Women experience a range of changes physically and emotionally that are automatic and not consciously controlled. Most of the time, these actions are triggered or modified by hormones. Although hormone production and release are beyond our conscious control, we can influence our endocrine system and subsequent hormonal activity by our lifestyles. This includes factors such as diet, exercise, environment, stress, and even our thought processes.
The glands of the endocrine system produce more than 50 hormones, which are responsible for pretty much every function in the body. They fluctuate from time to time, causing hormonal imbalances. That means you can have too much or too little of a particular hormone, and that could significantly affect your mind and body.
Hormones play essential roles in the body, so it’s important to keep them as balanced as possible, for your health’s sake and also to make your life easier. Knowing the potential causes of an imbalance will help you be more aware of the signs and symptoms and how to address them properly.
Here are a few events that can cause hormonal imbalances in women. Many you will already know, but some causes you may not be aware of.
Pregnancy
Some imbalances are natural occurrences, while others are due to lifestyle and habits. Pregnancy is one of the natural physical processes that can cause hormonal changes, which are necessary for the development of the fetus. Your estrogen and progesterone hormones will significantly increase to allow the fetus to grow and your body to accommodate and nourish it.
The hormonal changes may make you feel nauseous, especially during the first trimester. They’re also responsible for your mood swings and other physical adjustments as your baby grows.
Breastfeeding
The pituitary gland releases prolactin that makes your breasts produce milk. Oxytocin also increases to improve your ability to respond to the needs of your baby and build emotional bonding. When you stop breastfeeding, these hormones decline, sometimes causing feelings of separation, loneliness, or depression.
Menopause
Every woman will experience menopause when they age. It happens when the ovaries are no longer producing enough estrogen to release an egg every month. Other hormones also decrease significantly. These can cause various changes in the body, such as sleep disturbances, night sweats, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, low sex drive, and mood swings.
Stress
Stress is a huge contributor to hormonal imbalances. When you’re under constant stress, your body produces more cortisol. In order to produce cortisol, your body uses more progesterone, causing an imbalance in your sex hormones. That may affect your menstrual cycle and fertility, making you experience extreme PMS and fatigue. Stress can also cause stomach upset, brain function problems, and cardiovascular diseases.
Medical Conditions
Some medical conditions can also impact your hormone levels. These include polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), diabetes, thyroid disorders, hypoglycemia, and tumors.
PCOS disrupts the levels of reproductive hormones such as progesterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, testosterone, and more, affecting your fertility.
Thyroid problems result in too much or too little thyroid hormones, also known as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, respectively. They affect the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4). Thyroid hormonal imbalances can lead to rapid heartbeat, sleep disturbances, fatigue, weight loss or gain, and other unwanted effects.
Treatments and Medications
If you’re undergoing treatments or medications, they may also affect your hormones. Steroid medications and ampicillin can increase estrogen levels, and cancer treatment can stop the production of a particular hormone temporarily or permanently.
Unhealthy Habits
Unhealthy lifestyle habits can also throw your hormones off-balance. Poor diet and nutrition can compromise your gut health, making your immune system work twice as hard and affecting your hormone levels. Alcohol consumption can lead to estrogen dominance, insulin resistance, and reduced sex drive. Smoking can harm your reproductive hormones and affect fertility, and too much caffeine can increase stress hormones.
Not getting enough sleep can trigger stress reactions. Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals from the products you use can also impact your hormones.
As you can see, hormones are responsible for almost everything that happens to your body. As a woman, you may experience hormonal imbalances quite frequently. Now that you know what causes these imbalances, you can start understanding how to deal with them properly and change what you can control.
You can start by changing any unhealthy lifestyle and habits. Eat a nutritious diet, avoid processed foods, get enough sleep, exercise, quit smoking and drinking, and choose safe products.
Finally, consult with your healthcare provider to get a proper diagnosis if you suspect that you have hormonal imbalances that are affecting how you function every day. Getting the right treatments as early as possible can help you restore the balance of your hormones and make your life a more happy and healthy one.
