Normal Thyroid Levels: What Are Normal Thyroid Levels?

You might be asking yourself "What exactly are normal thyroid levels?" Normal levels can depend on your age, the make-up of your build and gender. Your thyroid is responsible for the secretion of hormones which are responsible for the efficient function of your metabolism. If these hormones become imbalanced the entire body suffers the effects.

Let us get to the bottom of what the thyroid actually does for the body. It provides two important hormones. These hormones are T3 (triodothyronine) and T4 (thryoxine). They determine how fast or slow your metabolism functions. These hormones are produced in response to a thyroid stimulating hormone known as TSH.

An effective way of testing for normal thyroid levels is to test the T3 and T4 TSH hormone levels present in your blood. Thyroid stimulating hormones tells the thyroid gland whether or not it should produce more hormones. Therefore it is usually tested first. High TSH levels indicate that your thyroid is underactive (hypothyroidism) while a low TSH levels indicates an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). The next to be tested are the T4 levels. A high level indicates an overactive while a low level indicates an underactive thyroid. T3 levels are checked last as they are not always reliable indicators.

It is vitally important to try and keep these levels within the body constant. If the levels appear to ne abnormal to your doctor, he may need to perform a thyroid antibody test to figure out the reason for your problem. A thyroid scan is also used to detect growths on the thyroid known as thyroid nodules. These growths could be causing the problem.

If you are experiencing abnormal thyroid levels and suffering with fatigue, unexplained weight gain, dry skin, constipation and a slow pulse you more than likely have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) If this is the case do not become despondent as there are certain things in your life you can change in order to regain normal thyroid levels.

There are a number of thyroid foods and nutrients which can be used in order to reach normal thyroid levels. An often touted bad substance - coffee, has been known to balance thyroid levels. I hear you saying "Coffee, no surely not!" However it has been proven in numerous studies that people that drink coffee not only live longer but the more coffee they drink the longer they live.

Although coffee is a vital nutrient for thyroid problems it unfortunately is not the only nutrient required, there are numerous thyroid friendly foods which need to be introduced into the diet in order to attain normal thyroid levels.