Salivary hormone testing
Hormones are messengers, carrying signals that coordinate a range of bodily functions, including growth, reproduction, stress regulation and metabolism.
The endocrine system is traditionally assessed through blood testing, but certain hormones can also be measured reliably in biological fluids such as saliva or urine. Saliva allows the free fraction of certain hormones to be measured and has the additional advantage of allowing repeated samples to be collected conveniently at home.
This is particularly useful for hormones such as cortisol, whose concentration changes considerably throughout the day. Several samples collected at defined times can provide information about an individual's daily hormone pattern rather than a single measurement taken at one point in time.
At Persometrics, we believe that knowledge about your body can help you better understand your health and wellbeing. We provide research-based information and indices for personal education and empowerment.
What can hormone patterns tell me?
Cortisol is an important hormone involved in the body's response to physical and psychological stress. Its concentration normally changes throughout the day, typically increasing around awakening and declining towards the evening.
Repeated salivary measurements can provide information about this daily pattern and about individual variation in cortisol secretion. Research continues to investigate how these patterns relate to chronic stress, wellbeing and stress-related conditions.
Persometrics can combine biomarker measurements with psychometric questionnaire data to provide additional context for understanding stress and wellbeing. Cortisol measurements alone, however, cannot diagnose burnout or determine whether an individual will develop a stress-related illness.
If you are concerned about your stress levels, you may also wish to complete ourstress and anxiety testor ourburnout questionnaire.
Hormones and exercise
Monitoring hormone responses can also be of interest to athletes and people undertaking intensive physical training.
Cortisol and testosterone are frequently studied in sports science because both respond to exercise, training load and recovery. Salivary sampling makes repeated measurements particularly convenient and can therefore be useful for observing individual patterns over time.
Hormone measurements are best interpreted alongside other information such as training load, recovery, sleep and performance rather than being used in isolation to determine training intensity or the ideal time to exercise.
Specific biomarker testing
Specific biomarker tests may also be useful when you have a particular question in mind. Perhaps you arrived at Persometrics after reading about a hormone or symptom elsewhere.
Individual biomarker tests allow selected hormones to be measured and compared with the reference information provided by the laboratory. Results may also provide useful information to discuss with a healthcare professional.
What does Persometrics provide?
Whichever home test you choose, you will receive the required sampling materials together with instructions for collecting your samples.
Saliva samples can be collected conveniently at home and returned for laboratory analysis using the supplied return packaging. Instead of placing your name on the samples, Persometrics uses a unique anonymous code.
With your results, you receive your measured values together with appropriate laboratory reference information. Depending on the test selected, Persometrics may also combine biomarker results with psychometric questionnaire data to generate a personalised report.
These reports can include graphical representations of your results, explanatory information, personalised educational content and scientific references for those who wish to explore the underlying research in greater depth.
Where reports contain lifestyle information, this is intended for education and personal empowerment and does not replace medical assessment or advice from a healthcare professional.
Persometrics Stress Hormone Profile
The Persometrics Stress Hormone Profile is intended for people who would like to explore their physiological stress patterns alongside psychometric measures of stress and wellbeing.
Cortisol plays an important role in the body's stress response and follows a strong daily rhythm. Repeated saliva samples taken at defined times can provide a picture of this pattern.
Persometrics combines these measurements with questionnaire data to provide personalised educational insight into stress-related patterns. Chronic stress can affect both physical and psychological wellbeing, sometimes developing gradually over extended periods. Monitoring stress-related measures can therefore be a useful way of becoming more aware of patterns in your own wellbeing.