Think of having a hormone balance sort of like baking a cake. A little too much or too little of one ingredient will affect how the cake turns out. In the same way, you can have too much or too little of a certain hormone, even a tiny bit, and you can feel serious changes throughout your body.
Hormones play an important role in your mental, physical and emotional health. Keeping them in balance is crucial for your overall health but with today’s fast-paced lifestyle, hormonal imbalances have become increasingly common.
Hormone imbalances can show up in the form of weight gain, fatigue, weakened muscles, sweating, frequent urination, increased thirst or hunger, depression, anxiety, irritability, and quite frankly the effect of hormonal imbalances in the body is endless.
Experiencing hormone imbalances? Here are 5 ways to balance them
Get moving! Exercise frequently
Your hormonal health will extremely benefit from frequent physical activity. This will help boost levels of muscle-maintaining hormones that will decline with age and reduce insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity. Walking/running, aerobic exercises or strength training will help your body modify hormone levels, reducing the risk of disease and protecting muscle mass as we age.
Try to avoid sugar
We all know that sugar is linked to many health conditions, and avoiding or minimizing these foods may be crucial in getting your hormones back in balance. If you have a sweet tooth and giving up sweets is just too hard, you’re in luck! Dark chocolate is a healthy fat and great substitute for any overly sugary candy.
Manage your stress levels
Stress isn’t good for any part of your body and can seriously disrupt your hormones. Your cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline (fight-or-flight hormone) levels are two major hormones that are affected by stress. Our busy lifestyles can easily cause you stress, so taking time for a little self-care will easily help you de-stress.
Sip on a nice cup of green tea
Not only is it a delicious drink, green tea is one of the healthiest drinks out there. Green tea contains epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has hundreds of health benefits. Green tea can aid in lowering cholesterol, assisting in weight loss, improving brain function and decreasing anxiety.
Consuming green tea often may increase the sensitivity of an important hormone in your body, insulin, which controls glucose levels in our body. Green tea can assist in lowering high insulin levels in everyone. Fueling your body with something as beneficial as green tea can immensely help keep your hormones balanced.
Sleep, sleep, sleep!
Do you get enough sleep? No matter how healthy you live your life, if you don’t get a good amount of sleep at night, your health will suffer. Poor sleep, according to research, is linked to imbalances of hormones such as insulin, cortisol, leptin, ghrelin and growth hormones. To ensure your hormones are remaining balanced, getting a good night of 7 uninterrupted hours of sleep is crucial.
