Do you often feel like you’re in a constant battle with your hormones? Are your energy levels all over the place, along with your moods and weight? If so, don’t worry—you’re not alone. According to recent research, around 75% of women experience some kind of hormonal imbalance after age 40. But what’s the root cause of this problem? And more importantly, what can be done about it? Keep reading to find out!
I love giving you information on how to find out why your hormones are out of balance. You can learn how to naturally rebalance your hormones in your 40s and beyond.This can also help prevent chronic conditions or diseases from developing.
I know this isn’t the first thing we think of when we’re feeling sick. Still, we have to be realistic and understand that if our body is telling us something, it might mean other areas of our body are out of balance too. To feel hormonally balanced and well in the long run, we need to look at our entire body system.
“I live a healthy lifestyle, but why am I still experiencing this?”
I’ve seen a lot of women practice what they think will help rebalance their hormones. They might do things like eat healthily or work out. Many women are eating properly, exercising fairly consistently, and getting enough sleep. They may even be taking some basic supplements and multivitamins, if not more, just to help boost and balance the body on a daily basis.But still, these women are still feeling very out of balance, especially hormonally.
We need to understand more about this. We know it is important to have a good lifestyle and keep it balanced, but sometimes, that is not enough.
One of the most common things that are out of balance in the body is STRESS. Many women know this, but they don’t know what to do about it.
Stress and the Hormones
What happens when the body is under stress? It could be:
- perceived stress
- past trauma triggered it
- a current physical stress
- emotional stress
It may be something physical that is out of balance in our bodies. It can be something we know about or something we don’t know about. We might not have any symptoms, but there are physical imbalances in our gut that can cause a stress response in our body. This can lead to hormone imbalances. No matter how old we are, we need to think about our stress hormones and how they are impacting our hormones.
Most of the time, it has a huge impact.
We need to understand stress, what it does to our hormones, and how it is affecting our body systems to fix how we’re feeling now and in the long term.
Pumping Cortisol
One of the main things I do when I work with women is do some testing that gives us a benchmark for where you’re at with your stress. We need to do some physical tests and basic blood labs. We need to check your cortisol levels, as cortisol is our primary stress hormone.
Cortisol is what our bodies produce in response to stress. It’s a way for our bodies to buffer and manage stress so that it doesn’t spiral out of control.
If we are stressed for a lot of the day or our lives, our bodies will start to run out of energy. It will run out of steam. It won’t be able to keep up with the amount of cortisol production we are asking for. If we keep asking our body to pump out cortisol at a higher-than-normal level, other systems in our body will become imbalanced.
The Cortisol Steal
One of the first systems to get out of balance is our hormonal system. The body is quite clever. It sees cortisol and stress as survival mechanisms. The body’s stress response system can be overused, and this can lead to other problems in the body. For example, the system can take essential hormones away from other parts of the body.
This is called a cortisol steal. It’s very common for women to be on the go all the time and very busy. They don’t have time to sit down or take a break. I hear this so often. Women say, “I just don’t have time to take care of my health. I don’t have time for this. I don’t have time to prioritize that.”
But this takes a toll on the body over time. As mentioned, if we need to keep that level of busyness up, the body will start to steal female sex hormones to make cortisol. It often steals more progesterone than estrogen. This can create an imbalance in our hormones.
Ironically, for women, as we get into our 40s and beyond, progesterone decreases much more quickly than estrogen. This can create an even bigger imbalance between the two hormones, which is already a natural occurrence because of the changes happening in your body as you age and approach menopause.
Plus the Inflammation
We need to be careful about this. Stress may not have been as much of a problem for you when you were younger, but if you have more stress now that you are in your 40s or older, it can have a bigger impact on how you feel and on your overall well-being.
When cortisol stays high for too long, it creates inflammation. Inflammation in the body can lead to a variety of chronic diseases. There are many things to consider when it comes to our health. It’s not just about how we feel right now but also about how our health could be impacted in the future. both in the short and long term.
High inflammation from cortisol can drop blood sugar, which can predispose us to diabetes. High cortisol levels frequently slow our metabolism over time. We’ll notice we’re feeling a little more sluggish, gaining weight, and having less energy.
These are some of the most common things that I find with women: feeling sluggish, tired, less energetic, and gaining a bit of weight, even if they’re trying to do some more exercise.
We hope this article has given you some insight into the root causes of hormonal imbalance after 40. If you’re still experiencing symptoms, even though you eat well and exercise regularly, it may be worth your time to schedule a discovery call with us. During this call, we can discuss your unique situation and see if our program is the right fit for you. Remember, there is no shame in seeking help—in fact, we commend you for being proactive about your health! Thank you for reading, and we wish you all the best on your journey to optimal health.
If you’re looking for answers about your health, I can help. Together, we will explore the root cause of what’s imbalance and create a treatment plan just right for you. There are solutions—real hope—when it comes to taking back control over one’s own body. I’d be happy to schedule a discovery call with you. During this call, we can discuss your symptoms in more detail and come up with a plan tailored specifically for you.
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DISCLAIMER: The information in this email is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content is for general informational purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional