Signs Of HORMONAL IMBALANCE In WOMEN

        Common Signs Of Hormonal Imbalance In Women

Hormones are chemical messengers that control, how cells and organs do their work in your body.

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Many women suffer from a hormonal imbalance which can cause changes in their bodies Hormonal Imbalance Examples Such as PMS, Anxiety, Aching In The Thighs and Legs Cravings For Junk Foods Dry Skin And a great range of other problems Your body actually makes over 50 different hormones. which are released by different glands. This is called the endocrine system.

These glands are very sensitive, and can easily cause you to have too much or too little hormones, If you are exposed to too much stress, junk foods or toxins from the environment.

It’s also very common for medications and birth control pills to cause hormonal imbalances when you have taken them for years. For this reason, today we will be exploring few common signs of hormonal imbalance, so that you can understand what is happening inside your body. 

Afterwards we will also explore some simple yet powerful lifestyle tips that you can use to help balance out your hormones. so do speak to your doctor if you have any medical concerns.

Hot Flashes

If you experience an intense wave of heat/warmth in your upper body, such as your face, neck and chest this is likely a hot flash. This can also cause the skin to redden as though you are blushing, and your heartbeat may speed up.

 

Hot flashes are caused by a drop in your estrogen levels, which can affect the thyroid gland and hypothalamus. These are common for women who take birth control or are in menopause.

Racing Thoughts

If you find that you are constantly overthinking and your mind is overly active, especially at night preventing you from sleeping, This is a very common sign that your adrenal glands are releasing too much cortisol into your blood, the main stress hormone. High cortisol is triggered by mental stress and overstimulating the body with caffeine, over-training or exposure to too much blue light from screens. 

Vaginal Dryness/Dry Genitalia

 

Another issue that women often face is vaginal dryness and a loss of libido, especially after menopause. This may be triggered by having low estrogen, or even low testosterone levels, as both of these hormones are needed in the perfect balance to maintain the health of your sexual organs.

Sugar Cravings

 

If you have eaten a meal and then you crave something sweet, you likely have too much insulin in the body (insulin resistance). This hormonal imbalance is triggered by eating too many refined carbohydrates/sugars for years which makes your cells resistant to insulin, so your pancreas makes more. Over time this can worsen into type 2 diabetes. 

Hair Loss & Acne

If you notice your hair is thinning out from the centre parting of your head, or you are losing large clumps on hair in the shower, You likely have high androgen levels or low estrogen levels. This hormonal imbalance can also cause you to have oily skin, acne and you may lose collagen in your skin faster as you age. You can balance these hormones by eating more cruciferous vegetables and healthy fat.

Irregular Periods

Your periods should run on a regular cycle. The average is every 28 days, however this can vary between 21-40 days in different women. If your cycles start to become irregular, by stopping or starting randomly, this is a classic sign that your estrogen hormone levels are out of balance.

Breast Tenderness

 

Estrogen dominance is a situation where you have too much estrogen in your body, which can cause your breasts to become swollen or tender, especially just before a menstrual cycle (period). This is a classic symptom of hormone imbalance. You may also experience a heavier flow if you have too much estrogen.

Thinning Eyebrows

If you start to lose the hair on the outer parts of your eyebrows, or they are thinning out this is a classic sign of an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). The thyroid is a gland found in your neck which controls parts of your metabolism. 

Low Thyroid Hormones 

(T3/T4) can also trigger feelings of depression, dry skin, constipation and weight gain. An underactive thyroid is usually caused by a problem in the liver/gallbladder or high estrogen.

These hormones are all linked to each other, so an imbalance can have a ripple effect throughout.

Varicose Veins The Body

If you develop blue or purple veins that start to bulge outwards in the legs, you likely have varicose veins. This is usually a liver problem causing high estrogen levels, which is causing damage to the tone of your veins. Women who experience this often also have weight gain around the hips and thighs and may feel a dull aching sensation.

Facial Hair

Women who begin to develop facial hair may be suffering with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a condition caused by high levels of androgen (male) hormones. In this situation, the voice may also become deeper and you may develop more masculine features. High androgens are often caused by insulin resistance and eating too many refined sugars and not enough vegetables.

Skin Tags & Warts

New research suggests that if you begin to grow clusters of new skin tags, this is likely caused by a buildup of anabolic hormones (estrogen or insulin). This causes the cells in your skin to multiply too quickly, and skin tags can form anywhere on the body, especially the neck, the armpits and other folds.

Frequent Infections

Cortisol is a hormone which helps to reduce inflammation in your lungs and strengthen your immune system when it's working properly. Low levels of cortisol however (cortisol resistance) can cause your body to become more prone to infections from respiratory viruses, making you catch a cold more than once or twice per year.

If you have a mixture of these signs and symptoms, and you'd like to know for definite if you have a hormonal imbalance, there are blood test kits available for women that you can use at home. 

These test kits are very useful because you can do them in the comfort of your own home and then send them off to the lab for analysis, In 2-5 days you'll get your hormone level results in the app or your online account. 

Causes Of Hormonal Imbalance

But first let's take a look at some of the main triggers for hormonal imbalances in your body. Refined Foods By far the most common issue is eating too much sugar and refined foods, which cause blood sugars issues that affects your pancreas and other glands causing hormonal changes.

Metal Stress Mental stress and strong emotions can affect your entire endocrine system and nervous system, putting them out of balance. Overweight Another issue is simply being overweight.

When your fat cells are full, they can produce more estrogen and inflammation. Deficiencies Your glands also require certain nutrients to work properly.

So if you aren't eating enough nutrient dense foods, glands like the thyroid can stop producing the right level of hormones. Poor Sleep Not getting at least 7-8 hour of deep restorative sleep each night will also affect your melatonin and  at

Chemistry which damage the pituitary gland Toxins And finally if you have a build-up of toxins in your body from smoking, drinking alcohol, soy protein isolates, vaping or taking in too many toxic vegetable oils, these act as endocrine disruptors, putting your hormones out of balance.

How To Balance Hormones

Eat foods rich in trace minerals often such as sea weed, nutritional yeast, kelp, kombu, shellfish, avocados, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, avocados and walnuts. These foods are rich in essential trace minerals that support the glands throughout your body such as iodine, selenium and chromium.

Support your liver in balancing out your hormones by eating bitter organic fruits and vegetables like lemons, raspberries, broccoli, cabbage, sauerkraut, arugula, Swiss chard, garlic, artichoke, radish and lots of raw leafy green vegetables.

Reduce the amount of refined carbohydrates that you eat like sugar, grains, flour and wheat. bread, biscuits, cakes, cereals, popcorn etc..

Replace them with more nutritious whole foods like grass fed meats, wild fish, pasture raised eggs and mixed vegetables.

Take a daily supplement that contains 10,000 iu of Vitamin D3 and 100mcg of Vitamin K2 (Mk-7). This dosage helps to lower inflammation in your glands such as your thyroid, pancreas, ovaries etc, so that they can release the right amount of hormones.

Eat all of your food in a strict 6 hour window each day, and allow your body to rest and digest the remaining 18 hours.This timed eating method is called intermittent fasting, and helps to balance out your blood sugars and allow your glands to heal and recover balance your stress hormones by taking long walks outside in areas with lots of nature and trees.

The fresh air, gentle exercise and essential oils released from treetops will help to turn off the 'fight/flight' response in your body, which may be putting your hormones out of balance.