Why Should I Care?
Steroid hormones have extensive influences on key bodily functions, including the sleep/wake cycle, energy, mood (depression and anxiety), metabolism and weight, appearance of skin and hair, digestion, inflammation, libido, fertility and immune system function, as well as modulating our susceptibility to illness, injury, cancer, autoimmune diseases, among other things. These hormones can become dis-regulated due to many common genetic and lifestyle factors, including nutritional deficiencies, excessive/prolonged stress, inadequate sleep, toxin exposure, auto-immune diseases, and normal aging - among other things.

Identifying and correcting these hormone imbalances can be tricky and should always be done with the assistance of a qualified medical professional, but may well be worth such investment given the significant potential for improved health and quality of life that may result. Often, issues which do not yet qualify as a full-blown disease states do not prompt the level of proactive engagement from our physicians as we might wish. Therefore, educating ourselves and becoming informed self-advocates is most often the first step to achieving better health outcomes.

What Are Steroid Hormones?
The most commonly discussed steroid hormones include: Glucocorticoids (Cortisol), Progestins (Progesterone), Estrogens (Estradiol), and Androgens (Testosterone).

Simply put, the body produces Pregnenolone from cholesterol. Pregnenolone then is the precursor for everything else downstream, including: Progesterone, Cortisol, and (after first being converted to Dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA) also Testosterone and Estradiol. 

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How Are Steroid Hormones Produced?
Fundamentally, steroid hormones are produced from cholesterol.
 - What is cholesterol?

Steroid hormones are produced (secreted) by three glands: the adrenal cortex, testes, and ovaries. (They're also produced by the placenta during pregnancy.) After being produced, they are carried through the bloodstream to various other organs in the body to perform their intended functions.