Chloe, my periods are getting much worse, I’ve been doing some research and think I have some kind of hormonal imbalance. Can you help?
This is a question I get asked a lot, but is not one that can be answered with a simple yes or no.
Symptoms that prompt such a question can include heavy periods, PMS, acne, infertility, anxiety, depression, cramps, sore boobs…. Symptoms that are often dismissed as “part of being a woman” and “there’s nothing we can do about them” but whilst I won’t define these symptoms as a simple hormonal imbalance, and this article will present 3 reasons why, there absolutely ARE things that can be done to improve and often completely alleviate these symptoms. We will be exploring the how and why in my upcoming workshop but this article shares my number 1 top tip for any women suffering with any kind of hormonal symptom or imbalance.
First, 3 things I want ever woman to know about their hormones:
1.Your period starts in your brain
Yes you read that right. The initial message that prompts ovulation, that then prompts your period (providing you don’t get pregnant) starts in your brain. Your brain forms part of your central nervous system. The nervous system allows us to communicate with the outside world and process information such as stress and safety signals. Therefore stress is a key factor that can influence the health, or balance, of your hormones.
If I am supporting a woman of any age, with any kind of hormonal symptoms, supporting their stress levels will be one of the first places we start. Read on for my number 1 tried and tested strategy.
2. Your sex hormones are just a handful of over 50 hormones that your body makes every day.
And all of these hormones are connected. A hormone by definition is a chemical substance that acts like a messenger asking your body to do something. We make hormones to signal hunger, satiety, sleep, waking up, sex drive, motivation. Everything we do is governed by a hormone, and how one often and well one set of hormones work, will influence another.
So if we are dealing with any kind of hormone imbalance, we need to be thinking holistically about the health and function of ALL of our hormones.
3. Diet can play a huge role in the health and function of your hormones.
Our hormones are made of either protein or fat so it is essential that we get sufficient proteins and fat from our diet. How well hormones communicate with our body is also highly dependent on adequate nutrition, as well as how well we are able to process and eliminate them in the gut and liver.
As a nutritional therapist I have a bursting kit bag of tools that I can share with you including foods, supplements, testing, lifestyle behaviours and I am really looking forward to sharing these with you at my upcoming workshop. But for now I would like to leave you with my favourite breathing exercise.
Why the breath?
Life starts and ends with the breath….and it’s everything in between. It’s free, and accessible to you and everyone else at any time of day. There are very few tools I have where that can be said, but that does’t mean to downplay its significance. We now have countless pieces of research to show the effectiveness of breathing exercises in reducing stress as measured by physiologic markers as well as psychological self-report tools.
What to do:
- Whether you are seated, standing or lying down feel your connection to the earth beneath you.
- Follow your next exhale and visualise it leaving your body
- Then follow your next inhale visualising it entering your body to where it naturally lands: the chest, ribs, belly or anywhere else in your body.
- Repeat for 10 round of breath.
When to do it?
The more often the better, I like to ‘habit stack’ with my clients adding this on to habits they already have in their day such as brushing their teeth and making a cup of tea.
Chloe is a registered nutritional therapist with over 15 years studying nutrition and functional medicine, and 10 years supporting clients with their health and hormones. Her upcoming workshop “The Nourished Cycle: a workshop for better periods” is welcome to anyone interested in understanding the science behind the menstrual cycle and how to support hormones holistically.
Join her on Sunday 20th October 9-11am. Click here to book.