When they hear the word "hormones", most people think of sex hormones and the problems they can cause: PMS, fertility problems, endometriosis and menopause spring to mind. Of course, men also have hormones, and they can also suffer from an imbalance in their hormone levels. This includes, but is not limited to, sex hormones. Hormones regulate much more for us.
What exactly are hormones?
Hormones are chemical messengers that are produced by endocrine glands located throughout the body. From there, they are sent via the bloodstream to the tissues that need them. Although sex hormones are usually the first to come to mind, they are by no means the only ones. Almost everything that happens in the body involves hormones.
For example, we have hormones that regulate fluid balance. Others influence when and how much we eat. There are hormones that make us happy, hormones that make us sleep, hormones that give us energy and hormones that allow us to run for miles when we are scared to death.
Hormones can make us overeat, sad, tired and depressed. They can suppress our sex drive, weaken our bones and make us lose muscle or hair.
Are we really slaves to our hormones?
Our hormones do amazing things, and in some ways we are indeed "slaves to our hormones" - but not quite as much as we think. We often accept hormonal imbalances as fate. These are just the things you "have" at some point.
Do you suffer from PMS? Because that's simply because you've lost out. Is your thyroid not working properly? That's bad luck. It happens to many people, especially women.
But it's not quite like that.
You can think of the hormone balance as a round dance: Hormone levels are interdependent. Feedback mechanisms regulate how much or little the body produces:
If there is a lot of hormone A, hormone B is reduced. Or: If there is a lot of hormone A, hormone C is also boosted. Hormone C in turn suppresses hormone D. If one hormone gets out of line in this cycle, it can easily throw others out of balance.
Options for influencing our hormones
You cannot directly influence every single hormone. What you can do, however, is indirectly manipulate your messenger substances. What and when you eat, when and how much you sleep, how you reduce and regulate your stress all have a direct effect on your hormone levels.
This works thanks to these feedback mechanisms.
Stress hormones
Cortisol, for example, is a stress hormone that is produced from progesterone. Progesterone is also the precursor for oestrogen, testosterone and androsterone (a hormone involved in controlling water levels).
If your adrenal glands are busy producing cortisol all the time, they're hogging your progesterone. This makes it unavailable for the production of all these other hormones. Cortisol inhibits insulin and increases blood sugar, whereas high blood sugar promotes insulin production and can lead to diabetes in the long term. (It's as if your body is accelerating and braking at the same time.)
The blood sugar fluctuation can keep you awake at night, and the lack of sleep in turn increases cortisol levels. A vicious circle.
Blood sugar regulation
Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels and promotes fat storage. A high insulin level suppresses a protein called sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which does exactly what its name suggests: it binds to sex hormones, inactivating them. If it is not able to do this, your sex hormone levels can rise too high. So if we influence our insulin levels - which we can do very easily through our diet - we can also indirectly manipulate our sex hormone levels.
Satiety
Leptin is the "satiety hormone". It tells the brain when we are full. Leptin is produced in adipose tissue - in body fat. [ 1] However, if brain cells are frequently exposed to an excess of leptin, they can become "deaf" to the message. Just as we can develop insulin resistance, we can become resistant to leptin. This means that the message that we have eaten enough for now is no longer received by the brain. As a result, we are constantly hungry. It is possible to influence leptin levels by reducing its source, excess body fat.
These are just three tiny examples of what hormones do and how we can influence them. We are not slaves to our hormones alone. Hormones are powerful little things, but we are not helplessly at their mercy.
What you can do to regulate your hormone balance
Rebalancing
the gut
It is important to rebalance the gut through diet because this also detoxifies it, which is essential for hormones.
In addition, many hormones are produced in the gut, which requires the right building blocks from the diet, but also a good intestinal environment so that the conversion processes can take place.
Avoid sugar
Sugar and fast carbohydrates cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly and high. To lower it, insulin is released and a high insulin level has an effect on other hormones, above all glucagon, which is produced in the pancreas like insulin and has the opposite effect of insulin, i.e. raises the blood sugar level if it is too low. The stress hormone cortisol is also involved in blood sugar regulation. Regular, high sugar intake can keep your levels elevated. Under normal circumstances, cortisol balances the effect of insulin. Under stress or when synthetic cortisol is administered as a medication (e.g. prednisone therapy or cortisone injections), cortisol levels rise and promote insulin resistance. It is therefore worth eating less sugar.
Stress reduction and relaxation techniques
When you are stressed, the adrenal glands produce the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which increase insulin resistance. "flight-or-fight" response. To help you run away from danger or defend yourself in a fight, adrenaline increases your heart rate and blood pressure and boosts your energy supply.
Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases the level of sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream, promotes glucose utilization in the brain and increases the availability of tissue-repairing substances. This is ideal when you are really under threat. The effects of modern stress are not usually life-threatening, but they are permanent. This means that your heart rate and blood pressure are constantly elevated, your blood is constantly thickening and your blood sugar is constantly high.
It is therefore worth avoiding stress wherever possible, and not just for your mental well-being. Relaxation techniques help to lower cortisol levels. Breathing exercises [2], meditation [3], tai chi [4], yoga [5], relaxing music [6] and self-hypnosis are just a few examples.
Sport
In a life-threatening stress situation, stress hormones enable us to run away or fight back. The resulting physical activity reduces the hormones and we return to our normal state. However, if we sit stressed in the car or on the office chair, this does not happen. Sporting activities can take over these tasks. But be careful: you can also overdo it. Too much and too strenuous physical activity can also turn back into stress, which causes cortisol levels to rise.
Muscle building supports the breakdown of fatty tissue, which - as mentioned above - is also an endocrine tissue. Not only leptin, but also oestrogen [7] is produced in adipose tissue. By reducing body fat, we can actively lower these hormones.
Sleep
Sleep also reduces cortisol. [ 8] Seven to nine hours is ideal for adults.
Avoid xenoestrogens
Xenoestrogens (foreign estrogens) are external hormone-disrupting chemicals from pesticides, herbicides, plastics and even fatty fish from polluted waters. They have the same form as natural oestrogen - i.e. they can dock onto the same receptors - but have a much stronger effect. Plasticizers and hardeners in plastic, known as phthalates and bisphenols, are sources of such xenoestrogens and have therefore come under fire.
It is worth avoiding plastic, especially in the kitchen. Storage containers, crockery, cutlery and water bottles made from other, natural materials are better.
As pesticides and herbicides also contain hormone-disrupting substances, it is advisable to buy as much organic food as you can afford. Priority should be given to "small" foods (e.g. cereals, nuts or berries), as these have the largest total surface area. They can be particularly highly contaminated due to spraying.
However, xenoestrogens are not only found in food, but also in cosmetics, furniture and many everyday objects.
Nutrient-rich food
Nutrition provides the raw materials for the production of hormones and hormone receptors and supports their effect. Nothing can come from nothing come.
Protein
The intake of sufficient protein is extremely important. Proteins from food provide essential amino acids that the body cannot produce itself and that must be consumed daily to maintain healthy muscles, bones and skin.
In addition, protein influences the release of hormones that control appetite and food intake.
As many people find it difficult to consume sufficient protein, we recommend our ARKTIAMIN capsules in addition to a balanced diet.
Don't forget fat
High-quality, natural fats can help to prevent insulin resistance and reduce appetite. Studies have shown that eating healthy fat at mealtimes triggers the release of hormones that help you feel full and satisfied. On the other hand, trans fats have been found to promote insulin resistance and the storage of belly fat. Trans fats are artificially hydrogenated fats found mainly in margarine and processed foods. To optimize hormone health, we recommend healthy fats at every meal: avocados, olives, nuts, ground flaxseed, and their oils, as well as butter or pasture-raised meat.
Fish oil is an excellent source of omega-3 fats. The disadvantage: pollution of the oceans has led to the accumulation of fat-soluble heavy metals in the fatty tissue of fish. For this reason, it is recommended to eat fatty sea fish only two to three times a week, and then to give preference to the smaller ones. Large predatory fish such as tuna are more contaminated than small herring or sardines. Our popular fish oil capsules with omega-3 fatty acids are purified and thus avoid this problem.
Eat real food
Vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals are essential cofactors for hormone production and function.
Only a diet of real, minimally processed foods can provide sufficient amounts of these: vegetables, nuts and seeds, fruit, meat, fish, eggs and dairy products contain what we need. Ready meals, soft drinks, fast food, sweets and cheap vegetable oils do not.
Hormones are involved in every aspect of our health. We need them in very specific amounts for our bodies to function optimally. Hormonal imbalance can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other health problems. Hormones are powerful, but that doesn't mean we are powerless. A healthy, nutritious diet, regular physical activity and other healthy behaviors go a long way toward maintaining or restoring hormonal balance.
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[2] Perciavalle V, Blandini M, Fecarotta P, et al (2017): The role of deep breathing on stress. Neurol Sci. 2017;38(3):451-458.
[3] Buttle H (2015): Measuring a Journey without Goal: Meditation, Spirituality, and Physiology. Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:891671.
[4] Zeng Y, Luo T, Xie H, Huang M, Cheng AS (2014): Health benefits of qigong or tai chi for cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analyses. Complement Ther Med. 2014;22(1):173-186.
[5] Riley KE, Park CL (2015): How does yoga reduce stress? A systematic review of mechanisms of change and guide to future inquiry. Health Psychol Rev. 2015;9(3):379-396.
[6] Uedo N, Ishikawa H, Morimoto K, et al (2004): Reduction in salivary cortisol level by music therapy during colonoscopic examination. Hepatogastroenterology. 2004;51(56):451-453.
[7] Nelson LR, Bulun SE )2001): Estrogen production and action. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2001;45(3 Suppl):S116-S124.
[8] Hirotsu C, Tufik S, Andersen ML (2015): Interactions between sleep, stress, and metabolism: From physiological to pathological conditions. Sleep Sci. 2015;8(3):143-152.
