How To Balance Your Hormones Naturally

Everyone has hormones, but few people consider them unless they’re experiencing a problem. A hormone imbalance may present as sleepless nights, , an absence of libido, mood swings, or stubborn pounds you can’t seem to shed. If your hormones are out of whack, it may make it worthwhile to get better acquainted with them. Fortunately, many natural remedies for balancing those hormones are readily accessible to most people.

Hormones Defined

Hormones are chemical messengers secreted by different glands that are vital to endocrine system function. They help to keep the body in a state of balance, or homeostasis.

Many organs and glands are involved in hormone production, and the hormones they secrete are the following:

• Testes- Testosterone
• Ovaries- Estrogen, Progesterone
• Pituitary- Growth Hormone and many more
• Pancreas- Glucagon, Insulin
• Adrenals- Cortisol, Adrenaline
• Thyroid- Thyroid Releasing Hormone

If you think that hormones have a hand in everything, you’re right.  They’re involved in sleep, desire, temperature regulation, energy levels, hydration, blood sugar levels, and more.  It’s an intricate dance where each hormone impacts the others, and the proper balance is crucial for optimal function.  For a deep dive into how all this works, you can explore a book by Dr. Sara Gottfried’s called The Hormone Reset Diet.

Signs Of A Hormone Imbalance

Since hormones impact every system in the body, the symptoms of imbalance can be wildly varied and irritatingly widespread. Some common complaints include infertility, irregular periods, hair loss, insomnia, mood swings, and weight fluctuations.

There are natural changes in hormone levels, like those experienced by women going through menopause, but unexpected variations can be anything from unnerving to debilitating.  So, it helps to be on the lookout for signs of issues like estrogen dominance to get ahead of things before they get out of control.

If you’re concerned because you’re not feeling great, or your doctor has unearthed some concerns about your hormone levels, the following tips could be a game-changer.

Natural Remedies

There are many ways you can support your hormones naturally, but the following eight are far-reaching in their benefits:

• Try Adaptogenic Herbs and Essential Oils

Adaptogens are herbs that respond to your body’s needs.  They help you to combat stress by selectively raising or lowering hormone levels. For example, ashwagandha helps to counter sexual dysfunction by moderating cortisol levels and influencing sex hormones.  Thus, it helps to counter sexual dysfunction and lack of desire.

Another powerful adaptogen, holy basil, helps to decrease cortisol levels assisting the body in dealing with environmental toxins. This aids you in overcoming chemicals and other pollutants and supports healthy hormone function. For stress relief and more check out these adaptogens.

Essential oils are aromatic compounds extracted from plants, a process that captures their “essence.”  They can be ingested, applied to the skin, or dispersed via a diffuser. Some of them are proven to balance hormones.

For example, clary sage helps to balance estrogen, improves thyroid hormone levels, and reduces cortisol levels. Another research-backed herb is geranium.  The essential oil of this plant helps relieve the trials of perimenopause, such as hot flashes and breast tenderness, by helping the body secrete more estrogen. For a closer look at essential oils head.

•  Eat Healthy Fats And Not Carbs

Fat has long been demonized, but healthy saturated fats are necessary for the body to create hormones. Though research has shown that fat and cholesterol levels boost testosterone in male athletes, they’re important for women too. Women with insufficient testosterone often suffer reduced libido and weight gain. So ladies, don’t shy away from good fats if you want to lose weight and be healthy.

In contrast, carbs have been shown to reduce testosterone levels. A study showed that consuming 19 teaspoons of sugar lowered testosterone by 25%. This should be enough to encourage you to increase healthy fats and minimize carbs. Some great sources of healthy fat are olive, coconut, and avocado oils, grassfed beef, pasteurized egg yolks, wild salmon, sardines, and organic cacao.

• Get Your Vitamin D

Without vitamin D, the body can’t make essentials such as human growth hormone, estrogen, and testosterone. It partners up with saturated fat to build hormones, so you must get enough of both. For vitamin D it’s good to aim for around 5,000 IU daily, or 125mcg.  To enhance the benefits, consider taking the combination A-D-K as this triad plays well together and does the good work of supporting the heart, skeletal and immune systems.

• Explore The Wiley Protocol

The Wiley Protocol developed by T. S. Wiley uses hormones that are identical to those made in the body. This bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) utilizes wild yams as a topically applied cream.

There are specialized treatment plans for both men and women that adjust to the fluctuations in hormones that regularly occur.  This rhythmic dosing helps to restore hormonal balance and improve things like sleep, libido, pain levels, and memory.

• Get Around To Meditating and Sleeping Better

Stress management is key for healthy hormones and practices such as meditation and breathwork have been proven to lower cortisol levels, thus reducing stress. So, quit stalling and finally try out meditation and breathwork.

Not all sleep is created equal. When, where, how long, well, and deep you sleep all play a role in hormone function. It’s during stage three, or deep sleep, that the brain is restored and hormones are released. This essential sleep profoundly impacts cortisol, hunger hormones, and growth hormones. Despite lasting only a few minutes per cycle, deep sleep is critical for the self-regulation of hormone release into the bloodstream. Since sleep is such a hero for hormone health, and health in general, it makes sense to learn how to hack your sleep.

• HIIT Hard For Your Health

Your body shape and the state of your hormones are directly impacted by how you move.  Studies have shown that High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, can increase human growth hormone and testosterone levels in the body. This is a good incentive to give HIIT a chance.