Causes And Signs Of Hormonal Imbalance In Men
Multiple underlying reasons cause a Hormonal Imbalance in men. The following causes could be specific to males.
- Prolonged stress
- shrunken or under-developed testes
- Hereditary Pancreatitis, etc.
Males do not have the same abrupt hormonal shift that of females. A few hormones in males tend to decline slowly, over the years due to aging, however, a few of these cases mentioned above could be why males even in their early 30s suffer from hormonal imbalance.
Eat Enough Protein At Every Meal
Consuming adequate amounts of protein is extremely important.
Not only does protein provide essential amino acids that your body cant make on its own, but your body also needs it to produce protein-derived hormones also known as peptide hormones .
Your endocrine glands make these hormones from amino acids. Peptide hormones play a crucial role in regulating many physiological processes, such as growth, energy metabolism, appetite, stress, and reproduction .
For example, protein intake influences hormones that control appetite and food intake, communicating information about energy status to your brain .
Research has shown that eating protein decreases the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates the production of hormones that help you feel full, including peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1 .
One 3-month study in 156 teenagers with obesity associated a high protein breakfast with increased PYY and GLP-1 levels, which resulted in weight loss due to increased feelings of fullness .
Experts recommend eating a minimum of 2030 grams of protein per meal. You can do this by including high protein foods such as eggs, chicken breast, lentils, or fish at each meal .
Summary
Eating sufficient protein triggers the production of peptide hormones, some of which suppress appetite and help you feel full. Aim for a minimum of 2030 grams of protein per meal.
Reduce Or Eliminate Sugar And Other Food Sensitivities
Sugar keeps insulin elevated, knocking other hormones out of balance and paving the way for insulin resistance. Food sensitivities, including gluten intolerance can also increase inflammation and contribute to hormonal imbalances, including elevated cortisol. Research shows that a healthy gluten-free diet can reduce inflammation and insulin resistance. Consider working with a chiropractor or other healthcare professional to develop an elimination diet to see if your symptoms improve.
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What You Can Do: Stop Overeating The Foods That Cause Insulin Resistance
How do we ensure our insulin levels remain balanced? First, we need to stop eating too much. Its a known fact that overeating leads to insulin resistance, especially when we eat too much food thats no good for our bodies and minds. When we eat too much sugar, too much fast food, and too many processed carbohydrates, insulin goes haywire. These elevated insulin levels lead to weight gain and low-grade inflammation. A 2010 study published in the journal Diabetes found that even eating too much of these foods in the short term leads to insulin resistance and weight gain.
You may also want to restrict carbohydrates in your diet. According to a study published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, a low-carb diet prevents metabolic syndrome and the insulin resistance that causes it. Other findings show drinking green tea, consuming omega-3 fatty acids from fatty fish, and eating adequate amounts of protein all help balance insulin levels.
Your Hormones Your Health
Feeling bloated, irritable, or just not your best? Shifts in your hormones could be to blame. Hormones are chemical âmessengersâ that impact the way your cells and organs function. Itâs normal for your levels of them to shift at different times of your life, such as before and during your period or a pregnancy, or during menopause. But some medications and health issues can cause your levels to go up or down, too.
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Use Certain Essential Oils
To balance your hormones naturally, its important that you eliminate toxins in your body by avoiding conventional body care products that are made with potentially harmful chemicals, including DEA, parabens, propylene glycol and sodium lauryl sulfate. A better alternative is to use natural products made with ingredients like essential oils, coconut oil, shea butter and castor oil.
The Environmental Working Group evaluated tens of thousands of products and ranked them in an easy-to-understand guide to make sure you have a resource to keep your family safe. Check out EWGs Skin Deep Cosmetic Database today for recommendations for which products to use and avoid.
To replace toxic body care and cleaning products, use these hormone-balancing essential oils:
Clary Sage
Clary sage helps balance estrogen levels because it contains natural phytoestrogens. It can be used to regulate your menstrual cycle, relieve PMS symptoms, treat infertility and PCOS, and even reduce the chances of uterine and ovarian cancer.
It also serves as a natural remedy for emotional imbalances, like depression and anxiety. Diffuse three to five drops of clary sage to help balance hormone levels and relieve stress.
To ease cramps and pain, massage five drops of clary sage with five drops of coconut oil into your stomach and any other area of concern.
Fennel
You can rub two drops of fennel into your stomach or add one to two drops to a class of warm water or tea to take it internally.
Lavender
Sandalwood
Biohack For Better Sleep
Remember that low libido? The anxious feelings and sometimes-erratic mood swings? How about weight gain or sugar cravings? If you want to put these troublesome hormone imbalance symptoms to bed, your first step on your journey should be dialing in a great nights sleep. To get a better nights sleep, here are my non-negotiables:
- Keep your bedroom clean, calm, and cool
- Put down devices at least an hour before bed
- Spend time in natural light in the morning
- Prioritize movement, even if just a 20 minute walk or stretching
I developed Sleep Savior to promote mental relaxation and a restful nights sleep. It helps keep cortisol in check and helps sustain sleep .
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What Conditions Are Caused By Hormonal Imbalances
Dozens of medical conditions are caused by hormone issues. For most hormones, having too much or too little of them causes symptoms and issues with your health. While many of these imbalances require treatment, some can be temporary and may go away on their own. Some of the most common hormone-related conditions include:
What Happens When These Hormones Become Imbalanced
When there is an excess of estrogen in your system, this can lead to heavy and painful periods, sore breasts, PMS, and weight retention around thighs and hips. The causes of estrogen excess include higher production from ovaries and poor metabolism and detoxification.
Low estrogen can also have negative effects on your health, which include low libido, missing periods, or very long cycles. The causes for low estrogen include under-eating, over-exercising, stress, and smoking.
The consequences of low progesterone include PMS, spotting before period begins, anxiety, and prolonged bleeding. The causes of low progesterone include stress and not ovulating.
Having high testosterone can cause acne, male pattern hair growth, hair loss, and irregular cycles. It is associated with polycystic ovary syndrome , which is associated with irregular cycles and excess androgens .
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Key Hormone #: Estrogen
The first hormone is estradiol this is the form of estrogen produced in the greatest amounts by women of childbearing age. Estrogen is considered the happy hormone, because it boosts neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which gives us a sense of pleasure and motivation. It is also great for:
-
Irregular cycles
/6hormones And Weight Loss
Hormones regulate various bodily functions including your metabolism, stress, hunger and even sex drive. If your hormones are out of whack, they can lead to deficiency of certain hormones, which can result in belly fat. The belly fat caused by hormonal imbalance is called the hormonal belly.
Not one, there are several hormonal conditions that can lead to belly fat. This includes the underactive thyroid PCOS and even menopause. Hormonal imbalance can also be a result of obesity, environmental triggers, excessive stress and even some medications.
Here are four signs that indicate you have a hormonal belly:
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What Is Hormonal Imbalance
Hormones are basically chemical messengers that tell the cells in your body what to do and support them in doing it. The human body secretes some 50 or so different hormones, each of which has a specific purpose in the body. Most of us know that hormones are responsible for most sex-related processes, but they also help control many more basic bodily processes, including metabolism.
Hormonal imbalance occurs when you have too much or too little of a certain hormone. Since your hormones all talk to each other constantly, an imbalance in one hormone has a domino effect, causing changes in the entire body and taking a toll on your health. One downside of the stunningly complex interplay between hormones is that its fairly easy for things to get thrown off balance.
Hormones are produced by the glands of the endocrine system. While any of the hormones produced by any of these glands could potentially get out of balance, certain types of hormones are usually involved when we talk about hormonal imbalance. The three major hormonal systems typically involved in hormonal imbalance are sex hormones , adrenal hormones , and thyroid hormones .
Because hormones and their functions are so diverse, the signs of hormonal imbalance are equally varied. However, some of the more common signs and symptoms of hormonal imbalance are:
- Irregular period or amenorrhea
- Weight loss or gain
What Is A Hormonal Imbalance
A hormonal imbalance happens when you have too much or too little of one or more hormones. Its a broad term that can represent many different hormone-related conditions.
Hormones are powerful signals. For many hormones, having even slightly too much or too little of them can cause major changes to your body and lead to certain conditions that require treatment.
Some hormonal imbalances can be temporary while others are chronic . In addition, some hormonal imbalances require treatment so you can stay physically healthy, while others may not impact your health but can negatively affect your quality of life.
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Mistake #: Doing Longer Workouts To Burn More Calories
This is a biggie! Longer workouts do not equal better or faster results.
If youve been exercising and your body isnt changing much, you cant do more of the same thing and expect a different result.
When it comes to getting lean, fit, your body responds to quality over quantity. So, Im really excited to share with you the number one way to supercharge your workouts and work out smarter, not longer.
This simple, but often overlooked method is the single fastest way to get lean and toned while cutting your workout time to less than 30 minutes.
In fact, I will never give you a workout that is more than 25 minutesNEVER! But get ready because you will sweat and we are gonna wake up muscles you forgot you even had.
Alright, you already know that to get lean, toned, and fit, you have to exercise, theres no shortcut there.
But there are specific types of exercises and workout routines that take much less time and train your body to produce a flood of fat-burning hormones that will have you burning more calories around the clock even after your workout is over.
Click the button below and Ill share all the details and show you exactly what to do, so you can get lean and toned fast starting now.
Feed Your Gut Microbiome
For hormone production and balance we need to ensure our gut bacteria are flourishing so eating fermented foods daily , prebiotic foods and probiotic yoghurts etc as well as eating as many different foods as possible in a week will help maintain the diversity you need.
If you feel that you could benefit from additional support, they you can learn more by reading my page about hormone imbalance or dont hesitate to contact me using the form below.
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How Are Hormonal Imbalances Diagnosed
Healthcare providers typically order blood tests to check hormone levels since your endocrine glands release hormones directly into your bloodstream.
Certain hormone levels vary drastically throughout the day, so providers may order other tests to measure your levels, such as a glucose tolerance test or insulin tolerance test.
Your provider will also ask you about your medical history and symptoms and perform a physical exam.
Will Increasing My Estrogen Help Me Lose Weight
Some evidence suggests that estrogen hormone therapy increases a womans resting metabolic rate. This might help slow weight gain. Lack of estrogen may also cause the body to use starches and blood sugar less effectively, which would increase fat storage and make it harder to lose weight. Other age-related factors.
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Muscle Weakness And Joint Pain
If you feel like it takes extra effort to move your body, or your joints are stiff and uncomfortable, this may be a symptom of hormonal imbalance. There are several different hormones that contribute to the strength of your musclesthink estrogen, testosterone, even your thyroid hormoneand could be behind your muscle weakness. Declines in both estrogen and testosterone have been associated with loss of strength, and muscle weakness and stiffness are often signs of a thyroid disorder, due the thyroids role in breaking glycogen into glucose, a main source of energy for your muscles.
Talk To Your Healthcare Professional
Doctors use blood tests to measure how much of a hormone your body makes and sometimes use bioidentical hormones to correct imbalances. They might use testosterone therapy, for instance, if you have low levels of this hormone. Always discuss potential side effects and other drawbacks before you begin treatment. You may able to treat hormonal imbalances naturally. Talk to your chiropractor, who can complement your doctors recommendations by designing a customized dietary and lifestyle hormone balance protocol. Research shows, for instance, that chiropractic care can help balance cortisol and other adrenal hormones to help manage your stress response.
Every hormonal problem requires a unique strategy to create balance. No one should have to live with the unpleasant symptoms of hormonal balances like fatigue, mood disorders, and low sex drive. At the same time, the right diet, nutrients, and lifestyle factors, along with working with a chiropractor , can go a long way towards balancing hormones naturally.
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Herbs Nutrients And Nutrition Options For Hormone Balance
As a Naturopathic Physician, I am lucky to have so many tools in my toolbox to provide treatment options to my patients having hormonal balance issues! Depending on symptom severity and patient preference, I can choose between a variety of options that will work best for them. This is one of the many reasons that I love Naturopathic Medicine and one of the reasons I often use supplements to balance hormones.
How To Use Exercise To Balance Hormones
As you can probably tell, getting your hormones back to good or optimum levels is a balancing act. “While intense workouts improve your body chemistry, including levels of HGH and testosterone, you have to keep cortisol in check,” explains Rivett. A HIIT class after a stressful day at work is probably the last thing you need. A typical workout week needs to be structured correctly to impact all the hormones positively, Rivett tells me.
High-intensity training can be used to your advantage, increasing beneficial hormones. “Types of exercises with different impact and intensity have shown to increase more of certain hormones. There is data that shows that high-intensity training or resistant training helps improve the production of testosterone, which helps with building and maintaining lean muscle mass,” adds Lee.
Steady-state exercise has its merits as well, particularly when it comes to mood regulation Lee explains: “Cardio such as speed walking and running can increase overall dopamine and serotonin for an overall sense of calm for better night sleep and even just mood elevation. People have reported sleeping better after a good walk throughout the day.”
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Should You Reverse Diet
The short answer is yes.
Anyone who has followed a restrictive diet and doesnt want to regain the lost weight should try reverse dieting. Gradually increasing your calories will give your body the time to re-adapt to a higher metabolic state.
However, if you fall into one of the groups below, reverse dieting is a no-brainer to keep your hard-earned results:
Final Form Fat Loss Goal Achieved
If youve reached your fat loss goal through caloric restriction, adapting a reverse diet is a great idea. When calorie intake reaches 7 calories per pound or lower, your brain function and energy levels will be compromised.
Physique Or Bodybuilding Competitors
Intense caloric restriction is the norm during contest prep for bodybuilders. After the competition is complete, its super important to gradually increase the amount of food youre eating. Otherwise, youll experience ballooning. This is exactly what happened to Wade, causing him to gain 42 pounds after competing in Mr. Universe.
Final Form Goal NOT Achieved, But Calories Are Too Low
As mentioned above, once you hit sufficiently low calorie intake, your brain function will decline, and energy levels will worsen. Your body will also fight back due to being in starvation mode, making additional weight loss even harder. If this is you, reverse dieting is a great idea to bring your maintenance calories up and give your body a break. This makes creating a caloric deficit easier in the future, and your body will also respond better.