Your physical, mental, and emotional well-being are all significantly impacted by hormones.
Among other things, these chemical messengers are crucial in regulating your mood, appetite, and weight.
Normally, the precise quantity of each hormone required for different bodily functions is produced by your endocrine glands.
However, with today's fast-paced modern lifestyle, hormonal imbalances are becoming more and more common. Furthermore, some people experience a more dramatic decline in certain hormones than others as they age.
Thankfully, you may feel and function at your best by adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet and other good habits.
This article will show you 10 natural ways to balance your hormones.
1. Eat Enough Protein at Every Meal
Consuming adequate amounts of protein is extremely important.Not only does protein provideTrusted Source essential amino acids that your body can’t make on its own, but your body also needs it to produce protein-derived hormones — also known as peptide hormones.
Your endocrine glands make these hormones from amino acids. Peptide hormones play a crucial role in regulating many physiological processes, such as growth, energy metabolism, appetite, stress, and reproduction.
For example, protein intake influencesTrusted Source hormones that control appetite and food intake, communicating information about energy status to your brain.
Research has shown that eating protein decreasesTrusted Source the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulatesTrusted Source the production of hormones that help you feel full, including peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
One 3-month studyTrusted Source in 156 teenagers with obesity correlated a high protein breakfast with increased PYY and GLP-1 levels, which resulted in weight loss due to increased feelings of fullness.
Experts recommend eating a minimum of 15–30 grams of protein per meal. You can do this by including high protein foods such as eggs, chicken breast, lentils, or fish at each meal.
2. Engage in Regular Exercise
Physical activity strongly influences hormonal health. Aside from improving blood flow to your muscles, exercise increases hormone receptor sensitivity, meaning that it enhances the delivery of nutrients and hormone signals.A major benefit of exercise is its abilityTrusted Source to reduce insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity.
Insulin is a hormone that allows cells to take up sugar from your bloodstream to use for energy. However, if you have a condition called insulin resistance, your cells may not effectively react to insulin. This condition is a risk factor for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
However, while some researchers still debate whether the improvements come from exercise itself or from losing weight or fat, evidence showsTrusted Source that regular exercise may improve insulin resistance independently of body weight or fat mass reduction.
Many types of physical activity have been found to help prevent insulin resistance, including high intensity interval trainingTrusted Source, strength trainingTrusted Source, and cardioTrusted Source.
Being physically active may alsoTrusted Source help boost levels of muscle-maintaining hormones that decline with age, such asTrusted Source testosterone, IGF-1, DHEA, and growth hormone (HGH).
For people who cannot perform vigorous exercise, even regular walking may increaseTrusted Source key hormone levels, potentially improving strength and quality of life.
3. Maintain a moderate weight
Weight gain is directly associated with hormonal imbalances that may lead to complications in insulin sensitivity and reproductive health.Obesity is strongly relatedTrusted Source to the development of insulin resistance, while losing excess weight is linkedTrusted Source to improvementsTrusted Source in insulin resistance and reducedTrusted Source risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Obesity is also associatedTrusted Source with hypogonadism, a reduction or absence of hormone secretion from the testes or ovaries. In fact, this condition is one of the most relevantTrusted Source hormonal complications of obesity in people assigned male at birth.
This means obesity is strongly related to lower levels of the reproductive hormone testosterone in people assigned male at birth and contributesTrusted Source to a lack of ovulation in people assigned female at birth, both of which are common causes of infertility.
Nonetheless, studies indicate that weight loss may reverse this condition. Eating withinTrusted Source your own personal calorie range can helpTrusted Source you maintain hormonal balance and a moderate weight.
4. Take care of your gut health
Your gut contains more thanTrusted Source 100 trillion friendly bacteria, which produce numerous metabolites that may affect hormone health both positively and negatively.Your gut microbiome regulates hormones by modulating insulin resistanceTrusted Source and feelings of fullnessTrusted Source.
For example, when your gut microbiomeTrusted Source ferments fiber, it produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate.
Acetate and butyrate may aidTrusted Source weight management by increasing calorie burning and thus help prevent insulin resistance.
Acetate and butyrate may alsoTrusted Source regulate feelings of fullness by increasing the fullness hormones GLP-1 and PYY.
Interestingly, studies in rodents showTrusted Source that obesity may change the composition of the gut microbiome to promote insulin resistance and inflammation.
In addition, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) — components of certain bacteria in your gut microbiome — may increase your risk of insulin resistance. People with obesity seem to haveTrusted Source higher levels of circulating LPS.
Here are some tips to maintain healthy gut bacteria which may also help you maintain a healthy hormone balance.
5. Lower your sugar intake
Minimizing added sugar intake may be instrumental in optimizing hormone function and avoiding obesity, diabetes, and other diseases.
The simple sugar fructose is present in many types of sugar, comprising up to 43% of honeyTrusted Source, 50% of refined table sugarTrusted Source, 55% of high fructose corn syrup, and 90% of agave.
In addition, sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in the Western diet, and fructose is commonly used commercially in soft drinks, fruit juice, and sport and energy drinks.
Fructose intake has increased exponentially in the United States since around 1980, and studies consistently showTrusted Source that eating added sugar promotesTrusted Source insulin resistance — at least some of whichTrusted Source are independent of total calorie intake or weight gain .
Long-term fructose intake has been linked toTrusted Source disruptions of the gut microbiome, which may lead to other hormonal imbalances.
What’s more, fructose may fail to stimulate the production of the fullness hormone leptin, leading to decreased calorie burning and increased weight gain.
Therefore, reducing your intake of sugary drinks — and other sources of added sugar — may improve hormone health.
6. Try stress reduction techniques
Stress harms your hormones in several ways.The hormone cortisol is known as the stress hormone because it helps your body cope with long-term stress.
Your body’s response to stress activates a cascade of events that leads to cortisol production. Once the stressor has passed, the response typically ends.
However, chronic stress impairsTrusted Source the feedback mechanisms that help return your hormonal systems to normal.
Therefore, chronic stress causes cortisol levels to remain elevatedTrusted Source, which stimulates appetite and increases your intake of sugary and high fat foods. In turn, this may lead to excessive calorie intake and obesity.
In addition, high cortisol levels stimulate gluconeogenesis — the production of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources — which may cause insulin resistance.
Notably, research shows that you can lower your cortisol levels by engaging in stress reduction techniques such as meditationTrusted Source, yogaTrusted Source, and listening to relaxing musicTrusted Source.
Try to devote at least 5 minutes per day to these activities.
7. Consume healthy fats
Including high quality natural fats in your diet may help reduce insulin resistance and appetite.Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) are unique fats that are less likely to be stored in fat tissue and more likely to be taken up directly by your liver for immediate use as energy, promoting increased calorie burning.
MCTs are also less likelyTrusted Source to promote insulin resistance.
Furthermore, healthy fats such as omega-3sTrusted Source help increase insulin sensitivity by reducingTrusted Source inflammation and pro-inflammatory markersTrusted Source.
Additionally, studies note that omega-3s may preventTrusted Source cortisol levels from increasingTrusted Source during stressTrusted Source.
These healthy fats are found in pure MCT oil, avocados, almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, fatty fish, and olive and coconut oils.
8. Get consistent, high quality sleep
No matter how nutritious your diet or how consistent your exercise routine, getting enough restorative sleep is crucial for optimal health.Poor sleep is linked toTrusted Source imbalances in many hormones, including insulin, cortisol, leptinTrusted Source, ghrelin, and HGH.
For instance, not only does sleep deprivation impair insulin sensitivity, but poor sleep is associated with a 24-hour increaseTrusted Source in cortisol levels, which may lead to insulin resistance.
In fact, one small studyTrusted Source in 14 healthy adults found that 5 nights of sleep restriction decreased insulin sensitivity by 25%.
Moreover, studies consistently showTrusted Source that sleep deprivation results in increased ghrelin and decreased leptin levels.
In a review ofTrusted Source 21 studies in 2,250 people, those assigned to a short sleep group showed higher ghrelin levels than those who got the recommended amount of sleep.
Plus, your brain needs uninterrupted sleep to go through all five stages of each sleep cycle. This is especially important for the release ofTrusted Source growth hormone, which occurs mainly at night during deep sleep.
To maintain optimal hormonal balance, aim for at least 7 hours of high quality sleep per night.
9. Follow a high fiber diet
Fiber is essential to a healthy diet.StudiesTrusted Source have found that it increasesTrusted Source insulin sensitivity and stimulates the production of hormones that make you feel full.
Although soluble fiber tends toTrusted Source produce the strongest effects on appetite by increasing fullness hormones, insoluble fiber may also play a role.
Your gut microbiome ferments soluble fiber in your colon, producing SCFAs that stimulate the release of the fullness hormones PYY and GLP-1.
As such, try to eat several high fiber foods each day.
10. Consider following the Mediterranean diet
Estrogen is a hormone involved inTrusted Source both female and male reproductive health, as well as blood sugar balance, bone and heart health, and immune and brain function.
Like other homrones, estrogen levels that are either too low or too high have been linked to acute and chronic health conditions, including obesity, metabolic disorders, and various cancers.
However, dietary choices may contribute to changes in your estrogen levels.
Research showsTrusted Source that the Western diet — primarily composed of refined sugars and animal products — is linked to higher estrogen levels, which are a risk factorTrusted Source for breast and ovarian cancers.
On the contrary, following a Mediterranean-style diet rich in whole grains, seeds, fish, legumes, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower may help reduce estrogen levels and, thus, cancer risk.
Similarly, long-term adherence to the Mediterranean diet may reduce breast cancer risk before and afterTrusted Source menopause — stages that are characterized byTrusted Source low estrogen levels.
Researchers believe that this diet increases your intake of protective plant compounds such as polyphenols and lignans.
