We live in a stressful environment, our jobs, our lifestyle, and our diet, affect our stress levels. This has led to an epidemic of stress.
This stressful living has led to an increase in chronic fatigue, insomnia, weight gain, metabolic disorders, insomnia, infertility, heart disease, mood swings, osteoporosis, anxiety, and depression.
Stress disrupts our body’s natural flow causing hormonal imbalances. The good news is we can reverse the effects stress has on our bodies by adapting our workouts and diet. This approach addresses the underlying issues without causing more stress.
As a woman who has experienced hormonal imbalances, I know how confusing and frustrating it may be. Many of us push through the discomfort, tiredness, and uneasiness. We live in this world that makes us believe that our only way to success is to keep pushing. When in fact we need balance to succeed. Without balance, we lose our stamina and encounter health problems in the long run.
What does having the right balance of hormones and a relaxed nervous system look like?
It could mean we have plenty of energy without coffee/sugar stimulants in general, deep sleep, healthy menstruation and sexual life, balanced appetite, good skin, and of course healthy heart, bones, tissue, digestion, and pleasant moods.
Hormones call the shots on our mental and physical comfort and balance. They decide how we metabolize our food, grow new tissues, regenerate, our heart rate and energy levels. We can find hormones in every bone, tissue, in the brain, and all our cells. If we don’t lead a lifestyle that empowers our bodies, our hormones will try to fix the imbalances.
We have two types of hormones:
1. Sex Hormones — the dominant ones are Estrogen and Progesteron — Sex hormones are Yin in this equation. They help us slow down, calm down our minds/bodies, and keep our nervous system balanced.
2. Stress Hormones — the dominant ones are Cortisol and DHEA — They are the Yang hormones.
Sex and Stress Hormones have a relationship that reflects the duality of our world and universe. They are opposing forces, with different functions, yet they function in perfect harmony. Sunlight and water have different functions. Yet, both are essential for a plant to grow and life to exist on Earth. The Sun is the energy that helps plants grow. Sun offers energy for photosynthesis, the plant receives nutrients. Water cools the plant and becomes an essential building block for photosynthesis.
We imagine Yin and Yang, how they are in perfect harmony with one another. If we understand how Yin and Yang work we can understand how to balance out hormones.
In our day to day life;
Yang is: hot, bright, fast, dry, energetic and aggressive.
Think exhausting physical activity — cardio, intense pranayama (breathing exercises — kundalini yoga), driving fast, smoking, drinking, spicy food, negotiating, fighting, anger. Daytime.
Yin is: cool, dark, slow, wet, stable, calm.
Think Yin Yoga, gentle exercise, sleeping, meditation, and warming foods. Night Time.
Yang is our spirit, the energy that drives our bodies to move and live, our life force, qi, or prana. Yin is the substance, mass, our bodies, mass, our blood, the fluids that carry nutrition to our bodies
A beautiful analogy by Br, Claudia Welch: “Yang is the movement of the wave crashing on the shore, Yin is the undertow that draws the water back into the sea. Yin is the water, Yang is the force that moves the water.”
Yin and Yang need each other to function properly.
Yin comes to us in the form of food, drink, emotional and mental comfort, and information. Yang receives Yin and digests it, transforming it into blood, bones, mental knowledge, clarity, wisdom, and happiness. Yang decides how energy assimilates.
Both Yin and Yang can be found in either healthy or unhealthy amounts.
Too little Yang and we experience low energy, fatigue and our body does not detox. This may lead to inflammation in the body and mind.
Too much Yang is also not good, we display manic energy, aggression, and anger. The energy in the body, our qi or prana, becomes stagnant and it increases our irritability.
Too little Yin can lead us to become emotionally isolated and afraid. Further, it can cause insomnia, anemia, and irregular periods. .
Too much Yin leads to bloating, heaviness, weight gain, lethargy, and feeling stuffed.
When both Yin and Yang are out of balance we may fluctuate between happy and sad, hot and cold, scattered and hectic.
So how does this help us understand our hormones as women?
Our sex hormones are predominantly Yang and our stress hormones are Yin.
Like increases like
Example: Too much Yang (stress hormones) makes us feel agitated and angry. We will feel like doing a very energetic activity — think fast, hot, manic actions. Doing HiiT or weight lifting is an example. We end up not getting the benefits out of this physical activity. Our body will secrete more stress hormones and cortisol. In time we deplete our energy and natural resources.
Doing this for a long time can lead to chronic fatigue, emotional and mental exhaustion. Many women go through this, they push and push until they crash. This may happen especially because in the past the same activity benefited you. But at the time your hormones were in harmony. Many women may think they are not pushing hard enough, causing even more Yang imbalance. And we see how this becomes a vicious cycle.
There is no one to blame here. No one teaches us that when overwhelmed we should slow down. That is why Mindfulness and peace bringing practices are becoming more popular in the corporate world. Slowing down brings great outcomes, the same as pushing yourself. When both are done at the right time.
Sex Hormones — Estrogen and Progesterone
Our dominant sex hormones are meant to nourishing, lubricate and build us. These hormones both have predominantly Yin Qualities.
Estrogen
Estrogen is a very feminine hormone. Estrogen is responsible for the development of the female body and the secondary sexual characters . It also stimulates the growth of our uterine lining.
Estrogen manages the reproductive and female organs. It offers nourishment and lubrication to every tissue in the body.
There are three kinds of estrogen in the body, but this is a topic that I will get into when we will discuss menopause. Even after menopause, the body continues to provide estrogen.
The shortage of Estrogen (too little Yin) comes from the sex hormones having to sacrifice themselves to balance out the effects of stress hormones.
In conclusion, our bodies sacrifice sex hormones to fuel our high levels of stress.
Too little estrogen like too little Yin leads to vaginal dryness, hot flashes, dry skin and, low sex drive.
Too much estrogen leads to weight gain, depression, bloating, and lethargy.
Progesterone
Progesterone keeps estrogen from creating too much mass* in the body. Supports bone density and stimulates the production of bone tissue. While Estrogen is responsible for creating the uterine lining, Progesterone is there to hold the lining in place.
Progesterone prepares the uterus for the fertilized egg and maintains pregnancy. Estrogen promotes breast development and growth, Progesterone protects against fibrocystic breasts* (mass)
Studies show that when estrogen is not kept in check by progesterone it causes fat synthesis, body fat, water retention, fibrocystic breasts, increasing the risk of endometrial and breast cancer.
Progesterone is here to burn fat, help digestion — as a natural diuretic in the body, it prevents blood clotting, breast, and endometrial cancer. Progesterone is the Yang to Estrogen’s Yin.
We already know by now that too much Yin will cause imbalances in the body. There is a beautiful relationship between Progesterone and Estrogen, like Yin and Yang they balance each other.
The two not only counteract each other but they can work together too. When there is not enough estrogen, the body can be made from progesterone. Stress hormones can be produced from progesterone too. And although progesterone can produce Estrogen and Cortisol, it’s not available vice-versa.
As long as we have enough progesterone we can produce estrogen and cortisol. But if our progesterone levels are low, the body shows signs as if it lacks estrogen, because it doesn’t have enough resources(progesterone) to produce it. Too much progesterone is quite rare, but estrogen dominance is quite common.
Stress Hormone — Cortisol
Stress hormones are responsible for our survival. Our body will sacrifice functions like soft skin, healthy bowel movement, and even bone density to keep us alive.
Like our sex hormones, stress hormones have a balacing relationship.
Adrenaline and Cortisol trigger our flight and fight response. They work together, when our adrenaline rises so does our cortisol. Yet, the difference is that even after “danger” has passed, adrenaline provides a short-term stress response and it decreases fast. Meanwhile, cortisol remains active for a longer time. The more adrenaline episodes we have the more cortisol our body releases.
This is an amazing function of the body designed to keep us alive. The issue nowadays is the high amount of stress we deal with on a daily basis. Now we have adrenaline surges when the phone rings, when we get an email, and sometimes we feel in danger when there is no danger at all. When dealing with stress for long periods cortisol becomes permanent in our bloodstream. Progesterone balances estrogen, DHEA has the role of counteracting the effects of cortisol in the body. DHEA’s main function is to reduce bad cholesterol, increase muscle mass and energy.
Cortisol
Cortisol has a beneficial role in our bodies: fights infections, balances our blood sugar, helps control how your body uses fats, proteins and carbohydrates for energy . But, the more cortisol we have, the more sensitive we become to stressful events. Even an email can trigger our stress.
In excess, cortisol can cause weight gain or weight loss, depression, high blood pressure, low bone mineral density in women. Too much cortisol leads to hormone resistance including thyroid imbalances. Cortisol being Yang, fire, burns through the Yin in the body if it’s in excess. Yin is a substance, so our cortisol will break down all the Yin, our muscles, skin, bones, and even brain. Brain fog and dizziness are very common in people with adrenal fatigue.
Because of the daily stress we experience, the body needs to produce more stress hormones. To compensate it sacrifices our sex hormones, progesterone can become cortisol.
A holistic approach is needed to heal and feel whole again in our bodies. Learning to listen to our body’s natural cues is essential to living a healthy life, having energy, and preventing diseases.
If we manage our stress we can live a life free of disease and complications when we are old. Old age is inevitable, but feeling uncomfortable for a lifetime can be avoided.
Source: WELCH, DR CLAUDIA. BALANCE YOUR HORMONES, BALANCE YOUR LIFE. MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2017.
Karen M. Palaszynski, Deborah L. Smith, Shana Kamrava, Paul S. Burgoyne, Arthur P. Arnold, Rhonda R. Voskuhl, A Yin-Yang Effect between Sex Chromosome Complement and Sex Hormones on the Immune Response, Endocrinology, Volume 146, Issue 8, 1 August 2005, Pages 3280–3285, https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2005-0284
