Top Tips for Hormone Balancing

Have you ever stopped and wondered what this rollercoaster lifestyle is doing to us?

When I talk to women in clinic about their stress levels and how they are coping many women tell me they are “fine”. As we delve deeper into their health it becomes clear to me that there is no way that their stress levels are “fine”, even if they feel that way. What we need to remember is often with stress we start adjusting and somewhat coping with this new level of intensity. So theoretically someone could be under huge amounts of stress, but functionally not be feeling too bad. But underneath it all there are a lot of chemical changes taking place. These are developing and waiting to be tipped that little bit too much to finally appear.

Unfortunately many women are so far into this rollercoaster of life that they forget what it was like before. This rollercoaster may have a few sharp turns and mountains to climb. Or it might be one long steady ride up to the top and then bam it drops away. Either way your body has taken on way more stress than it was designed to millions of years ago. And at some point it will get to the part of the rollercoaster I know I dread- the finale before it ends.

The stress that our body takes on- whether it is emotional, mental, physical or chemical will eventually begin to show. We are not physiologically designed to cope with the day in day out bombarding demands that many of us place on ourselves. When we think about stress often we presume it is about work deadlines and fitting too much in to life. But there are many other things which are considered a stress to the body. Think HIIT and other high intensity workouts, late nights, alcohol and coffee, chemicals in cleaning and personal care, work and family commitments as well as sugars and processed foods. These are all things that place extra stress on the body.

The side effects of this stress can be shown in many different ways.

Such as changes to:

• Digestion
• Weight
• Sleep patterns
• Moods
• PMS
• Bloating
• Fatigue
• Periods

When we talk about hormones very few women associate it with how much stress they have in their lives. But this stress is usually one of the major factors in their change in symptoms. The above symptoms can all be linked back to how much stress you have had in the last few years or are currently exposed to.

Until we start making a connection between mind and body and the huge effects it has, women in all generations will not be able to achieve complete hormone balance. What I encourage women to do is step off the roller coaster and don’t feel like you have to always be pushing, pleasing and doing.

Just be, pause and relax.

It may sound simple but this will help you hugely with long term balance in your life.