Are your hormones out of balance? Hormones like estrogen and insulin and chemical messengers that affect many aspects of your health. If your hormones are out of balance, you may experience unexpected weight gain, infertility, depression, insomnia, fatigue, hair loss and hair thinning.
Hormone production is regulated by the thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, ovaries, testicles and pancreas. If these organs or glands are not functioning properly, your hormones will likely be unbalanced, leading to major health issues.
Thankfully, there are ways to balance your hormones naturally, most methods of which work better than pills.
Here are 7 natural ways to help balance hormones naturally:
1. Fight Stress
Stress is the worst enemy of health. The hormone cortisol is released when we become stressed, leading to rapid heart rate and adrenaline release by the adrenal glands. Excess cortisol release for prolonged periods leads to high blood pressure, thyroid imbalance, bone density loss, hyperglycemia, weight gain, menstrual cycle problems and so on. Learn to manage stress through meditation or mantra, allow your body and mind to relax quickly after a stressful situation.
2. Sleep more
Sleeping is a great way for the body to recover, and to balance our hormones.
Our body begins to give up without a good night’s sleep. An adult body needs 7-9 hours of sleep. A smaller amount may cause various problems, including the ones that involve the endocrine system. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is regulated at midnight. People who go to bed late never get a break from the sympathetic fight/flight stress response, which leads to a wide range of stress-related health disorders. Get to bed by 10 p.m. to maximize hormone function.
3. Interval Exercise
Exercise is a great way to balance hormones and reduce stress levels. Swimming, running, walking, hiking, you name it. The most beneficial is high-intensity burst-training 2-3 times a week to help really activate hormone regulation – but don’t over-do it. Burst-training for 20 minutes 2-3 times a week is plenty.
4. Proper Diet
When it comes to hormonal imbalance, it is best to eat natural food to avoid toxins and carcinogens that bring chaos to our endocrine system. Eat healthy raw food as often as possible. Especially effective is food full of vitamins and minerals, such as green leafy vegetables, and high-quality fruit. It is always best to obtain essential nutrients from whole food instead of from supplements.
5. Less Caffeine
This step is very difficult for coffee fans, but you should know that caffeine is a stimulant, and essentially as bad as not getting enough sleep. It elevates cortisol levels, lowers your thyroid hormone levels and off-sets the entire hormonal system in the body. If you need something to boost your energy levels, try hormone-friendly maca powder (which actually balances hormones and energizes) or green tea and yerba maté.
6. Vitamin D3
Our body needs a certain amount of vitamins and minerals to work properly. The lack of them can manifest in different ways, such as a misbalance in hormone levels. One of the most important vitamins to balance hormones is vitamin D3. Getting in the sun for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour a day is crucial if you want to have healthy hormones.
If you live in more Northern climates, and don’t have sun access during winter, supplement with around 2,000 IU to 5,000 IU daily of vitamin D3.
7. Creativity
Nothing gives such a huge source of energy for our body as a self-expression in things that you are most competent in. We are talking about the things you give your to heart at leisure. You draw, sing, embroider, grow orchids, cook or make jewelry – the key element in all this is that these activities bring you pleasure. You may ask ‘What do hormones have in common with this’? The answer is simple – when you feel good, your soul sings and rejoices, and the body produces serotonin hormone in large quantities – in the circulatory system, in our brain cells, in the gastrointestinal tract, in the pineal gland and elsewhere in the body.
These are just a few ways to balance your hormones naturally. Natural methods prolong our health, and can help reverse even the most serious of illnesses.
