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If you have been dealing with headaches, unexplained weight gain, sweating or higher body temperature, mood and behavioral changes, and issues with your appetite, you might be suffering from a hormonal imbalance.
What is a Hormonal Imbalance?
A hormonal imbalance can occur any time your hormones are not at the right levels. This can mean too much or too little of any individual hormone, such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Both men and women have various hormones related to their reproductive system and endocrine system, all of which can get out of balance.
You need certain hormones to balance out and regulate different systems in your body. Systems like:
How well you sleep
Your heart rate
metabolism, appetite, and weight management
reproductive system
Thyroid
Endocrine system
These and many other systems in your body can be disrupted by your hormones being out of balance. This is why regular testing and visits with your doctor is so important. Many of the physical and mental side effects you are experiencing might be from hormones, but without proper testing, you would never know that.
The good news is that there are many treatments available, from hormone replacement therapy to more natural options. This report is going to talk about the natural and alternative methods available to help balance out your hormones.
Keep reading if you want to learn about changing your diet, developing hormone-balancing lifestyle habits, and taking herbs or essential oils to help with your hormone levels.
1. Improve Your Diet
The first natural remedy that can help with your hormonal imbalance is to change your diet. You want to not only focus on eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, but make a few changes. These are not drastic changes to your diet where you are trying to lose weight and switch up everything you eat, but just minor changes that can help tremendously with your hormone levels.
Add in More Healthy Fats
Start with adding more healthy fats to your diet, and reducing saturated fats. This means less butter and vegetable oil, and more coconut oil, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and nuts like walnuts and almonds.
Healthy fats are going to help to reduce inflammation in your body, boost your metabolism, and help tremendously with your hormone levels. Some healthy fats that are recommended include:
Nuts
Coconut oil
Avocado
Wild-caught salmon
Replace Refined Sugar with Natural Sugar
While you are at it, get rid of all the added sugar in your diet by reducing baked goods, processed foods, and frozen foods. Instead, switch to a cleaner, healthier diet where you cook more at home, and get your sugar from natural sources like fruits and vegetables.
This doesn’t mean you can never have sugar again, but just make small changes by having less processed food, and more natural food.
Focus on Getting the Right Nutrients
It can also help by focusing on getting the right nutrients into your diet. Add in vitamins and minerals like magnesium, B6, zinc, and vitamin D. You also want to get your fiber from oats, whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.
2. Develop a Healthier Lifestyle
The next thing you can do after working on your diet and nutrition is to have a healthier lifestyle in general. This goes beyond the food you put in your body and helps you to reduce some bad habits you probably have, and encourages better sleep and improved wellness in general.
Remember that even if it turns out your hormonal imbalance is not as bad as you thought, these are great daily habits that improve so many areas of your health and wellness, that they are good for you regardless.
Reduce Your Caffeine and Alcohol Consumption
This might not be what you want to hear, but those extra cups of coffee each day may be hurting you more than helping. It would be great to eventually cut out all excess caffeine from your diet, but you can starts imply by reducing how much you consume each day.
If you currently have coffee in the morning and afternoon, skip the afternoon coffee and switch to tea instead. This will have less caffeine, which can then be exchanged for tea with no caffeine, or just water.
Caffeine can cause blood sugar changes and release too much cortisol, which increases stress and may cause hormonal changes in your body. It is also a good idea to cut back on or quite alcohol, as it also has negative effects on your hormone levels.
Be Careful of Harmful Chemicals
It is also a good idea to be aware of the chemicals you use on your body and in your home, as these can also make a difference in your overall health and wellness, and even affect your ability to produce natural hormones in your body. Look at the chemicals in your household cleaners, plastic containers you store your food in, and the pesticides on your fresh produce.
Make Sleep a Top Priority
Lastly, make sure you are getting enough sleep each night, and that it is quality sleep. This means developing a new bedtime routine, not having distractions, turning your phone off, and having high-quality bedding and mattress to ensure adequate sleep throughout the night.
3. Get More Exercise
As you begin developing healthier daily habits to help with your hormonal imbalance, it is a good time to think about adding in more physical activity. Here are some things to know about exercise and hormone levels, and what exercises are the best ones to start with.
Reduce Your Insulin Levels
The reason physical activity is good for your hormone levels is because it keeps your insulin levels a little lower. While you still need insulin (a hormone) in your body for various bodily functions, too much of it can be a bad thing. This is what often causes inflammation, diabetes, and heart disease.
By adding in regular exercise, even a moderate amount each week, you can get your insulin to a normal level, improve your hormonal imbalance, and even help to maintain your weight and overall health.
Get More Aerobic Exercise
To start with, add some aerobic and cardio exercise to your regular exercise routine. If all you do is strength training or a little yoga, then this is what you should improve. It doesn’t have to be hours on the treadmill every day, but 3-4 days a week of aerobic exercise is amazing for your insulin levels, balancing out your hormones, and reducing your risk for heart disease and stroke.
Don’t Forget Strength Training
Both circuit training and strength training are also great for hormonal imbalance. This can help to stimulate your growth hormones, as well as improve your insulin response and stimulate testosterone levels if they have been on the lower side.
Exercises for Relaxation
As you will find out in the final section of this report, stress relief is important if you want to balance your hormone levels naturally. One great way to reduce your stress is by adding in some more relaxing and calming exercises to your routine, such as yoga and simple stretching techniques.
4. Use Herbs and Essential Oils
If you are familiar with natural remedies for different ailments, then you are probably no stranger to herbs and essential oils. Herbs are the same ones you often have in your own backyard herb garden, or what you can find at natural health stores and local garden centers.
Essential oils are extracted from the herbs, flowers, and plants that provide healing properties. In both cases, they can be amazing at helping with your hormonal imbalance, but especially with reducing the side effects while you work on treating the hormonal balance issues you have.
Adaptogen Herbs
To start with, you can try using adaptogen herbs. These are a specific classification of healing herbs that work on improving the hormones in your body and reduce stress, as well as other medical conditions.
When you use adaptogen herbs, you will notice other benefits as well, such as reduced cholesterol, better thyroid function, and improved blood sugar levels.
Some of the best adaptogenic herbs for hormonal imbalance include:
Ashwagandha
Holy basil
Rhodiola
Essential Oils
Next you have your essential oils, which can be use din a variety of ways, including in an essential oil diffuser or aromatherapy candles, on your skin after diluting with a carrier oil, or in various body products with essential oils in them, like shea butter or body wash.
Some essential oils that are great for hormonal imbalance include:
Clary sage
Lavender
Thyme
Sandalwood
5. Reduce Your Stress
The last natural remedy that can help with your hormonal imbalance is to focus on reducing your stress. Stress is a killer for the hormone levels in your body, particularly with cortisol, though adrenaline can also be affected.
Cortisol is your stress hormone, and is needed because it determines how well you can deal with stress over time. However, when you have too much stress, cortisol becomes unbalanced, and can lead to a lot of negative side effects, both mentally and physically. The best thing you can do is try to keep your stress at a reasonable level.
Keep a Stress Journal
If you have a lot of stress in your life, you need to figure out what your biggest stressors are. Sometimes, it is obvious, but you might be surprised by how many different areas of your life the stress is actually coming from.
A stress journal not only helps you determine what your biggest stressors are, but also allows you to vent any worries, fears, or thoughts you have, which can in turn help you to deal with your stress a little better.
Start writing everything down in a journal, and you will soon gain a lot more clarity into why your stress is so high lately.
Get Regular Exercise
As mentioned previously, you want to make sure you get regular physical activity to balance out your hormones and manage your weight. It also happens to be one of the best ways to relieve stress naturally. Look for exercises that distract your mind, but aren’t too intense. Think about walks with your dog or your family, going on a hike, or trying yoga.
Focus on Improved Sleep
Are you getting enough sleep? If not, you need to start now! We talked about it previously for hormonal imbalance, but it is also essential for relieving your stress. If you get poor sleep, then you probably have a lot of fatigue, unhealthy eating habits, and yes – more cortisol, which means unbalanced hormones and a lot more stress throughout the day.
