Your hormones dictate your body’s functions from birth. They hugely influence your overall health and wellbeing. So, when these natural chemical messengers are not balanced, they affect things as crucial as your:
- Sleep patterns
- Metabolism
- Appetite
- Libido
- Stress response
- Gut health
- Weight management
- Reproductive system
- Immunity
You’ll therefore want to keep your hormones in balance as a priority. But how to balance them naturally?
Is there an alternative to the traditional band-aid approach of addressing hormone imbalance with synthetic hormones?
Yes, there is – with healthy habits and the help of functional medicine! And we’ll tell you everything about it in this article. Keep reading to learn how to balance hormones naturally.
It Starts with Healthy Habits
You can’t avoid biological factors that naturally cause hormone imbalance, such as
- aging,
- menopause, or
- genetics.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a particular health condition that affects your hormones, keeping them on track should be as simple as adopting healthy habits: sleeping well, eating well, and exercising regularly.
As you probably know, sedentary lifestyles, poor diet, and some specific diseases may directly cause a decline in your hormone levels. So, be aware of the following, as they may be hormone imbalance symptoms:
- Irritability
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Lack of sexual interest
If you notice one or more of these symptoms of hormone imbalance, it may be a good time to talk to your doctor and start a natural health plan to restore your hormonal balance and energy levels.
How Functional Medicine Can Help Balance Hormones Naturally
When it comes to hormone imbalance, there are many possible causes – from stress to blood sugar swings, aging to lack of sleep, poor gut health to thyroid diseases – you name it.
So, if you suspect the reason why you’re not feeling well may be hormonal, the first step is to find the root cause of your imbalance.
And that’s precisely how functional medicine can help.
Unlike the traditional Western approach to health, natural or functional medicine doesn’t try to fix the problem. Instead, it treats the underlying causes of the symptoms.
Of course, a functional nutritionist will carefully investigate your condition with thorough exams to determine your hormone levels and what’s causing your discomfort.
But after discovering why your hormones are not functioning as they should, natural medicine will help your body restore your hormone levels from the inside out with a customized health plan. This is more natural than prescribing synthetic medications to regulate them.
3 More Ways to Balance Hormones Naturally
Let’s dive into three simple – yet highly effective – lifestyle adjustments to help restore your hormone levels naturally.
1 Quality sleep
Sleep is underrated!
Disordered sleeping can often be the leading cause of hormone imbalance in healthy people. For example, some studies show that poor sleep is directly linked to imbalances in insulin, cortisol, and growth hormones (HGH).
Aim for at least seven hours of quality sleep every night, so you can go through all five stages of each sleep cycle and reach deep sleep – which is when your body releases growth hormones and melatonin.
With deep sleep, you’ll also keep the stress (cortisol) and the hunger (insulin) hormones on track to start the day full of energy.
2 Healthy diet
You are what you eat. Poor eating habits can disrupt your hormone levels in many ways.
Eating processed food, refined sugar, and too many animal products – all part of the Western diet – may increase estrogen levels and become a risk factor for ovarian and breast cancer.
Instead, focus on a nutritious Mediterranean-style diet rich in whole grains, fish, and legumes to keep your estrogen on track.
You may not know, but many of your hormones are produced in your gut. A balanced diet, including fruits, fibers, vegetables, and whole foods, reduces gut inflammation.
Adding fermented foods to your diet will also naturally help maintain a healthy gut microbiome.
Finally, consuming enough protein and healthy fats, such as avocado, salmon, or coconut oil, helps to
- boost your metabolism,
- keep your weight healthy,
- reduce insulin resistance, and
- control your stress hormone (cortisol).
3 Vitamin and hormonal supplements to balance hormones
Diet, exercise, and good sleep are not enough for some people to restore hormonal balance. If this is you, taking research-backed, reliable supplements may be a great alternative to naturally leveling your hormones.
If you keep a healthy lifestyle, but your lack of hormone balance is still affecting your energy and wellbeing, make sure to include the following natural supplements in your diet:
Magnesium
Also known as a miracle mineral to restore hormone levels, magnesium is the best supplement to regain energy and regulate stress and sex hormones.
You can also find this rich mineral in some foods, like cashew nuts, almonds, dark chocolate, black beans, and edamame.
Vitamin D
Your winter must-have! Despite being called a vitamin, vitamin D is a hormonal precursor – meaning your body uses it to produce calcitriol, an essential hormone that directly affects your mental and physical health.
Lack of vitamin D is one of the main causes of hormone imbalance, low estrogen levels, and low immunity in healthy people – leading to depression, fatigue, and bone loss. Most people living in the northern half of the US need to supplement with vitamin D to reach optimal levels because sunlight isn’t enough. This is especially true for people with darker skin.
A powerful, natural source of vitamin D is sunlight. Safely exposing the skin to the sun is an excellent way of increasing vitamin D.
Zinc
Zinc is a natural hormonal adaptogen, rebalancing cortisol, progesterone, and estrogen in women. A deficiency of zinc can also lead to thyroid hormone imbalance.
Some zinc-rich foods include meat, legumes, pumpkin seeds, and chickpeas.
B-vitamins
High-quality B-complex vitamins are a great way to rebalance your hormones and improve your health.
They boost hormone production and fight fatigue, mood swings, and inflammation by balancing estrogen and progesterone. They also help relieve the symptoms in perimenopause and menopause.
The primary source of vitamin B comes from animal products, so if you’re vegan, adding B-complex to your diet is a good idea.
Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)
If none of the options above is helping you control the unwelcome symptoms of hormone imbalance, you might need bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
BHRT is a hormone replacement therapy designed specifically for you, identically matching the molecular structure of your natural hormones. These plant-based bioidentical hormone medications are safely customized to naturally balance your hormone levels and improve your health – with fewer risks of side effects than other drugs.
Balance Hormones Naturally with Nava
At Nava Health, we specialize in preventive medicine, which allows us to emphasize fundamental modalities to treating and mitigating chronic disease. Our approach to hormone imbalance focuses on functional nutrition and also BHRT. If you want to discover more about how to balance hormones naturally, schedule a consultation with us today.