Have you considered how hormones affect your mental, physical, emotional and structural/ postural health?
It's not just about Oestrogen!
When I talk about hormones often the response I receive is people switching off because they think:
Oh, well I'm post menopausal so it's not applicable
I'm male, so you're talking girlie stuff. Why do I need to know about hormones?
The first thing to realise is that hormones are chemical messengers and we have more than 50 hormones in our body!
Let me reiterate that. Hormones are chemical messengers. It is how your body sends and receives messages through the blood. It involves our endocrine system whose job it is to create, make and send, a variety of messages to the body and brain to keep us alive, to regulate and control a variety of cellular processes via feedback loops.
These chemicals are linked to how we feel - am I hot/cold, hungry, tired etc - and how our bodies function - to breathe, for our heart to beat, to wake up/sleep - so they’re well worth looking at when working on your overall health.
Circadian rhythms, menstrual cycle, sleep-wake cycles, repair and growth cycles, converting food to energy, clearing out toxins, making new cells, destroying and clearing out old cells and toxins. There are so many things that our hormones help us with.
This guide has been written to inform and educate you about health, vitality and fitness throughout all stages of your life. Hormones can become imbalanced at any stage of life or at a variety of times, particular key hormonal changes, e.g, baby to child, adolescence to adult etc. There are different hormonal transitions. If you would like support with your own health and movement during these stages of your life, you can sign up to the newsletter, have a 121 with Zoisa or join the Midlife Champions Online Course.
HOW TO BALANCE HORMONES
When it comes to addressing your hormone health, there are a few hormones to consider:
Blood sugar hormones - insulin and digestion hormones
Stress hormones - adrenaline, cortisol, cholesterol
Sex hormones - male, female, growth hormones
Digestion hormones - breaking down foods, creating proteins, building repairing, detoxing
Immune hormones - innate first line of defence and adaptive immune hormones, white blood cell, t-cells, healing hormones
Hormones that tell the body if we need to retain water, expel water, increase or decrease metabolism
An excess or insufficient level of hormones can have an impact on how you move or breath, and on your muscle activation or connective tissue system's ability to protect, support and stabilise.
Your body is constantly sending and recovering signals and doing its best to adapt and tell you what support or help it requires to keep you functioning in an optimal way.
My role as a Functional Kinesiologist is to help you understand what you body is saying and provide you with tools to support and assist yourself. The Liver, Stomach and Spleen meridians are connected to organs and muscles, muscle-meridian-organ connection. You can find out more about this in my previous blogs and vlogs.
In order to support your hormone levels notice what is occurring in the four systems which are:
The connective tissue/body skeletal structure,
The biochemical/gut system and micro biome,
The brain/electrical/mindset system and
The heart/emotional/feeling system.
We look at what you are currently doing that is either supporting or hindering each system. Here are some things to consider:
What are you eating? Protein at every meal to helps to decrease the hunger hormone, but you should have a balance of Protein, Fat and Carbs in each meal (check out my PFC food sheet). You should also avoid too much sugar, refined carbs, salt and alcohol, as these increase the blood sugar hormone insulin
When are you eating? Disordered eating and poor eating strategies can lead to an increase oestrogen levels in the gut and lower progesterone levels. These imbalances experienced for a prolonged time can lead to changes along the pathway of ill health and chronic pain or conditions. Left unaddressed they can also impact on your experience of perimenopause, menopause, post menopause, anxiety, depression, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and other health conditions.
Where is there excess stress in your body? Do you give yourself time to pause and recuperate? Work on your stress management to reduce cortisol levels
If you start by controlling sugar intake, you may see a rebalance in your hormones within weeks! That can lead to less low back pain, more arm strength, less bingo wings, neck pain and more.
Supporting your liver can also support your health journey, especially as the liver is responsible for over 220+ jobs in the body.
LIVER SUPPORT
The liver is an important place to focus on when addressing hormone imbalances. The liver regulates the balance of sex hormones, thyroid hormones, cortisol and adrenal hormones, as well as removing excess hormones from the body. Liver and gall bladder help with digestion and breaking down of fats.
Signs of liver not functioning effectively include:
Itchy skin
Chronic fatigue
Swelling in legs and ankles
Nausea
Dark urine
In order to restore hormonal balance, you may want to think about ways to support your liver’s function. According to the British Liver Trust, easy ways to improve and reach healthy liver function include:
Reducing your alcohol intake (drink no more than 14 units per week)
Keep to a healthy weight
Eat balanced protein, fat and carbohydrates and avoid foods you are intolerant to
Drink lots of water
Lightly exercise for at least 30 minutes per day
If you are unsure of any food intolerances, this is something we can muscle test for in a Kinesiology Session - check out my Kinesiology session options including a mini food testing session
EXERCISE
Speaking of exercise… A lack of exercise or reduced exercise can have a real impact on your mind, body, and hormone health. A lack of exercise can have the following effects:
Increased blood sugar levels
Decreased muscle mass
Increased fatigue
Low metabolism
Fluid retention
Poor concentration
Decrease in mood enhancing hormones
Performing strength training, aerobics, walking or other forms of physical activity can modify hormone levels in a way that reduces the risk of disease and protects muscle mass during the aging process.
If illness or injury is holding you back, why not check out my 121 training and coaching services we can put together a tailored plan of exercise and treatments to help support your body back to fitness.
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