PMS, menopause, pregnancy, stress, breast health, sexual health and emotional well-being are all major health concerns for women. Some are frustrating, like PMS, while others, like pregnancy, can be wonderful. What each has in common is a large hormonal component. Hormones can fluctuate drastically depending on diet, nutritional status, toxicity level, and other factors such as job and family stress. Let's explore how women's hormone balancing can improve women's health and the strategies you can implement to achieve this.
How Do Hormones Affect Women?
Hormones, or chemical messengers, are produced by the endocrine glands and are released into the bloodstream.
Most people know that women's primary hormone is estrogen, and it is responsible for signalling the starting and stopping of processes related to sexual and reproductive health. Estrogen also has specific roles during different life stages for females. However, the female body has more hormones than just estrogen. Other women's hormones include:
- Progesterone
- Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
- Luteinizing hormone (LH)
- Testosterone
All of these hormones play important roles in the maintenance of health and fertility. High or low levels of these hormones can cause different complaints, depending on the age of the affected woman. In addition, normal hormone levels protect other body systems from breaking down, for example, the cardiovascular and skeletal systems.
What Causes Hormonal Imbalances in Women?
Some conditions associated with female hormonal imbalances include:
Infertility
Hormone imbalances can cause infertility because hormones play an important role in female reproduction, especially the ones regulating menstrual cycles. Hormones must be able to signal and regulate egg growth and the release of the egg into the fallopian tube, as well as the thickening of the uterine lining for implantation. However, not all the responsibility is on the woman's body; the man's hormones must also be balanced so the sperm can be healthy enough to fertilize the egg. Once the egg is fertilized, it travels to the uterus for implantation.
Hormonal imbalance, whether it's the absence or an irregular quantity of one or more hormones, can delay or prevent any of these processes from occurring, making pregnancy difficult. Some common conditions that can affect hormone balance include: anovulation, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and hyperprolactinemia.
An absence or irregular quantity of one or more hormones can delay or prevent any of the above processes from occurring, making pregnancy difficult to achieve.
Menopausal Symptoms
Hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause can significantly affect how women feel both physically and emotionally. As estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate and eventually decline, symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats often become more common.
With age, the ovaries produce less estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, and the pituitary gland produces more follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in hopes of stimulating the ovaries. With the onset of these imbalances, symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, irritability and insomnia kick in.
PMS (Premenstrual Symptom)
Hormonal imbalances can affect PMS because whether there's an excess of estrogen or a deficiency in progesterone, differences in these hormones can drastically impact symptoms associated with menstruation. Disruptions in these hormones can impact neurotransmitters like serotonin, leading to mood swings. They can also cause bloating because when estrogen is too high, it triggers fluid retention along with tender breasts. A deficiency in progesterone actually has a calming effect; however, this doesn't necessarily mean relaxation. In the second half of a woman's cycle, this can actually lead to heightened anxiety, poor sleep, and more mood swings.
Estrogen Balance in the Body
A hormonal imbalance directly impacts estrogen by creating a dominance or deficiency in this hormone. Because there needs to be a delicate balance amongst the network of hormones, an imbalance in one can lead to a disruption in the production, processing, or clearance of estrogen in the body.
Women's Hormone Balancing Tips
What Is Hormone Balancing?
It's important to each of these health concerns (and many others) that hormones be maintained at a healthy level. This optimizes production, but also ensures the breakdown or detoxification of excess or unnecessary hormones. The body is a delicate balance; too much of any hormone is just as harmful as too little.
How Do I Do A Hormonal Detox?
The liver and bowels are important organs for women's health because they are responsible both for processing hormones and for excreting those hormones after processing.
Performing liver and bowel detoxification will help to reduce most women's health concerns by ensuring proper function in these organs and thereby regulating hormone levels. Sexual function is regulated by a team made up of the thyroid, adrenal glands and ovaries. Imbalance in one member of the team will force the others to overcompensate to maintain balance, and then those organs become strained. This explains why other medical concerns such as hypothyroidism, stress, depression and malnourishment can lead to infertility.
Tips On Improving Hormone Balance in Women
A diet high in animal products inhibits the excretion of excess estrogens from the body. Animal protein also slows intestinal transit time, allowing the resorption of hormones. Toxins must be processed by the liver and take away from the liver's ability to process substances like hormones. Stress leads to a buildup of acidity in the body. When the body's pH is acidic, detoxification processes do not run as quickly as they could. Stress also depletes vitamins, such as the B complex, which are needed by the liver.
Optimizing Hormonal Balance
- Decreasing your consumption of animal products
- Limiting exposure to environmental toxins
- Reducing stress and implementing a stress-management program
- Using appropriate supplements for detoxification and stress management
Key Supplements That Help Hormonal Balancing
Supplemental programs for detoxification and stress management include B vitamins, lipotropic factors, liver supportive herbs, like milk thistle, and adrenal supportive herbs, like Siberian ginseng and licorice.
