Hormones control everything from your mood and metabolism to your fertility and menstrual cycles. But the delicate system can become thrown off balance by stress, poor diet, toxins, and health conditions like PCOS.
Many women end up dismissing their symptoms with Band-Aid solutions like birth control pills and synthetic hormone replacement therapy. Instead, they should consider these simple lifestyle changes that can restore their hormone balance and help them feel normal again.
Diet
Hormones act as our body’s chemical messengers, orchestrating everything from getting a good night’s sleep to maintaining a healthy weight. They also send us warning signs when something is off. Bloating, fatigue, hair loss – they can be more than just a nuisance, but signals that there is a real problem with our hormone levels. The good news is that these issues are usually fixable. Many people turn to diet and exercise to help bring their hormones back into balance, while others may need supplements or medications.
Hormonal changes occur throughout a woman’s lifetime and are usually caused by natural events such as puberty, pregnancy, and menopause or by health problems such as thyroid disorders. But even though these changes are a normal part of life, they can still be confusing. When a woman experiences new or unexplained symptoms, she often turns to her doctor for answers. However, most doctors focus on the symptoms and do not always look at the underlying causes, particularly those caused by hormonal imbalances.
Just like a cake recipe, your hormones require an exact mix of ingredients to function properly. But if one of these ingredients is missing or too much of another, your entire system can be affected. Irregular periods, for example, are a sign of a hormonal imbalance in both men and women. Irregular periods can be caused by too little progesterone or estrogen, a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), or the ovaries can shut down entirely, a condition known as anovulation.
Taking the time to eat a well-balanced diet can significantly improve these symptoms. Foods that are high in fiber, protein, and healthy fats are important for keeping the body healthy. The same goes for a good exercise routine. For instance, exercising regularly promotes hormone balance by encouraging the production of estrogen and regulating blood sugar levels, which helps prevent fat storage.
If you suspect that your hormones are out of balance, consult with an ob-gyn in Lake Success. A simple blood test can determine whether you have too little or too much of a specific hormone. This will be a key step to treating your hormones.
Exercise
Hormones act as the body’s chemical messengers, orchestrating a wide range of bodily functions from appetite and weight regulation to sleep cycles, reproductive health, and mood. If hormone levels are out of sync, it can result in a variety of symptoms, from fatigue and mood swings to acne and hair loss. It is essential to have healthy lifestyle habits like a nutritious diet and regular exercise to keep your hormones in balance.
While many women rely on supplements and medications to help with their hormonal imbalance, the truth is that exercise is one of the most important tools for hormone rebalancing. Exercise is a critical way to keep the heart and nervous system stimulated, which triggers the release of hormones that send signals to every organ in the body to function properly.
The best exercise for balancing hormones depends on your specific needs, but it is generally recommended to do low-impact exercises that focus on stretching. Incorporating yoga and Pilates can be a great choice because they allow the joints to stretch out, avoid injury, and help the muscles to relax. Other excellent options include walking, hiking, cycling, and swimming.
In addition to reducing stress and increasing blood flow, these types of exercise help to regulate hormones, especially those that control metabolism and blood sugar levels. A balanced hormone level can also reduce the occurrence of chronic illnesses and diseases.
Hormonal imbalances can occur at any age and are often the result of a combination of factors, such as genetic predisposition, a sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habits, and dietary additives like sugar and processed food chemicals that disrupt your body’s natural hormone production.
It is important to see a functional medicine practitioner who can offer advanced hormone testing and a holistic treatment plan to ensure you’re getting the right care. Once you have a clear idea of which hormones are out of balance, a customized rebalancing plan can be developed that will incorporate targeted supplements, dietary and lifestyle changes, and an exercise routine that works for your specific body and hormone levels.
Sleep
Sleep is vital to the body’s endocrine system, which controls all other bodily functions. It is characterized by coordinated, spontaneous, and internally generated changes in physiology, including changes in brain activity, fluctuations in hormone levels, and relaxation of the musculature. It is also distinguished from wakefulness by a lack of responsiveness to external stimulation and is marked by a regular pattern of activity-rest alternation.
Inadequate sleep, which is common in the US, can cause a variety of health problems, including hormonal imbalances and mental and physical fatigue. During sleep, the brain releases chemicals that are important for regulating the body’s metabolism and balancing blood sugar levels. It also produces melatonin, which is responsible for regulating the sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythms, as well as for promoting a healthy mood and a sense of calmness.
Poor sleep can result from a number of factors, including hormones and the environment. Inadequate sleep is associated with increased cortisol levels, which makes it more difficult to fall asleep, and lower levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that promotes restful sleep. This can trigger a vicious cycle of poor sleep, hormone disruptions, and more problems with sleep.
Hormones such as progesterone and estrogen play an important role in the sleep-wake cycle, and their levels can fluctuate during pregnancy and menopause. Women in the perimenopausal stage often experience vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats, which can interfere with sleep. They also may be dealing with the stress of being part of the “sandwich generation” that takes care of children and elderly parents, which can add to sleep problems.
The link between hormones and sleep is a two-way street. Getting adequate sleep is important for hormone balance, but it’s also essential to producing and maintaining hormones. Poor sleep can disrupt the production of key hormones, including melatonin, insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and cortisol. Addressing hormones without addressing sleep issues is typically ineffective, so both should be treated together. The good news is that a few small lifestyle changes can make a huge difference in your ability to get a restful night’s sleep.
Stress Management
Stress can trigger a whole host of issues that negatively impact your health. Whether it’s the stress of a traffic jam or your monster boss, when you feel stressed, your body releases adrenaline and cortisol as part of your “fight or flight” response. While these hormones play an important role in a normal situation, when they are elevated for long periods of time, they can wreak havoc on female hormonal balance, specifically.
In addition, a prolonged high-stress lifestyle is also linked to thyroid issues, weight gain, low libido, and irregular menstrual cycles in both women and men. In fact, women are more likely to experience a hormonal imbalance due to chronic stressors than men.
While a hormone imbalance can be caused by many different things, most of the time, it stems from lifestyle choices. Sleep deprivation, an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and overly abundant toxins can all have a direct impact on your hormones and cause them to go haywire.
Hormonal imbalances aren’t easy to diagnose because most symptoms mirror other conditions and can often be confused with one another. That’s why it’s important to see a Functional Medicine practitioner who can pinpoint the root cause and prescribe a treatment plan to restore your hormones.
To begin with, your practitioner will order blood and urine tests that target specific hormone levels. They may also perform imaging tests to rule out a tumor or other possible causes of the imbalance. Once the culprit is uncovered, your practitioner will create a customized treatment plan that includes dietary or lifestyle changes and supplements to restore your hormones to a healthy balance.
For instance, you will probably be encouraged to eat less processed foods that are packed with sugar and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Instead, a well-rounded diet of whole foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains will help to promote healthy hormone levels. In addition, you will be encouraged to get plenty of rest, aiming for 7-9 hours each night. You’ll be encouraged to eliminate any endocrine-disrupting habits such as drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, smoking, or using drugs.
