Thyroid: The Hero of Your Hormones
Understanding the Gland That Governs Energy, Metabolism, and More
The thyroid might be a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck, but its influence is HUGE! This powerhouse organ is responsible for regulating your metabolism, energy levels, mood, digestion, temperature, heart rate, and even menstrual cycles. When your thyroid is balanced, your entire body hums along in sync. But when it’s off, even just a little, you feel the effects—sometimes in subtle, confusing ways.
What and Where Is the Thyroid?
Located just below your Adam’s apple, the thyroid acts as your body’s internal thermostat. It releases hormones that determine how efficiently your cells convert food into energy! But the thyroid isn’t a solo act. It’s part of a finely tuned feedback loop involving the brain—specifically the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. When the body senses that thyroid hormone levels are too low, the brain responds by sending out thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to prompt more production. When hormone levels are sufficient or too high, the system adjusts to slow production. It’s like a smart thermostat constantly regulating your internal climate.
Your hormones, like instruments in an orchestra, all work together in harmony. When one is out of tune—like the thyroid—the whole body feels it. That’s why issues with thyroid health can affect your mood, energy, digestion, fertility, and weight regulation!
The Key Hormones That Drive Thyroid Function
Thyroid function revolves around many important hormones. TSH, or thyroid-stimulating hormone, acts like a conductor in the hormonal orchestra, signaling the thyroid to increase or decrease hormone production. The thyroid primarily produces T4 (thyroxine), the inactive storage form, which must be converted into T3 (triiodothyronine), the active form used by the body’s cells.
Another important hormone is reverse T3 (rT3). During times of stress, illness, or inflammation, your body may convert T4 into this inactive form to conserve energy. While rT3 is protective in acute situations, chronically elevated levels can block T3 from doing its job, leaving you feeling fatigued and foggy despite having “normal” ranges.
My mentor, Sam Miller emphasizes the quality of your thyroid function isn’t just about the total amount of hormones—it’s about how efficiently your body converts and uses them. Even if your lab values fall within “normal” (instead of optimal) ranges, poor conversion or resistance at the cellular level can cause persistent symptoms.
Symptoms of a Sluggish Thyroid
When your thyroid slows down, you feel it in a wide range of ways. Chronic fatigue—especially feeling wiped out after workouts—is a common red flag. Brain fog, depression, irritability, and poor memory often signal that T3 levels are not optimal. You may feel constantly cold, struggle with constipation or bloating, and notice changes in your menstrual cycles, fertility, or libido.
Other telltale signs include hair thinning, dry skin, and an inability to lose weight even when eating well and exercising consistently! These symptoms often get misattributed to stress, age, or lifestyle, but in reality, they can stem from poor thyroid conversion or cellular resistance.
The Gut–Thyroid–Hormone Connection
Your thyroid doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It’s in constant conversation with other systems, especially the gut and endocrine system. A healthy gut microbiome is essential for proper T4-to-T3 conversion, which primarily takes place in the gut and liver. Dysbiosis, low stomach acid, or inflammation in the digestive tract can impair this conversion and trigger stress responses that further suppress thyroid function.
Gut health also influences your immune system! Inflammatory gut issues may increase the risk of autoimmune thyroid disorders like Hashimoto’s. “If your gut is inflamed, your hormones are inflamed.”
Thyroid Function and Other Conditions
Thyroid dysfunction frequently coexists with other hormone imbalances. For instance, many women with PCOS also have sluggish thyroids. Low thyroid output can worsen insulin resistance, disrupt ovulation, and fuel inflammation—intensifying the symptoms of PCOS. Blood sugar imbalances, another hallmark of PCOS, also interfere with thyroid hormone production and conversion.
High-stress lifestyles or chronic under-eating—common among athletes or type-A personalities—can also downregulate thyroid function. When the body senses danger (even in the form of missed meals or inadequate recovery), it produces more reverse T3 and less active T3, conserving energy but leaving you feeling drained. It’s important to maintain adequate energy intake, particularly for those with demanding physical or cognitive workloads, to avoid this metabolic slowdown. For my athletes, remember- workouts should be giving you overall more energy, not making you feel completely depleted!
How to Support Your Thyroid Naturally
Fortunately, there are many ways to support thyroid health without extreme intervention! First and foremost, your thyroid needs enough nourishment. Chronic dieting, meal skipping, or excessively low-carb diets can suppress thyroid hormone production. While some carb restriction can be helpful for blood sugar control, going too low for too long—especially for women—can signal to the body that it’s in danger.
Strength training is another key strategy! Building and maintaining muscle supports better hormone sensitivity and metabolic efficiency. HOWEVER, overtraining without adequate recovery can backfire, spiking cortisol and suppressing thyroid function. Exercise should build you up, not burn you out!
Gut health support is essential for conversion. Foods like bone broth, fermented vegetables, and fiber-rich plants feed beneficial bacteria and reduce inflammation- making it easier for the body to activate thyroid hormone. Supporting stomach acid production with bitters, lemon water or digestive enzymes can also help nutrient absorption, as well as specific and strategic probiotics.
Micronutrients play a crucial role in thyroid hormone production and conversion. Selenium, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and iron are all essential cofactors! A nutrient-dense diet with eggs, leafy greens, red meat, sea vegetables, pumpkin seeds, and Brazil nuts can help replenish these levels. Deficiencies in any of these can create a bottleneck in hormone function, even if your gland is producing hormones properly.
Blood sugar stability is another huge part of thyroid health. Sharp spikes and crashes in glucose lead to stress hormone production, which disrupts thyroid signaling. Building meals around protein, fiber, and healthy fats; spacing meals evenly; and incorporating walks after meals can support more stable energy and hormone output.
Red light therapy, particularly near-infrared light applied to the neck area can help stimulate ATP (cellular energy), reduce inflammation, and support hormone (thyroid!) function. I like to recommend 3 sessions per week for 30 minutes.
Finally, stress management and sleep can’t be overstated!!! The thyroid is deeply tied to your nervous system. Breathwork, grounding, journaling, therapy, and simply getting more sleep are not “extras”—they’re core strategies for supporting thyroid health. “You can’t out-supplement a stressed-out nervous system.”
When to Test and What to Ask For
If you’ve been doing all the right things—eating well, managing stress, training smart—but still feel off, it may be time to test. A full thyroid panel gives you the full picture, beyond just TSH. Ask your provider to check:
TSH
Free T4
Free T3
Reverse T3
Thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO)
Thyroglobulin antibodies (TGAb)
Nutrient markers: ferritin, vitamin D, zinc, selenium, and magnesium
Many women are told their labs are “normal,” but what’s considered “normal” doesn’t always mean optimal. Functional ranges give better insight into how your body is actually functioning—not just surviving!!
“Normal” lab ranges are based on population averages- including people who are unhealthy, sick and unwell. Just being ‘in range’ doesn’t alway mean you’re functioning at your best! OPTIMIZED RANGES reflect what’s ideal for energy, mood, metabolism, and hormone balance. Especially with the thyroid, small shifts within the ‘normal’ zone can make a big difference in how you feel- testing within functional context is KEY for truly understanding your health!
Conclusion
You don’t have to obsess over your thyroid—but you do need to respect and be kind to it! When your thyroid is functioning well, every system in your body benefits! If your body is whispering (or yelling) that something is off, checking in with your thyroid is a smart place to start.
Optimal thyroid health isn’t about perfection. It’s about consistency, nourishment, stress resilience, understanding, and honoring the deep connection between your gut, brain, and hormones. When your hormones are in tune, your whole body feels it—and your life feels more like yours again!
Need Guidance?
If you’re still feeling exhausted, foggy, inflamed, or stuck, you don’t have to figure it out alone. As a hormone and metabolism health coach, I help clients uncover hidden imbalances and build realistic plans that actually work!!
🧬 Personalized testing + real-life strategies = long-term transformation.
💛 Let’s find your rhythm again :)