rebalance your hormones

A hormone imbalance is a physiological state in which the body makes too much or too little of any given hormone.
An imbalance may present in the mind and/or body ranging from mild to life disturbing symptoms.
For example: anxiety, depression, headaches, dizziness, irritability, mood swings, digestive issues, night sweats, breast pain, hair loss, heavy/painful periods, severe cramping, poor circulation, insomnia, acne, unexplained weight loss/gain, low libido, vaginal dryness, infertility.

Hormone imbalances are a fact of life, however still our body's way of telling us that something is not right.
The body is much like a bio computer, breathing and blinking on its own. When something is wrong, its unlikely a programming error; what’s happening is the computer circuits are burning because the owner is stressing the computer out too much.

The majority of imbalances initially stem from genetics or lifestyle factors such as: under eating/not eating a balanced enough diet, excessive stress, overexposure to toxins, poor sleep quality, over exercising/under exercising, too much stress on the liver... or prior use of the contraceptive pill as it stops ovulation & progesterone production.

DIET

Understanding the role of nutrition in hormone balancing can help you in exploring what works best for you. There are a few things to consider when eating to balance your hormones...
liver functioning: the liver is one of the most important organs when it comes to hormone health; responsible for regulating the balance of sex hormones and eliminating excess estrogen + other hormone- disrupting compounds. While our bodies naturally process excess toxins, its functioning can get compromised by too much stress, caffeine, unnecessary medications, alcohol or via nutrient deficiencies.
gut health : our gut health has implications beyond simple healthy digestion; the state of our gut health may also regulate our mood, immune response and production of hormones. Making sure you're supporting healthy digestion helps create a cascade effect that influences how all your hormones are produced and used.
blood sugar: keeping blood sugar stabilised is really important when it comes to balancing hormones. When our blood sugar is all over the show, it triggers the stress response, increasing cortisol. Cortisol essentially 'steals' progesterone, which has the potential to put us in a state of estrogen dominance + intensify PMS symptoms.
eating enough: not eating enough all together or restricting/eliminating important macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats or protein) can really mess up your hormones. All macronutrients play an essential role in hormone production, hormone health and metabolic function.

STRESS

Stress affects the way the body produces, regulates, and maintains hormone function. ⁣If you’re trying to balance your hormones naturally, it’s one of the most important factors to consider.⁣
There are both positive + negative forms of stress and we all feel, perceive & react to it differently.⁣ Unfortunately the body doesn’t know the difference between them and when triggers arrive, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) signals the “fight or flight response”. ⁣In small doses, it’s perfectly fine, but if your body is constantly getting stress signals for everyday issues - it wreaks havoc with hormones.⁣
While it’s unrealistic to dodge all forms of stress, proactively doing things to ⁣ activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) can help your body focus on resting and repairing.⁣
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SLEEP

The power of sleep has lost value in todays hectic society. We are constantly bombarded with light, sound, movement & information - disrupting our body's natural rhythm. Lack of sleep affects our endocrine systems ability to regulate + secrete several important hormones, which is why it often attributes to hormonal imbalances. Unfortunately the opposite is also true; hormonal fluctuations can affect sleep quality, especially when estrogen & progesterone are low.

TOXINS

Toxins are hidden in everything from cleaning products to cosmetics, plastics, foods and the contraceptive pill. Trouble occurs when they disrupt our endocrine system (which is why they're called 'endocrine disruptors') as a result of contact through diet, air, skin contact & water.
There are a many ways endocrine disruptors interfere with our endocrine system - by mimicking hormones, overstimulating the production of them, interfering with the natural production of them, and by blocking them from working properly.

With lifestyle factors being a big attributor to a hormonal imbalance, taking a root cause approach and addressing these aspects is helpful to truly mitigate and naturally restore hormones.
If you need help understanding why imbalances may reside, where to start, or assistance with an approach, reach out to me and we can work through things together.

xx