Are your responsibilities at work bogging you down rather than making you more efficient? Does leading a team make your skin crawl, or pitching a presentation keep you up at night with anxiety? It could be that your hormonal levels are mismatched with your duties.

A wide range of hormones affect your brain and subsequently your behavior. For example, norepinephrine can influence risk-taking, testosterone can influence aggression, and prolactin can influence caretaking. The levels of these hormones in your body can affect how you relate to others in the workplace and how well matched you are to the work that you do.

Let’s take a look at each:

• Norepinephrine: This hormone is similar to adrenaline, increasing heart rate and stimulating energy. It is released in response to stressful events, and can lead to a feeling of anxiety. Norepinephrine is a neurochemical triggered by the body’s fight-or-flight response. Fight-or-flight is a state the body enters when it perceives threat, which can come in the form of physical or psychological danger. On a daily basis, fight-or-flight is typically triggered by stress. The more stress we feel, the more likely we are to have high levels of norepinephrine. And higher levels of norepinephrine can lead to a willingness to make riskier choices.

• Testosterone: Testosterone is a sex hormone produced by both men and women, and can have specific influence on aggression. The tendency towards aggression can be more or less useful depending on the setting you’re in. If you exert a tremendous amount of physical energy working, higher levels of testosterone could be appropriate. Conversely, if you have a quieter and stiller job, high testosterone levels might cause feelings of anger or being “cooped up.”

• Prolactin: Although prolactin is a hormone commonly associated with motherhood and lactation, both men and women have varying levels of prolactin in their bodies at all times. In both sexes, prolactin influences the impulse towards caretaking. Individuals with higher levels of prolactin may be naturally inclined towards careers that allow them to tend to the needs of others, such as social work, teaching, or health care.

While you may not have a hormone-testing lab available to you, you do have the capacity to take notes on which activities you are more or less inclined to do on a daily basis. Once you begin to notice what works for you and what doesn’t, you can delegate responsibilities so that you are working with your natural talents rather than against them.

For an even simpler solution, try ph360 today to find out exactly what your natural talents may be, and how you can balance your hormones to be more productive than ever. Start at ph360.me!