Hormones, man. *Shudder*
Does anyone have balanced hormones in this day and age? It seems like every Instagram influencer, every food blogger, and every fitness phenomenon has come forward professing their struggles with balancing hormone levels. And I mean, IT’S ABOUT TIME.
As a woman, our hormones are designed to save us. From life or death situations. Like surviving a famine. Or running from a lion. Things that we were subject to literally thousands of years ago.
Um hello hormones, excuse me, but we haven’t been chased by a lion for a few days now (about 730,000 days but really, who’s counting). Can you PLEASE work with us here and adapt a bit?
Our lives have changed greatly since the days of hunters and gatherers, but unfortunately, our hormonal responses to stressors have not. What does this mean for women in today’s world? Picture an angry cat sitting in front of a glass of water. The world is the cat. Our hormones are the water glass. I think you know where this is going.
High stress levels have been linked to several hormonal disorders, such as Graves disease, diabetes, and hypothyroidism. It’s even been shown that when kids are exposed to excessive stress, they experience stunted physical development due to low levels of growth hormone, even when receiving adequate calories and nutrition.
Unfortunately, the things that are so highly celebrated in today’s society–busy schedules, trendy diets, insane careers, thin figures, extreme sports–are the very things that are feeding the angry cat. And let me tell ya, my pissed off cat is #PHAT.
I really wreaked havoc on my hormones through years and years of disordered eating. Then I fixed my eating but continued to abuse my hormones with excessive exercise. Then I fixed that and decided to work myself to death. And when your body feels like it’s starving or under attack, it starts to adjust by shifting hormonal production and shutting down nonessential functions. My period was one of the first things to go.
I finally pulled myself out of the binge, restrict, and over exercise cycle that was controlling my life and started to get regular periods with the help of naturopath. The naturopath cost me one very, very pretty penny, but it was worth it to feel good without medication and to restore my body’s ability to menstruate. I felt so proud the first time I achieved a 4-ish week cycle. High-five, uterus.
Then something terrible happened. I went through a three-month-ish period at work that was incredibly stressful. Because I’m in the construction industry, deadlines are VERY real. I’ll spare you the details, but to summarize, I was working 7 days a week for at least 10 hours a day. At first my cycle slowed by about two weeks. Then I lost it completely. I was devastated.
So many things are wrong with this. How is it fair that men can work all hours of the day and be FINE, and yet when we try to push our limits, we lose the key bodily function that scientifically defines us as female? *sigh* The workplace needs to adjust for the (much needed) influx of women but until that happens, we need to be prepared for when we go into a hormonal crisis. Because all that money and time that I invested into getting my period back was ruined by the very thing that funded that healing journey. We can’t win, people. We just can’t win.
So lets talk strategy. When I go into hormonal crisis mode, I give myself a week-long bear hug that I like to call Grit’s Great Hormonal Retreat. This is a 7-10 day restorative “retreat”. In my apartment. Where I still go to work. (Hey we can’t all afford to go to the Malibu Healing Center ammirite??) By following the simple steps below, you can consciously lower stress levels by giving yourself some extra care and grace.
- Swap out your strenuous workouts
Its going to be key to cut stress out of your schedule as much as possible, and one form of stress is physical stress from exercise. If you’re like me and you truly love your workouts, you don’t need to cut them out entirely. Maybe swap out your jog for a walk or your kickboxing class for some restorative yoga. Drop your weights, take off your Fitbit, and exhale.
- Prioritize sleep
If your hormones are out of balance, then your body needs to heal. If your body needs to heal, then you need to sleep. It’s that simple. If you’re not sleeping, you’re not healing. Maybe talk to your boss about coming in later for a week in the morning so you can wake up naturally. Or take melatonin early in the evening so you can get to sleep earlier. I can’t stress enough that during this week, you need to make sleep your number 1 priority.
- Eat more food
In order to heal, your body also need some extra high-grade fuel. During this week really focus on filling your body up with some extra foods that make it smile. Avoid processed foods and sugars. I like to keep it simple during this week by making things like fatty smoothies or whole grain pasta and veggies [click through my recipes for some more meal ideas!]. By filling your body during this time, you’re giving it the chance to catch up to its optimally performing state.
- Add adaptogens into your routine
Adaptogens are like magical plants that help your body cope with stress. They’re all a little bit different so depending on what your situation is, you may want to switch up which adaptogen you are taking (Mind Body Green has a great article on adaptogens here.) My personal favorite is ashwagandha and I take it for both work stress and thyroid issues. When I am really undergoing a stressful time at work, I’ll add CBD oil into my routine too.
- Treat yo’self
No sugar coating here… when your hormones are out of whack, you feel like shit. You’re depressed, anxious, lethargic, and simple things like brushing your teeth sound like a lot of work. Plan a treat or two to bring some joy into your life. Meet your gal pals at your favorite restaurant, buy yourself a new pair of shoes, go see a funny movie, get a fancy facemask and a bottle of wine, or spend an afternoon baking. The options are endless. Just pick something that brings you joy and schedule in some time for it.
- If you can afford it, go to a naturopath. If you can’t, do a biometric screening.
I would recommend anyone having hormones issues go see a natural path because I had really bad luck with traditional western medicine. They can really help you identify what’s causing the hormonal balance and provide you with appropriate tools to fix it. Of course, I know that’s a luxury and not everyone can afford/has access to naturopathic doctors, so as an alternative, you can go to your primary care doctor and ask for a biometric screening. They are typically considered preventative care and covered by insurance. You’ll get a series of indicators of health that can help you pin point what’s going on with your hormones. Your doctor will be able to help you decipher a lot of what’s going on, but make sure you do your own research too. I found out that my liver was really suffering, and I was able to target that with supplements and diet changes. It made a big difference and it cost me zero money. Did I have to do some of the leg work myself? Yes, I did. But it was worth it.
A hormonal retreat isn’t going to heal all your hormonal issues, but it will give your body the chance to reverse some of the damage done to the body by life’s day to day stressors. As a woman in the workplace, the cards are stacked against us. The least we can do is give ourselves a little bit of a break and some extra lovin’ so we can get right back to being the badass business powerhouses that we know we can be 😊