Not feeling yourself?
As women, we can include mother, partner, career woman, cleaner, cook, tutor, nurse and taxi driver within our job descriptions, and that’s just to name a few! That’s a lot of responsibility to handle and unfortunately juggling so many roles can leave women feeling overworked and overwhelmed.
Daily demands can certainly take a toll on our bodies. Not only on our physical and mental health but also on our hormonal balance.
Hormones play an important role in good health and wellbeing and achieving the right balance is crucial. When we think of hormone balance we tend to focus on the hormones associated with our reproductive system, but our hormones are responsible for balancing all body systems including our metabolism and weight, our sleep/wake cycle, our stress response and our mood and behaviour.
So if you feel a bit off-balance and not your normal self but can’t pinpoint why, it could be down to hormonal imbalance.
A hormone imbalance in one area of the body can have a domino effect and lead to additional hormonal imbalances or even health issues. It’s important to understand what contributes to hormone imbalances, what you can control and the steps you can take to rebalance your body.
If you’re struggling to keep up with the demands of life keep in mind these key factors which can impact on healthy hormonal balance:
- Gut and digestive health – The beneficial microflora in our gut ensure our digestive systems can recycle or eliminate certain hormones, to maintain a healthy balance in our bodies.
- Stress levels – Cortisol is a hormone that is released during the stress response. On-going stress and high cortisol levels can cause our cells to become less responsive to this hormone, affecting hormonal balance and many different functions in the body.
- Hidden toxins – Chemicals known as xenoestrogens can be present in our food and environment. Xenoestrogens can affect the way our own hormones work and can derail our hormone systems. They are commonly found in personal care products, household cleaners, herbicides and pesticides used on our foods, office products, plastics and more.
