As health practitioners we get many patients coming through our doors experiencing mood swings, sleep deprivation, menstrual irregularities, infertility issues, unusual weight gain and more. This can sometimes be a sign from your body that your hormones are out of whack. Hormones are the little chemical messengers in our body that control most major bodily functions. When they are in proper balance, hormones help the body thrive, but small problems with hormones can disrupt these major bodily functions.
SLEEP
Sleeping difficulties can be a sign of hormonal imbalance, then on the other hand, not getting enough sleep can throw your hormones out of whack. It’s a vicious cycle! Our hormones play a major role in influencing our circadian rhythm, (the 24 hour cycle our bodies follow that results in physical, mental and behavioural changes).
Cortisol is the hormone that wakes us up in the morning as the sun begins to rise. When the sun goes down our body begins to reduce the amount of Cortisol production in our bodies which triggers Melatonin to be released. It is this Melatonin release that makes us sleepy. We need Cortisol for many bodily functions but when there is too much of it, for example when we are stressed, anxious, or even simple things like watching too much TV or too much phone use before bed, it can increase your Cortisol and reduce the amount of Melatonin production. This results in difficulties with sleep.
Chronic lack of sleep on the other hand can then result in high levels of Cortisol in your body and can also affect levels of Leptin and Ghrelin in our body. Leptin and Ghrelin are the two hormones that control how hungry we get the next day. The evil hormones that sometimes make us eat an entire cake. Over time, this can result in increased appetite and weight gain.
If you do find it hard to get to sleep at night or you find yourself waking up quite a bit, here are some simple tips to get these hormones back on track.
Stress management. Whether it be exercise, meditation, or even simple breathing exercises try to do these in the evening time to prepare for bed. If you feel like you have 1000 things to do and you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, write out a list and start ticking things off.
Try to avoid watching TV and phone use right before bed. Switch the TV to a book. Alternatively, you can purchase some sexy orange glasses that block blue LED light. This blue light increases the cortisol production in our body thereby decreasing Melatonin. Insert sexy selfie here:
If you must check your phone at night you can now turn off the blue light on your iPhone. Go into Settings -> Display & Brightness -> Night shift, then you can seta an automated time it will turn off the blue light each night. If you have any other model of phone I have no idea how to work those, sorry, just purchase the sexy glasses.
3. Eating to many sugary foods later in the night. This can affect Cortisol levels. Try to avoid eating high sugar foods past 8pm.
4. Wake up to natural light. You will wake up feeling less groggy and less fatigued as the natural light will produce higher levels of Cortisol in the morning and you won’t have to wake up to that horrible alarm sound we dread so much.
STRESS
Just like sleep, too much stress in our lives play havoc with our hormones, and stress itself also results in hormonal imbalance.
When we stress we produce high amounts of Cortisol. Cortisol helps us deal with stress by shutting down unnecessary functions, like reproduction and the immune system, in order to allow the body to direct all energies toward dealing with the stress at hand. These functions of Cortisol are supposed to be short lived, just long enough to deal with the offending stressor. For example, back in the day when we lived in caves and had to run away from bears and tigers, the sudden jump in Cortisol gave the energy for our muscles to run away from the danger. Now with our ever-stressed, fast-paced lifestyle, our bodies are pumping out cortisol constantly.
The stress management ideas mentioned previously can really help assist with stress levels. The app “smiling mind” is a simple meditation app that anyone can use. Give yourself a 30-day challenge where you meditate for 10 minutes a day and see how you feel!
EXERCISE
Exercise is one of the greatest things to do for stress levels and general health and well being. Exercise decreases the stress hormone Cortisol and increases Endorphins. Endorphins are the body's natural feel good chemicals, and when they are released through exercise, your mood is boosted naturally.
Try to include as much incidental exercise into your day:
Take the stairs instead of the lift or elevator.
Park in the furthest car park away from the shops. Don’t stalk the poor people down coming out of the shopping centre and creepily follow them to their car.
Wear some sexy runners with your work clothes and park a while away from work or get off a few stations early and walk there.
Do some house hold cleaning. Chuck on some JT and get the vacuum. Try to see cleaning as exercise and not a tedious chore and it hopefully won’t be so bad.
DIET AND NUTRITION
Certain foods in your diet can restore or throw off the balance of your hormones. Though not one type of diet will work for everyone, implementing certain care tips for your hormones can work for just about any of us, no matter what life stage we are in, what circumstances we are going through, or the changes our bodies are going through. Here are some simple dietary care tips for making your hormones happy:
Foods to avoid. Refined, high sugar foods. These foods are high GI and spike our insulin levels causing a cascade effect on other hormones. High refined sugar foods result in us feeling hungry shortly after as you get a rapid spike in sugar followed by a rapid drop. This rapid fluctuation leaves us feeling hungry for more sugar. It’s an evil cycle resulting in the entire tub of ice-cream being consumed.
Processed meat. If the meat isn’t organic, it usually means its pumped full of hormones to make the animals bigger and leaner. These hormones are responsible for regulating sexuality in males and females, as well as growth and the reproductive cycle. So when we eat these meats and get too much of these hormones it can affect our health.
Don’t skip meals. This makes our blood sugar drop, then soar, then drop rapidly again. It also makes you moody, jittery, anxious, and tired.
Switch from processed to organic. By consuming natural foods instead of packaged and processed you won’t be eating the additives, preservatives, added sugars and hormones. You will feel healthier, fuller for longer and less moody.
Include good fats in your diet. Avocados, eggs, oily fish, nuts and seeds are good fats the body requires for many bodily functions. Many people avoid these foods as they are high in fat and calorie intake. If we eat these in moderation though and cut out the refined sugar you will be satisfied for longer and won’t feel the need to over eat as these are low GI foods with lots of energy that sustain us. Not to mention the added benefits of good fats on our bodies! Good fats can fight inflammation, ease joint pain, manage our moods, fight fatigue, reduce risk of heart disease and even control our weight gain!
VITAMIN D
Vitamin D is so important for many major functions of the body. Vitamin D plays a role in the absorption of calcium for strong healthy bones, it strengthens our immune system to help fight against several diseases and even helps fight against cancer as it plays a role in regulation of cell growth.
Vitamin D has a cascade effect on other hormones in our body. Low levels can affect serotonin levels in your brain which can cause crankiness, depression and mood swings. It can even lead to weight gain as low vitamin D levels can change the bacteria in our intestine.
Although we might think of this as a vitamin, (due to its misleading name) it’s actually a hormone. Only a small percentage of Vitamin D can be absorbed through our diet, the rest of our vitamin D is produced by our body when our skin is in contact with the sun. Over the past few years with our world becoming more sun smart, Vitamin D deficiency is becoming more and more common.
To get your Vitamin D fix all you have to do is sit in the sun for 15 minutes each day. So roll up those sleeves and go have your morning tea out in the sunshine!
COMMON HOUSE HOLD PRODUCTS
If your feeling really dedicated to getting your hormone levels on track, try switching all your common house hold products such as soaps, lotions, detergents, cleaners, sunscreens, air fresheners, shaving cream, cosmetics and perfumes to natural alternatives. Some of the chemicals used in these products have been showed to affect the body’s hormone and have health consequences. These harmful chemicals are known as ‘endocrine disruptors' meaning they interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding, action, or elimination of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for development, behaviour, fertility, and maintenance of normal cell metabolism.
You can find natural alternatives at many health stores. If you look hard enough you can even find them in your local supermarkets!