For women, a hormone imbalance can start as early as age 25 and can last until the age of 80. Usually, a hormone imbalance occurs when your female hormones, specifically estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, DAGA and cortisol, are out of whack and unbalanced. For some women, this can look like mood changes, fatigue and hot flashes, while others may experience night sweats, sleep disturbance, daytime sleepiness, changes in their menstrual cycle and even weight gain. These imbalances can also happen to teenagers. Many may think they are too young, but if they experience some of the issues I mentioned, it could be due to a hormonal imbalance
Symptoms of hormonal imbalance
The symptoms of a hormonal imbalance can vary according to which gland is affected and whether the person is male or female.
Symptoms in females
In women, the symptoms more frequently include:
- Mood swings
- Constipation or diarrhea
- irregular menstrual cycle
- Infertility
- pain in the abdomen or the back during menstruation
- low sex drive
- Insomnia
- unexplained weight gain or weight loss
- brittle bones
- Hirsutism, or excessive hair growth
- rashes on the skin
Symptoms in males
When a male has low testosterone levels, their symptoms will typically include:
- Decrease in sex drive
- Erectile dysfunction (ED).
- loss of muscle mass
- Thinning hair and reduced hair growth
- tenderness in the area of the chest
CAUSES OF HORMONAL IMBALANCE
Some causes of hormonal imbalances in women are natural. Your hormones fluctuate during your menstrual cycle, which can lead to symptoms such as bloating or insomnia. Pregnancy and breastfeeding also affect your hormones. Menopause leads to hormonal changes as well.
Some causes of hormonal imbalances, however, occur for other reasons, such as:
Issues with your thyroid
An overactive or underactive thyroid causes imbalances in the levels of thyroid hormone in your body. These issues may occur as a result of an autoimmune condition, medication, tumors, and more.
Stress causes your body to produce cortisol. Too much cortisol can lead to Cushing syndrome. Long-term stress exposes your body to high levels of cortisol for long periods and can affect the levels of other hormones in your body.
EATING DISORDERS
Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, can affect your hormone levels, leading to too little estrogen, low bone density, and other problems.
BIRTH CONTROL
Some types of birth control have hormones in them, which then affect the hormones in your body. They can cause issues such as a lack of periods, irregular periods, heavy bleeding, weight gain, digestive problems, and more. Coming off of hormonal birth control may also temporarily affect your natural hormone levels as they rebalance themselves.
How Long Does It Take to Balance Hormones?
As you can imagine, this varies. However, research shows that by taking a holistic, well-rounded approach, you can balance your hormones in less than four months. In fact, you can significantly reduce the amount of chemicals and pesticides in your body, in one week. How so? Switch to an organic diet. And in less than 10 days, you can improve your blood sugar by eating less sugar (a main culprit in estrogen dominance). By incorporating more fermented foods and a potent probiotic, women can more easily detox estrogen, which helps balance hormones—in less than two months. By four months, eating a hormonally-supportive diet makes an impact, slowing the aging process and protecting fertility.
How to Balance Your Hormones, Naturally
1) Eat Enough
You read that right. Not consuming enough calories (particularly if you are very active) can wreak havoc on your hormones. As women, we need substantial carbs, protein, and healthy fats to fuel our busy lifestyles and our hormones. For that matter, I don't recommend going keto. Particularly if your menstrual cycle is absent, consider if you’re eating too low-carb. Research shows that maintaining adequate carbs in your diet will take some pressure off your adrenal glands, encourage sex hormone production, and promote restoration of your period.
2) Limit Inflammatory Foods
While eating enough is important, so is the quality of the food you’re consuming. Removing (or limiting) high-sugar, inflammatory foods is very beneficial for balancing hormones. In terms of which foods to ditch, In essence, these are foods like high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sugars, industrial seed oils, and soda. The focus here is to “crowd out” unhealthy foods to make more room on your plate for nutrient-dense, hormone-balancing foods.
3) Support Gut Health
When gut health isn’t optimal, hormones become imbalanced. For example, there is new research showing that the microbiome plays a significant role in estrogen regulation. These studies indicate that poor gut health increases the risk of estrogen-related diseases such as PCOS, endometriosis, and even breast cancer. Incorporating a variety of fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, etc.) as well as taking a probiotic can help balance hormones. Furthermore, make sure you’re getting in your fiber. Fiber is essential for good gut health and is associated with improvements in insulin sensitivity and the hormones that control hunger and fullness.
4) Engage in Regular Exercise
As you begin to tap into how to balance your hormones, naturally, consider your current exercise routine.
5) Incorporate Stress Reduction Techniques
Stress causes your body to go into fight or flight mode—it’s just the way we’re wired. And when we’re stressed, cortisol rises. In turn, elevated cortisol affects your hormones, including ovulation. Chronic stress can lead to late (or completely stopped) periods. Making time to de-stress does wonders for your mind, body, and hormones.
6) Ditch the Plastic
For your body and the environment. Studies show that plastics contain (and leach) hazardous chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs disturb the body’s hormone systems and can cause cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and neurological impairments of developing fetuses and children. The report describes a wealth of evidence supporting direct cause-and-effect links between the toxic chemical additives in plastics and specific health impacts to the endocrine system. Swap your plastic tupperware for glass!
7) Get Consistent, Quality Sleep
No matter how nutritious your diet—or how consistent your exercise routine—getting enough restorative sleep is crucial for optimal health. You can’t balance your hormones, naturally, without good sleep! Poor sleep is linked to imbalances in many hormones, including insulin and cortisol. For instance, not only does sleep deprivation impair insulin sensitivity, but poor sleep is associated with a 24-hour increase in cortisol levels, which can lead to a decrease in estrogen. To maintain optimal hormonal balance, aim for at least 7 hours of high-quality sleep per night.
8) Consider Supplements
Taking a natural approach to keeping our hormones in balance as we age includes considering supplements, particularly if we're experiencing specific symptoms.
There are a variety of herbs, vitamins and essential oils that can help us maintain a healthy hormone balance.
A) Omega fatty acids
Omega-3 can play a big part in creating hormone balance, primarily because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
When inflammation is elevated, it can overdrive the activity of an enzyme called aromatase. Aromatase converts testosterone into estrogen in both men and women. In this way, inflammation can lead to high levels of circulating estrogen and even lead to low testosterone, leading to a state of estrogen dominance and androgen deficiency. This inflammation can also prevent ovulation, which is required to have a proper menstrual cycle and conceive! Omega-3 Fatty Acids help For Menstrual Cramps and Period Pain. Omega-3 Help With Acne.
B) MAGNESIUM
Magnesium is one of the most essential minerals to help balance hormones.To ensure you’re getting enough magnesium, be sure to eat plenty of dark leafy greens. You’ll also want to fuel your hormones with seeds like flax, pumpkin, and chia. They’re full of magnesium and other hormone-healthy nutrients.
C) Vitamins B and D
Taking a high-quality vitamin B-complex supplement can help when you’re in the throes of hormonal ups and downs. This is one group of vitamins that you might want to supplement with in addition to eating foods high in these vitamins. Vitamin B-complex is involved in both the production of testosterone and the regulation of energy production in the body. There are nine B vitamins in total, and certain foods contain specific B vitamins. For example, wild-caught salmon is an excellent source of many B vitamins. Leafy greens, like spinach, kale, collard greens, and even romaine lettuce contain B9—also known as folate. Other foods with notable amounts of B vitamins are eggs, sunflower seeds, milk, yogurt, and animal protein. Vitamin D is essential, too. In fact, numerous studies show its importance for mitigating symptoms of PCOS
D) PROBIOTICS
Probiotics are essential to help balance hormones. A high-quality probiotic supplement is a really good idea to take, especially if you don’t like probiotic-rich foods like sauerkraut, kimchee, miso, yogurt, kefir, and kombucha. Certain cheeses, like mozzarella, also contain beneficial bacteria and can be considered a healthy probiotic food
TAKEAWAY
