable that a doctor can tell a person’s age just by looking at the levels found during testing. Along with the hormone loss can be the loss of other important body functions and increase age-related depression and memory loss.
The biggest effect of boosting pregnenolone in the body is the synaptic connection that can improve learning and memory processes. Studies by the National Institutes of Mental Health show that people with clinical depression have lower than normal amounts of pregnenolone in their cerebral spinal fluid. Increasing levels of pregnenolone have been linked to emotional improvements and are also effective in treating fatigue, arthritis and auto-immune disorders.
Here is a list of some of the benefits of increasing your pregnenolone levels:
- It helps raise brain levels of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter needed for thought processes. Alzheimer’s patients have been found to have low levels of acetylcholine.
- It has shown to improve memory and also prevent memory loss.
- Helps relieve depression and anxiety. Anxiety disorders generally have low levels of pregnenolone.
- It helps lower stress levels and to lessens generalized fatigue, muscle weakness, joint aches and pains
- It helps alleviate PMS and menopause symptoms, particularly hot flashes and loss of libido.
- It can help lower bad cholesterol levels by stabilizing the body’s production of excess cholesterol.
- A study in the Journal of Pharmacological Science finds that it can help combat addictive behaviors and chemical dependency.
- It aids in controlling sleep cycles, especially the phase of sleep that is associated with memory, the REM phase.
Many people can benefit from low doses of pregnenolone supplementation, especially women with lower estrogen levels. Your doctor can test this easily and determine if it will benefit you.