Do You Know If You Need To Balance Your Hormones?
Hormones play a huge role in our overall health. They are the engines behind many of the normal processes that take place inside our bodies.
When hormones get out of balance it not only affects how our bodies conduct those processes but also how we feel. If you are feeling less than your best, a hormonal imbalance may be to blame.
Here’s a look at some of the common signs and symptoms that you need to balance your hormones.
Signs & Symptoms of Hormonal Imbalances
Some of the most common signs and symptoms of hormone imbalances include:
- Infertility and irregular periods
- Weight gain or weight loss (that’s unexplained and not due to intentional changes in your diet)
- Depression and anxiety
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Low libido
- Changes in appetite
- Digestive issues
- Hair loss and hair thinning
Symptoms of hormonal imbalances can range drastically depending on what type of disorder or illness they cause. For example, high estrogen can contribute to problems including endometriosis and reproductive issues, while symptoms of diabetes often include weight gain, changes in appetite, nerve damage, and problems with eyesight.
Some specific problems associated with some of the most common hormonal imbalances include:
- Estrogen dominance: changes in sleep patterns, changes in weight and appetite, higher perceived stress, slowed metabolism
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS): infertility, weight gain, higher risk for diabetes, acne, abnormal hair growth
- Low estrogen: low sex drive, reproductive problems, menstrual irregularity, changes in mood
- Hypothyroidism: slowed metabolism, weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, digestive issues, irregular periods
- Low testosterone: erectile dysfunction, muscle loss, weight gain, fatigue, mood-related problems
- Hyperthyroidism & Grave’s Disease: anxiety, thinning hair, weight loss, IBS, trouble sleeping, irregular heartbeats
- Diabetes: weight gain, nerve damage (neuropathy), higher risk for vision loss, fatigue, trouble breathing, dry mouth, skin problems
- Adrenal fatigue: fatigue, muscle aches and pains, anxiety and depression, trouble sleeping, brain fog, reproductive problems
-via Dr. Axe
A Simple Free Way To Balance Your Hormones
Like our body’s systems, our hormones are complex and varied, and a lot of different things go into maintaining a healthy, thriving system. Eating carefully, getting good sleep, taking certain herbs and supplements are just a few of the methods that can help you get and keep balance.
Perhaps the easiest and most accessible way to balance your hormones is simply to exercise. Health permitting, anyone can do it — and it’s free! All exercise is great but adding high intensity will improve your results. Here is a look at the simple technique that could help you balance your hormones.
Short, High Intensity Exercise Helps Balance Hormones
If you are the type that goes to a gym to do treadmill work or likes to walk, I encourage you to add some higher intensity sprints of 30 seconds or less to your workout. These can be done on a bike, treadmill, walking or running.
Give yourself a 1 minute break after each all out sprint. If you are new to exercise wait a few weeks until you have some basic conditioning. Then start working on more intensity and less volume.
You can start with 2-3 sprints which can be as gentle as fast walking to all out sprinting depending on your conditioning. Remember your body produces the feel good hormones when it thinks it’s in danger so you have to push a little harder but it can be brief.
If you like weight training, instead of waiting after each set, just immediately go to train another body part that is either non-related or an opposing muscle group. So if you are training your back, immediately after your set, train your chest with no break in between.
The whole body can be trained this way in less than 25 minutes.
There has been some recent research that this type of exercising can really increase the production of our natural hormones, including growth hormone. In time, I suspect research will show that all of the hormones critical to health will show an increase. I also think this type of exercise is the safest way to help balance hormones as long as it is coupled with rest and relaxation between sessions.
So here’s the basic prescription to help balance hormones and get an all access pass to that powerful pharmacy within: 2-3 all out, high intensity sessions of 30 seconds or less on a bike, treadmill, fast walking or running with a one minute break in between, allowing sufficient recovery time between sessions (as little as 2 times per week if necessary due to age or health status).
Let the inner pharmacy instead of the drive-thru pharmacy start working for you!
What do you do to balance your hormones?