Nutrition & Lifestyle Practices for Healthy Hormones (Part 2)
Hey there! Two weeks ago we started talking about nutrition practices for healthy hormones. Today, we're doing part two of that topic and talking about lifestyle practices you can start today for more balance in your hormones. Your hormones and menstrual cycle is highly influenced by your environment and the lifestyle you life. And because I strongly believe that health is so much more than food, let's look at some things you can do to improve your hormone health through things in your everyday life!
We talked about what a healthy period entails over in the previous post as well as how what you eat and your mindset around food plays a role in hormone balance. How you eat is important, but I'd venture to say that lifestyle is more important to take into consideration than food when it comes to having a healthy period.
Your lifestyle, aka the way you life, includes things like how you manage stress, the type of movement you do, what your environment includes, etc. The thing about lifestyle is...it's your life! It effects every aspect of you! And therefore, having a healthy lifestyle makes a huge difference in every aspect of your health. We're only touching on one part of your health...your hormones and period. But I guarantee these little lifestyle changes will do so much more for you than just that.
Here are my lifestyle tips for healthy hormones..
INVITE PEACE & CALM INTO YOUR LIFE
It's probably not something you actively try to add more of to your life. Maybe you're like I used to be and say things like, "Maybe in the next few months things will slow down." But adding more peace and calm into your life, finding ways to decrease stress and slow down, is so crucial for healthy hormones. When you're stressed out 24/7, cortisol levels increase in your body as a result and is the signal to other parts of your body that you're in "fight or flight" mode. What this mode entails is only working to do the bare minimum until you are perceived as "safe" aka out of stress. That means reproductive function halts and those hormones decrease and get out of whack.
The absolute first thing you should think about when wanting to balance your hormones or even just maintaining a healthy balance is inviting more peace and calm into your life. Don't be afraid of slowing down as so many of us are prone to be. Let yourself take a break, take some deep breaths, give yourself time to think and meditate or pray. Schedule intentional time to not be busy. That's right, schedule time where you don't have anything scheduled!By doing this, you'll feel so many benefits such as decreased anxiety, clearer thinking, more energy, and more joy! We could all use some of that.
BE GENTLE ON YOURSELF WITH YOUR WORKOUTS
For a lot of us women, our bodies aren't meant to be pushed to such crazy extremes as so many do. Crossfit is cool and all now, but I do caution women who do it every day or even the majority of days because of its intensity. Our bodies are very in tune to our stress levels. And exercise is a stressor that can be good, but also can be harmful and throw hormones out of their beautiful balance.Your exercise should never make you feel so worn out that you can't function properly the rest of the day. And each of our bodies are different and can tolerate different degrees of exercise so it's hard to say exactly how many days you can workout in what ways. But what I can tell you is that you can feel what too much feels like if you take a step back, stop approaching exercise as only a calorie burner, and see it for what it should be seen as...movement to improve muscle strength, bone durability, increase energy, uplift mood, and so much more! But if what you get out of your workout is a feeling of chronic exhaustion, something needs to change.
Also, I have to mention that there are cases quite frequently where women workout so hard and push their bodies so much that the stress their bodies sense leads to hypothalamic amenorrhea. This is where your hypothalamus stops producing the hormone that leads to production of your sex hormones and causes irregular or absent periods. With this case, slowing down exercise may not be enough and it may be necessary to stop exercise all together for a time. This can be scary for some, but trust me, your body will thank you as it realizes that it can trust that it's not in danger and isn't going to be under that chronic stress again.
MAKE THE SWITCH TO NON-TOXIC PERSONAL & HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
It doesn't have to be all at once, but slowly trading out household cleaning products and personal care products with healthier options can work wonders for your hormones. Unfortunately, a lot of the personal care and household products on the market include not so great ingredients that can disrupt that beautiful hormone balance. So by doing your research and finding products that are a bit healthier you're helping out your hormones without doing too much work!
It shouldn't be a stressful process. I know plenty of women who take this so far as to become anxious about something that isn't "clean" or is "toxic". The good news is your body is able to detox harmful substances on it's own. But we can help it out by decreasing the "toxic load" through making the swap in our homes where we can.
If you're interested in learning more about products that may be better for your hormone health, The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a great organization with resources to help educate and make finding healthier products an easier process.
GET 7-8 HOURS OF SLEEP EACH NIGHT
Sleep is underrated. We need sleep, and a good amount of it, for healthy cells and hormones. Sleep is the time where cortisol decreases all throughout the body and your body gets in it's rest & digest mode. We are made to have a circadian rhythm that includes regular wake and sleep cycles for healthy functioning of hormones including reproductive hormones, stress hormones, and the hormones that are involved with your hunger and fullness signals. So sleep is not only wonderful for energy the next day, but also helps you be more able and inclined to listen to your body with eating. As far as reproduction goes, lack of sleep overtime creates added stress on the body that can interfere with normal reproductive hormones. All this to say, sleep is important and should be a priority. I hope you understand now how important it is to look at more than just the food you eat and how you eat to help balance your hormones, but look into your lifestyle practices and the role they play.