Our bodies are well-coordinated and harmonious systems of organs, glands, and biochemical mechanisms that interact with each other through hormones – that is why we call them chemical messengers. If the system fails, characteristic symptoms that depend on hormone functions appear.
You can observe hormone changes after tubal ligation, infections, and allergies, during long-term stress, taking birth control pills, or maintaining a poor diet. Symptoms of hormonal imbalances include fatigue, gain or weight loss, sleep disorders, hair loss, skin problems, reduced sex drive, mood swings, anxiety, sensitive reactions to temperature changes, sudden changes in blood pressure or heart rate.
If you noticed some familiar signs and symptoms, make sure your further actions are medically reviewed, and schedule an appointment with a doctor. Fortunately, there are natural ways to balance your hormones to help medications relieve symptoms and normalize hormone levels.
Reducing Sugar Intake
Sugar provides an increased percentage of insulin. Insulin is a vital hormone that affects five other hormones, including cortisol, glucagon, growth hormone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. When insulin is elevated frequently or for a long time, the body’s cells are overloaded and react worse to the signal of the transportation of glucose from the blood.
As a result, the body develops insulin resistance, which may cause diabetes.
It is crucial to maintain your insulin sensitivity, as it is one of the most efficient ways to balance hormones naturally and avoid weight gain. To do this, you need to enrich your diet in omega-3 fatty acids and other healthy fats like coconut oil, instead of refined carbohydrates.
Giving up chocolate, sweets, and baking goods all at once can be challenging and bring more unnecessary pressure, and it will not help in balancing your hormones either. Try to seek healthier substitutes for your favorite recipes, like unsweetened chocolate chips from Santa Barbara Chocolate for baking, or sugar-free alternatives to your favorite candies.
Stress Management
Persistent stress is a key factor in hormonal imbalance. With stable releases of cortisol and adrenaline, adrenal fatigue is produced. Stress hormones indicate an increase in blood sugar, increased blood pressure, and slow metabolism. It will be reflected in our mood and sleep quality.
Consistently high levels of stress hormones can result in diabetes, cardiac problems, depression, and autoimmune pathologies. It is useful to apply stress relief practices such as yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and physical activity, including deep breathing techniques.
Restful Sleep
Normalization of night sleep will help you avoid symptoms of hormone imbalances. Ensure you sleep at least 7 hours every night and try to go to bed no later than 11 pm, as melatonin – a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle – is being produced around that time.
Consider acquiring some healthy sleeping routine habits that include:
- Turning off all electronic devices two hours before bedtime;
- Spending at least half an hour in the evening outdoors;
- Drinking a sufficient amount of water during the day, but do not drink 2 hours before going to bed;
- Reducing caffeine intake.
Sage (Salvia) Infusion
Sage helps treat hormonal imbalance in women with a lack of estrogen, due to its ability to increase the number of phytohormones with an estrogen-like effect. Those are called phytoestrogens and are basically plant-based estrogens. Besides sage, they can be found in soy products and other herbs.
Infusion of sage to balance your hormones is prepared as follows: pour boiling water (70-80 °C) into a cup with a teaspoon of crushed dry leaves of the plant, and set aside for fifteen minutes for infusion. Drink a quarter of a glass of the infusion before eating, three times a day.
Peppermint Tea
Peppermint is used to relieve the symptoms of menopause due to its properties that reduce the number of androgens within the organism. Peppermint has an anti-inflammatory effect, normalizes the nervous system’s state, and removes nervousness and sleep problems that often accompany the menopausal period. To do this, you should drink peppermint leaves tea before going to bed.
Another area of application of peppermint is weight correction. The comprehensive tonic effect of extracts and infusions of peppermint enhances metabolism, which is necessary for effective weight loss. It helps burn adipose tissues faster and get back to your desired shape. Peppermint tea helps to consolidate the results of training and control appetite if you’re on a diet.
Beetroot Juice
Juice therapies can effectively balance your hormones because vegetable and fruit juices contain phytohormones and the increased concentration of vitamins, minerals, and biologically active substances that replenish cells’ biochemical resources.
The most useful for treating hormonal imbalance is beet juice. It should still be used carefully, considering that it can cause side effects, such as discomfort in the stomach and increased blood pressure when taken in large volumes. It would help if you gradually get used to beet juice; the maximum daily dose is one glass a day. In the first weeks of use, you can dilute it with carrot juice or water.
Conclusion
It is beneficial to learn how to balance your hormones naturally. First of all, it provides you with practical knowledge of these chemical messengers’ main functions and the importance of maintaining hormone levels and overall hormone health.
Secondly, it will make you get in the habit of being mindful of the processes within your own body, supporting your endocrine system, improving insulin sensitivity, and sticking to the circadian rhythm. Those factors affect your hormone balance and may result in lifestyle changes. Whether these changes are positive or negative is ultimately up to you.