Stress playing havoc with your hormones? Five natural tips for keeping your cortisol in check…
Living with stress has a physiological as well as mental impact. Not only are your sleep, mindset, emotional wellbeing affected but your hormones take a hit as well. In short, the body uses up more progesterone to make cortisol, the stress hormone, leaving us with an excess of estrogen. An excess of oestrogen can be associated with problems such as irregular periods, increased PMS, headaches, moodswings and fibrocystic breasts.
Got that stressful feeling?
Living with ongoing high cortisol levels can affect many things including blood pressure, weight, sleep and moods. Cortisol connects with the part of the brain that controls mood, fear and motivation. Cortisol also increases sugars (glucose) in the blood and lowers functions that would not be needed in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes.
Getting a handle on your stress triggers can be a balm for your adrenal glands and in turn may benefit your hormonal wellbeing.
Here are 5 simple, natural tips for keeping your cortisol in check:
1. Sleep
Get the right amount of sleep! Try to cut back on late night study/work sessions and go to bed at a reasonable hour. Cut out caffeine later in the day and limit TV or scrolling on screens until late. The brightness of screens in bed can be enough to stimulate your adrenals and send wake-up messages to your body. If you need help switching off, try listening to yoga nidra meditation before bed instead. Insight timer have loads of free guided meditations.
2. Nutrition
o Drink lots of water, dehydration can increase your cortisol levels so it’s important you keep a bottle of water handy throughout the day.
o Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
o Avoid caffeine, alcholol and other stimulants as much as possible.
o A low sugar diet with plenty of health prebiotic and probiotic food will keep your gut-brain on an even keel. Fermented foods are great for this!
3. Exercise
Ideally get enough exercise to stimulate you but not too much to overttire you. If you can, it’s highly beneficial to have some of your exercise outdoors, as your endocrine system will benefit from exposure to sunlight, moonlight, dawn and dusk as part of regualting a healthy body rhythm. This can also be done by simply spending a few minutes outside each day, under the sunlight or moonlight.
4. Mindset
Managing stressful thinking is a big part of encouraging lower stress levels. Our thoughts can have deep and long lasting impact on our wellbeing. Be kind to yourself in your thinking - let yourself off the hook, have compassion for your mistakes and treat yourself as you would a loved friend or family member. It’s possible to build new habits and patterns if you mess up or feel you’ve messed up by saying something like ‘even though I’ve messed up I love myself and I know I’m doing my best!’ Then do some honest, uncritical self evaluation exploring how you’d approach a similar situation next time round.
5. Fun
This may sound a bit simplistic but actually having fun, being around people you enjoy hanging out with and doing fun activities, contributes to lowering stress hormones. So yes, give yourself permission to have some serious fun, to play a game or watch a silly movie or dance in the rain because laughter actually is one of the best medicines, no joke! Put boundaries around the relationships that challenge and place demands on you and make more time for friends and family members who inspire you and relax you.
Photo by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash
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Disclaimer:
Siobhán Daffy runs Natural Rhythms natural health practice for women seeking hormonal and emotional equilibrium. All information provided in Natural Rhythms blogs is intended for educational proposes only and does not replace the personal advice of a professional practitioner.
