It is no secret that our body’s work depends on hormones. Melatonin regulates our daily rhythms, serotonin elevates our mood, dopamine causes a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction, insulin lowers blood glucose levels, and adrenaline mobilizes our body in case of danger. Our body produces many hormones affecting our health, well-being, and mood. It is not for nothing that doctors, not finding objective reasons for a particular ailment, often send a person to donate blood for an analysis of hormone levels. Today we decided to tell you about cortisol and progesterone and why these two hormones are so crucial to women’s health.
Balance is important in the history of hormones and many other things in our lives: excess and deficiency of any substance are harmful. Hormonal disorders in women are often noticeable by cycle failures (dysmenorrhea, for example). But there are symptoms such as simple fatigue: we attribute it to lack of sleep, but the problem can be much more profound.
Let’s figure it out.
Cortisol
What is it, and why is it so important?
Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is produced in the adrenal cortex. Usually, there is a high cortisol concentration in the morning: we wake up from it, and then its concentration decreases during the day. Cortisol is also called the stress hormone. It does not cause stress, but on the contrary, it regulates the adaptive states of the body in stressful situations, for example, with increased physical exertion at a city marathon or mental in preparation for exams. Cortisol is our helper with stress, but with regular overwork, it “fails,” so relying on it and living “to wear out” will not work. For cortisol levels to remain normal, our body needs regular rest.
Causes of High Cortisol
Various reasons can cause violation of the level of this hormone. Most often, it is a lack of sleep and overwork. If you go to a fitness club every day and sweat tirelessly on the machines, this can also cause failure, as well as the flip side of the coin – lack of exercise and obesity. Quite often, a violation of cortisol levels is observed during pregnancy – it is usually temporary and returns to normal by itself as our body adapts to a new state. An increase in the hormone level can also be due to liver diseases and disorders of the adrenal glands. However, for most people, cortisol problems are associated with the first factors – lack of sleep and overwork.
How to normalize cortisol levels?
Here are some helpful tips that will allow you to bring your hormonal levels in order naturally. They will be helpful not only for this problem but also for your health in general.
Eliminate caffeine, alcohol and any energy drinks from your diet. If it’s hard to give up caffeine immediately, reduce it twice in the diet. But there is such a cortisol level that the refusal should be complete.
Do not allow intervals between meals for more than 5 hours, as intense hunger is a severe stress to our body.
Eliminate refined sugar from the diet and replace it with maple, coconut, and Jerusalem artichoke syrup.
Ensure that at least two fruits or 300 g of berries are in the daily diet. It is better to choose sweet and sour: pear, persimmon, sweet varieties of apples, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and sea buckthorn. In winter, berries can be bought frozen.
Dine lighter: vegetable dishes or vegetable dishes + vegetable protein. Eliminate complex combinations and large amounts of fat, all types of animal protein at least 4 hours before bedtime, and high-fat vegetable protein (nuts, for example).
For the time being (for a minimum of 1 week, but depending on your cortisol levels), skip strength training and opt for yoga, swimming, and light cardio.
Adjust your sleep pattern. It is important to go to bed no later than 23:30 and sleep at least 7 hours daily. The ideal time to get up for most people is no earlier than 6:30, especially in winter. Getting up too early is also not for everyone, and even if you go to bed early and wake up at 5 in the morning yourself, try not to engage in intense activity during this time.
If you know that your body is waiting for stress, such as exams, changing time zones and climate during a flight, take adaptogens – natural remedies that help the body cope with stress. This can be done only without contraindications and after consulting a doctor.
Progesterone
What is it, and why is it so important?
Progesterone is a steroid hormone produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands. A girl often hears from a gynaecologist that monitoring progesterone is unimportant since it is just a “pregnancy hormone”. Even if you are not planning a pregnancy, we recommend checking its level regularly. At least to understand that in the future, you will not have problems conceiving because of it. Progesterone deficiency is now one of the most common problems; everyone is prescribed hormonal drugs to increase progesterone to restore the cycle for a healthy pregnancy. Still, most women would like to do without additional drugs in such an important period.
Abnormal progesterone levels can cause other problems. In the case of a decrease, this can be a cycle violation, issues with the water-salt balance in the body, swelling, or dry skin. With an increased level of progesterone, the symptoms are different: constant fatigue, headaches, cravings for sweets, flatulence, and weight gain. By the way, with the proper functioning of the body and a “healthy” natural cycle, we feel an increase in progesterone and call it PMS – at the end of the process, in every healthy woman, its concentration rises for several days.
Causes of low progesterone
Progesterone levels are significantly related to our diet. Monotonous diets, fasting, a strict raw food diet, a “poor” diet and a sharp weight loss can be the reasons for its decrease. If you have lost weight quickly and firmly at least once in your life, then you have probably encountered problems with cycle disorders. This is due to the decrease in progesterone. The cause can also be nervous breakdowns, smoking, infectious and inflammatory diseases, and long-term use of oral contraceptives.
Progesterone builds up slowly, but it is possible to increase it naturally without drugs, so it is important to check it in advance, not just before planning a pregnancy. If suddenly its level turns out to be low, then you will have time to take action and increase it by adjusting your diet and lifestyle. Just keep in mind that if you are taking oral contraceptives, it is pointless to take an analysis for progesterone since you do not have “your” cycle. Blood for progesterone is given on the 22-24th day of the cycle.
How to normalize progesterone levels?
The diet should be complete and saturated with vegetable fats. Daily minimum 1-2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil (unrefined, cold pressed) and your choice: ½ avocado, 50 g nuts or pumpkin seeds, 1 tbsp. l. flax seeds/sesame/chia or 100 g of oily fish.
If you have problems with progesterone, you should not exclude eggs from your diet (you need no more than four eggs with yolk per week).
Eliminate soy products: they depress the thyroid gland, can slow down the production of hormones and impair the absorption of iodine.
From fruits, eat one banana, 50 g dates, 50 g dried apricots or 1-2 persimmons daily.
Cut down on the caffeine in your diet.
Introduce plenty of alkalizing foods into your diet.
Reduce the intensity of your workouts. We are not talking about excluding loads, but it is important to avoid overtraining, daily heavy loads and work “for wear and tear”.
If you have been taking oral contraceptives, you may develop amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), and your progesterone levels will be very low. It is recommended to give the body time to recover independently and wait 5-6 months before taking serious measures.
Proper nutrition, the absence of bad habits, moderate physical activity – it is not for nothing that we tell you so much about this. As you can see, these measures are important for a normal level of hormones in the body, meaning you feel great and are always in a good mood.
