What is Estrogen?
Estrogen is a reproductive hormone found in both males and females, but is more predominant in women. While used for reproductive purposes, estrogen also encourages bone growth. In addition to this, it helps your skin recover from cuts and bruises.Sometimes the body can produce too little or too much of this hormone. If your body has too much estrogen, you’ll find yourself at risk of strokes andweight gain . On the other hand, if you don’t have enough estrogen, you might suffer from bone loss, headaches, and depression.
Estrogen plays a huge role in your bone and spinal health. When created, it immediately gets to work producing cells (known as osteoblasts) that form bones and increase bone density. This will keep your bones strong and prevent them from easily breaking.
This hormone also helps the tissues around your spine produce an adequate amount of collagen. This keeps your spine healthy while preventing the formation of spinal ailments like lumbar disc degeneration and low back pain.
7 Ways to Increase Estrogen in Your Body
Eat Estrogen-Boosting Food
One of the best methods to use to increase estrogen is to eat food that boosts its amount in your body.Some of the top estrogen-producing food are:
- Tofu
- Garlic
- Flax seeds
- Soybeans
- Fennel
- Dried fruit
- Sesame seed
- Berries
Use Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic care isn’t just for fixing spinal issues. In fact, it can be used to correct hormonal imbalances. Chiropractic care releases tension in the body, something which could alter your hormone production. By doing various adjustments, it will help to realign your spine with your endocrine system, the part that produces this hormone. These adjustments will also work with the hypothalamus which is a small part of the brain that regulates your hormones.Your nervous system will also benefit from chiropractic care. If you have too much estrogen in your body, it can hurt your nervous system. This can make your bones more susceptible to conditions like carpal tunnel or meningitis. Chiropractic adjustments keep your nervous system healthy allowing estrogen to freely flow through it. This not only encourages your bones to stay strong, but prevents inflammation around them.
A chiropractor will also go overback decompression table risks and benefits when it comes to treating low estrogen. This way, you can decide whether the treatment is worth it.
Take Herbal Supplements
Herbal supplements can be beneficial at improving estrogen. By taking them, they’ll help stimulate hormone receptors in your body.Red Clover
Red clover supplements contain isoflavones that act like estrogen when consumed.Black Cohosh
This supplement is mainly used to treat menopause symptoms. It also awakens estrogen receptors encouraging them to produce more of this hormone.Kudzu Root
Similar to red clover supplements, kudzu root is packed with isoflavones that increase estrogen production. It can also help with inflammation that might be causing pain around your bones.Vitex Berry
Also known as chasteberry, vitex berry works to reduce the amount of prolactin in the body. This can be helpful as too much prolactin could cause your estrogen levels to drop.Royal Jelly
Royal jelly is a secretion made by worker bees to help their queen stay healthy. Thanks to the impressive amount of fatty acids in it, royal jelly can increase estrogen.Exercise
Another way you can naturally increase estrogen is by exercising. When you exercise, it helps improve and balance out your hormone production. It will also increase your heart rate, something which has been proven to elevate estrogen.Aerobic exercises are the best to use for this purpose. They work to strengthen your bones while increasing estrogen. Some aerobic exercises to consider doing are:
- Walking
- Running
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Kickboxing
- Jumping rope
- Zumba
Get a Massage
A massage can be very useful at calming stress and tension. It’s also able to increase your body’s estrogen levels. In addition to this, a massage will lower cortisol, a stress hormone that can hinder how much estrogen your body produces.A massage therapist will use one of the many massage techniques on your body, but most rely on a deep tissue massage for this purpose. A deep tissue massage uses pressure to loosen muscle knots which can be beneficial to your bone and spinal health. It will also improve blood circulation in these areas to stop inflammation. If used consistently, this massage can work to regulate your hormones.
Lower Your Caffeine Intake
Most of us rely on coffee or similar caffeinated drinks for energy. However, caffeine can sometimes lower your estrogen levels. The more caffeine you drink over time, the more likely it will influence your estrogen amounts. Because of this, it might be ideal to lower how much caffeine you have per day.When Should I Stop Trying to Increase My Estrogen Levels?
If you notice symptoms like mood swings, weight gain, hair loss, memory issues, or bloating, your body might have too much of this hormone.It’s important to talk to your doctor before trying to increase or decrease your estrogen levels. This way, you can be sure that you stay safe and healthy.
Estrogen is crucial for healthy bones. Without it, you would find it very difficult to move around without pain. By keeping these tips in mind, you can be sure your body is able to produce enough of it.
References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3424385/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC381441/
Author Bio: Dr. Brent Wells, D.C. founded Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab and has been a chiropractor for over 20 years. Besides chiropractic care, his practice has also treatedAnchorage and Juneau patients from different health problems through physical therapy . He is a proud member of the American Chiropractic Association and the American Academy of Spine Physicians. And he continues his education to remain active and updated in all studies related to neurology, physical rehab, biomechanics, spine conditions, brain injury trauma, and more.