Fatigue, mood swings, problems concentrating, infertility, hair loss- these are just some of the things you can experience when your hormones are out of whack. If you fail to address those things immediately, you can end up with a lot more problems.
And while you can take pills to alleviate the symptoms, they aren’t always the best options. Taking pills, for example, may require constant intake to ensure that your hormones don’t get imbalanced again.
So, what’s the alternative?
The answer is simple: yoga.
Intended for bringing awareness and releasing stress, yoga can also help women struggling with hormonal imbalance. If you’re wondering exactly how it’s able to do that, here are the benefits of yoga on female hormones.
The effects on the master gland
Some poses are effective in stimulating the pituitary gland. It’s your master gland that’s responsible for producing hormones that activate or trigger other endocrine glands.
For example, the pituitary gland plays a huge role in the release of your growth hormones that trigger your adrenal gland and thyroid gland. It also releases endorphins which lessen pain and soothe your nervous system.
It reduces cravings
Carbohydrates stimulate the release of serotonin, your feel-good chemical in the brain. By practicing yoga, you’ll be able to stimulate serotonin and prevent cravings even before they happen.
It fights fatigue
Premenopausal women often experience fatigue. This is mainly due to their declining progesterone or weakened adrenal glands. Yoga, in addition to eating healthy foods, taking enough time to rest, and staying hydrated can lessen the feeling of exhaustion.
It reduces anxiety
There are so many things that can trigger your sympathetic nervous system. This includes stress at work, lack of sleep, and poor nutrition.
Once your SNS is activated, your body will enter a state of stress and strain. Eventually, your body will adapt to the heightened stress and that can send your entire system into mayhem.
Yoga is able to promote peace while detaching you from all the stressors in your life so you’re less likely to deal with anxiety.
It halts mood swings
Perhaps one of the most awful effects of hormonal imbalance is mood lability. It doesn’t just negatively affect your feelings toward yourself but it can also tremendously damage your relationships with other people.
By learning how to shut down external distractions, you’ll be able to learn how to soothe your mind and lessen the effects of stress.
It increases the level of estrogen in the body
Estrogen is the hormone responsible for regulating your menstrual cycle, female characteristics, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and sexuality. An imbalance in estrogen can lead to the premature formation of wrinkles in the eyes, forehead, and mouth. It can also cause dry eyes, increased facial hair, light sleep, and bone loss.
This study found out that yoga can increase serum estrogen levels in women in the postmenopausal stage. The participants of the study were evaluated after 4 months of practicing yoga.
In Conclusion
Yoga offers a safe, non-invasive, and affordable solution in managing hormonal imbalance and its nasty side effects. However, despite that, you shouldn’t completely rely on the practice to solve your health issues.
Hormonal imbalance can be caused by a lot of things. Apart from stress, it can also happen because of diabetes, birth control medications, and injury to the endocrine glands, hereditary pancreatitis, chronic abuse of anabolic steroids, and so much more. This makes it important that you check with your doctor first to see if yoga is right for you.
Also, don’t expect results right away. While yoga is effective, it’ll still require time, commitment, and consistency.
Meera Watts
Bio:
Meera Watts is a yoga teacher, entrepreneur and mom. Her writing on yoga and holistic health has appeared in Elephant Journal, CureJoy, FunTimesGuide, OMtimes and others. She’s also the founder and owner of Siddhi Yoga. 
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