Many of us women go day to day not realizing the effects that our hormones have on our body, let alone our mental health. Do you suffer from stress, anxiety, or depression? These symptoms can be caused by our hormones, more specifically hormone dysregulation. This dysregulation can occur with too little or too many hormones being released. Our hormones can cause many symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, depression, mood swings, or chronic irritability.
It is up to us to be mindful of how our hormones are impacting our mental health before we have mental health conditions that are out of our control. When hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone are out of balance, this can create or worsen mental health issues.
Our stress hormone which is cortisol can lead to depression and anxiety if we do not focus on regulating our hormones. Stress raises our cortisol levels, which in turn lowers our serotonin which allows us to relax or get proper rest. There are many causes to hormone imbalance, such as food, caffeine, exercise, sleep patterns, and much more.
Symptoms of having hormone dysregulation
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Weight fluctuation
- Stomach problems
- Mood swings
Natural ways to treat hormone imbalance to create better mental health
- Get the correct amount of physical activity, which should be dependent on the phases of your hormonal cycle. It can be beneficial to track your cycles and work out according to the proper phase that you are in.
- A proper diet with protein and omega-3’s, as well as plenty of water and electrolytes. Our diet should also fluctuate with our hormone cycle as well, so tracking your cycle is key.
- Meditation and yoga can help us understand and connect with our body on a deeper level while reducing stress and anxiety, which causes hormone dysregulation.
- Natural vitamins and supplements tailored to your specific body and hormones. We are all different, which means our hormones are all different. Some of us experience endometriosis, PCOS, chronic pelvic pain, and much more. We should take these into account when finding the right vitamins and supplements for our hormones and well-being.
- Self-care to reduce stress and uplift your mood creating happy hormones. When we focus on self-care, we are allowing our bodies to relax and even find hobbies that uplift our mood, which greatly impacts our hormones and well-being.
- Take care of gut health to create friendly bacteria and metabolites, which can drastically affect our hormones negatively or positively. It is proven that our gut health has a direct link to our mental health and our hormone productivity.
- Work on lowering sugar intake to optimize hormone function. Sugar can greatly impact our hormone fluctuation and regulation; it is important to watch the number of sugars we eat to not raise or lower healthy hormones.
Hormone dysregulation can cause
- Chronic anxiety
- Mood disorders
- Depression
- Psychosis
- Anger-management issues
- PTSD
- And more
Many of us women are never taught the overall importance of our hormonal health, our cycles, and how these affect our mental health. You may have even been taught that hormones are a bad thing or not been taught at all about your cycles. We live in a world where women are pushed to believe that they need to be on hormonal birth control or that they will get pregnant. We are also pushed to believe that birth control is the only option when we have chronic health issues such as endometriosis or PCOS.
This is not always the case, and it is important for us to advocate for ourselves, our hormonal health, as well as our mental health. We must look at things from a holistic and natural approach to truly help our body and mind. If you are facing mental health symptoms because of your hormones and are having a hard time managing them, reach out to a trained integrative mental health therapist for help. Many integrative healthcare workers and therapists can help you through this process.
