Keeping your hormones balanced is key to leading a healthy life, both mentally and physically. Read on to learn how to balance hormones naturally.
Having imbalanced hormones is a common issue for people and can cause a ton of mental and physical health problems. Many people opt to get medication to help balance hormones, such as different types of birth control.
However, if you want to balance your hormones naturally without any side effects, there are tons of tips you can start to utilize in your life.
In this blog, we’ll discuss some helpful ways you can balance hormones naturally, so you can get back to feeling great without the fear of causing harm to your body.
What Causes Hormone Imbalance?
Hormone imbalance is common and will occur to everyone at some point in their lives. But what actually causes your hormones to be out of whack?
Here are some of the most common reasons your hormones may be imbalanced.
Age and Menopause
Every woman knows that in your forties (usually) you will begin to go through menopause. This means that your body will be going through changes and will no longer be able to reproduce, causing your hormone levels to plummet.
Some people go through menopause earlier, which is caused by premature aging due to an unhealthy lifestyle. The more unhealthy you are, the more severe your hormone imbalance will be when going through menopause.
Poor Diet
The food you eat on a regular basis will have a profound effect on your hormone levels. Eating unhealthy foods that are difficult to digest will force your body to work harder to break down those foods.
This stress on your body can cause your hormones to start to decrease or fluctuate, causing an imbalance.
Excessive Stress
Stress causes an increase in the production of cortisol which depletes the hormone progesterone, causing an imbalance.
How to Balance Hormones Naturally
Hormone imbalance will happen at some point in your life, no matter how healthy of a lifestyle you live.
Luckily, there are several ways you can help get your hormones balanced again naturally. Here are ten tips on how you can improve your hormone balance.
1. Exercise Regularly
Exercising has a ton of known health benefits, and can even help keep your hormones balanced by regulating the production of insulin.
The hormone insulin can be dangerous in larger amounts, leading to diabetes are heart disease. Exercising on a regular basis will reduce the amount of insulin your body produces, leading to more balanced hormones.
Exercise is also important for maintaining the human growth hormone (HGH). Make sure you know all the HGH facts so you can keep these hormones properly balanced.
2. Eat Plenty of Protein
Protein affects the release of the hormones in your body that control appetite. Eating enough protein will decrease the release of the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for communicating hunger and appetite.
Reducing ghrelin production will decrease your appetite and cause you to eat less at each meal.
3. Avoid Sugar and Refined Carbs
Sugar and refined carbs can lead to a big increase in the hormone insulin, which can lead to some dangerous health issues.
Try to avoid or eliminate sugar and refined carbs to keep your insulin levels regulated and your hormones in balance.
4. Effectively Manage Stress
As we mentioned above, stress is a huge factor in hormone production and is a big reason why so many people suffer from hormone imbalance.
Stress increases the production of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol helps your body deal with stress. If you are constantly stressed, your body will be producing cortisol in extremely high amounts.
When your body is producing excess cortisol, your hormones will be imbalanced and you may gain weight and increase calorie intake.
Manage stress by exercising, meditation, taking long walks, and getting enough sleep each night.
5. Drink Green Tea
If you are looking for a natural supplement to help you balance your hormones, look no further than green tea.
Studies show that drinking green tea can regulate insulin and keep your hormones balanced, preventing future health problems such as heart disease.
6. Get More Sleep
If you aren’t getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night, your lack of rest may be contributing to your hormone imbalance.
Hormones work on a schedule, and if your body is not used to a normal sleep schedule, it can really mess up how your hormones are produced and regulated.
Sleep will help keep your stress hormones, such as cortisol, balanced which is important to your overall health.
7. Take Omega-3s Every Day
Omega-3s are important to balancing your hormones because they reduce the production of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Omega-3s also regulate insulin intake, preventing diabetes and other diseases.
You can either get Omega-3 supplements from the store or eat fatty fish, which are full of Omega-3, on a regular basis.
8. Limit Caffeine Intake
Caffeine can cause an increase in stress levels, leading to higher production of cortisol and adrenaline.
If you are having hormone imbalance problems and are drinking coffee all throughout the day, try to reduce the amount you’re drinking.
If you need to drink caffeine, consider replacing coffee with healthier herbal teas that can give you benefits to help combat the effect caffeine is having on your hormones.
9. Take the Right Supplements
There are tons of supplements available to you, but only some of them are going to really help balance your hormones.
Some of the best supplements to use for hormone imbalance include Maca, Magnesium, and Vitamin D.
10. Eat Healthy Fats
We’ve discussed foods that need to be avoided such as sugar and refined carbs, but there are foods you can add to your diet that will be a big help in balancing out your hormones.
Find foods that are high in healthy, saturated fats. One of the best ways to get these healthy fats is from coconut oil, which is loaded with medium-chain fatty acids that are easily digestible.
These fatty acids digest quickly, speeding up your metabolism and giving you healthy, clean energy. Healthy fats will help regulate insulin and provide the building blocks for healthy hormone production.
For More Information
Having a hormone imbalance is no fun, and can cause you some serious health issues if not taken care of. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to balance hormones naturally, including improving your diet, exercising, and managing stress.
So start making some changes to your lifestyle and get your hormones balanced so you can feel healthy again.
If you want to know more about how you can improve your health, check out our health and fitness blog page for more information.