Testosterone, estrogen, insulin, and adrenaline are essential hormones that affect your general health throughout a lifetime.
They are responsible for discharging specific duties in the body and are hence called “chemical messengers.” These hormones are secreted by numerous organs and glands, for example, testicles, ovaries, pancreas, pituitary, and adrenals.
For the body to remain healthy and functional, these chemical messengers must be properly circulated throughout the body as the slightest imbalance can result in widespread, severe heart problems. The endocrine system is charged with this regulatory function.
Conventional medications for correcting hormonal imbalance typically include thyroid treatments, synthetic hormone replacement therapies, insulin injections, birth control pills, and many more.
There are, however, three common side-effects of these treatments, they are:
- The patient is subjected to prescription throughout his/her life.
- The symptoms are merely controlled while the disorder remains.
- There’s an underlying risk of worse side-effects, such as stroke and osteoporosis.
Thankfully, there are natural steps to balance your hormone. These steps have no side-effects and are thus preferable to the usual medical options. What’s more, you spend less and achieve more.
These steps are:
Replace Carbs With Healthy Fats in Your Diet
Although refined carbohydrates (carbs) are popular diet options, they are unhealthy choices. Carbs are a significant cause of inflammation in the body.
Foods with high levels of short, medium, and long-chain fatty acids are relevant to maintaining hormonal balance. The body needs numerous fat types to secrete hormones, some of which are cholesterol and saturated fat. These fats also help to keep low inflammation levels, encourage weight loss, and boost body metabolism.
Three highly advisable sources of anti-inflammatory oils are:
- Wild-caught salmon due to their high omega-3 levels.
- Avocados due to their various heart benefits as well as potassium level.
- Coconut oil, thanks to its natural anti-bacteria and weight-loss effects.
A takeaway tip is to avoid oils with high omega-6 contents, such as cottonseed, soybean, sunflower, corn, and canola.
Use Adaptogen Herbs
Adaptogen herbs shield the body from numerous diseases and, more importantly, help to pursue hormonal balance. They are a rare type of healing plants that tackle stress-induced ailments, boost the immune system, and perform several other functions, such as:
- Lower the level of bad cholesterol.
- Improve thyroid function.
- Boost adrenal glands.
- Lessen symptoms of anxiety and depression.
- Regulate blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity.
- Slow the degeneration of brain cells.
Popular adaptogen herbs include ashwagandha and holy basil, two useful supplements in maintaining cortisol levels, and regulating stress, amidst many more.
Deal With Emotional Imbalance
Chinese medical experts speculate that your internal emotions directly influence your health. Dealing with your emotional imbalance is, therefore, a critical step in correcting hormonal imbalance. Also, your lifestyle choices are crucial.
Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine believe the following:
- fear negatively affects your cortisol levels, thereby causing ailments in adrenals, kidneys, and reproductive organs. If left unchecked, this tends to lead to more severe conditions like infertility and PCOS.
- other negative emotions, such as impatience, frustration, and an unforgiving spirit, lead to liver diseases, which in turn cause hormonal imbalance.
- worry and anxiety mess with the body’s insulin levels and may hence affect hormonal balance.
The emphasis remains on addressing the reasons behind your negative emotions. This could be by stress reduction, becoming self-reflective, practicing deep prayer and meditation, exercising daily, and spending time outdoors.
Use Essential Oils
Conventional skincare and beauty products are produced using potentially dangerous chemicals, for example, parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate, DEA, and propylene glycol. Prolonged usage of these chemicals will lead to hormonal imbalance.
Essential oils are much better alternatives as they are made from natural ingredients. Other adoptions are castor oil, coconut oil, and shea butter.
Experts recommend these four essential oils in correcting hormonal imbalance:
- Fennel, courtesy of its healing, anti-inflammatory abilities. It is also useful in tackling thyroid defects.
- Clary Sage, particularly because it contains natural phytoestrogens, useful in balancing estrogen levels.
- Lavender oil, as it affects the secretion of dopamine and serotonin, two hormones that trigger positive emotions.
- Sandalwood due to its potent fragrance that reduces stress levels and helps you to relax.
Fill Possible Nutritional Void
Sometimes, hormonal imbalance is attributed to the absence of specific foods in our diets. To right this wrong, you might have to use some of these natural supplements to restore balance:
Vitamin D: Vitamin D can combat almost 90% of the diseases we face today. It plays a significant role in controlling inflammation in the body. The best Vitamin D supplement you can get is sunshine because your skin generates Vitamin D whenever it is exposed to direct sunlight. This explains why people who live in dark areas suffer more from illnesses, such as seasonal depression.
Probiotics: Probiotics can assist the body to mend damaged gut lining. A damaged gut causes food particles to leak into the bloodstream, hence leading to inflammation in the whole body, particularly in the extra-sensitive thyroid glands.
Evening Primrose Oil: Few Omega-6 fatty acids like GLA and LA are beneficial in correcting hormonal imbalance. Supplementing with this oil will furnish the body with these acids, consequently relieving PCOS and premenstrual symptoms.
Get Adequate Sleep
The recommended sleeping duration per night is 7–8 hours. Anything lower means your body isn’t functioning maximally. Inadequate sleep and disruption of your natural circadian rhythm are two common causes of hormonal imbalance.
This is because cortisol, the primary stress hormone, is regulated at midnight. As such, people who sleep late barely experience a break from their sympathetic flight stress response.
An easier analogy would be that your body is an aircraft that keeps flying without taking the time for repairs and refilling. Isn’t it easy to see why lack of sleep is one of the biggest causes of high cortisol levels?
Sufficient sleep keeps the hormones balanced, refuels your energy gauge, and ensures that your body completely recovers when exhausted. Specialists advise you to go to bed at 10 p.m. and stick to a fixed wakeup routine.
Conclusion
Millions of people have hormonal imbalances globally. This condition leads to numerous diseases, some of which are thyroid disorders, infertility, diabetes, and menstrual irregularities. Conventional medications often leave side-effects, and that’s why experts recommend simple, easy-to-keep natural steps.
