Natural estrogen and progesterone are hormones in a woman’s body that work to balance each other. In many ways, they provide the opposite function of one another and serve as a way for the body to meet a natural medium.
When your body starts to overproduce or underproduce one of these hormones, you’ll begin to notice the adverse effects. Go to the doctor to get a hormone check, then follow some of these tips to help boost your body’s natural estrogen and progesterone production.
Progesterone and estrogen are two of the most prevalent hormones in a woman’s body. When these two are in balance with one another, your body will be firing on all cylinders. When they’re out of balance, your body will start to react negatively.
Both of these hormones work to balance the other. The majority of their characteristics stand in opposition to one another, which is why a healthy woman needs the appropriate balance of each. Unfortunately, many women are unaware of their natural hormone imbalance and don’t understand why their emotions and bodily functions are out of sync.
To understand the relationship between estrogen and progesterone, we must first take a look at the function these two hormones play in a woman’s body.
Estrogen is an essential steroid hormone that every woman needs to function properly. The role of estrogen in the body is extensive. It’s responsible for everything from vaginal health to proper sleep patterns.
In young girls, estrogen develops the female sex organs and promotes breast tissue growth. As you age, estrogen interacts with your thyroid gland to reduce your metabolism in preparation for pregnancy. This function is why one of the signs of estrogen dominance is sudden weight gain.
Estrogen regulates your sleep cycle, sex drive, and many other functions in your brain. If you don’t have enough estrogen in your body, you may notice that you’re becoming depressed, anxious, or having trouble falling asleep.
In many ways, progesterone is the polar opposite of estrogen in your body. Estrogen causes your bones to lose density, while progesterone replenishes the bones you’ve lost. Estrogen will decrease your thyroid activity while progesterone speeds it up.
The two work in tandem to create a healthy woman. One of the essential functions that progesterone has is that it inhibits cell growth in a woman’s breasts. If you’re deficient in progesterone, you have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.
Progesterone regulates your mood and sex drive along with estrogen, and your body converts it into testosterone during sexual encounters.
If your natural estrogen levels are too low, there are several ways to boost the natural estrogen production in your body. Some women suffer estrogen deficiencies, which can lead to mood swings, insomnia, depression, and rapid weight loss.
Keep in mind that too much estrogen production can be harmful. Your body needs estrogen to regulate your menstrual cycle and sexual organs, but too much estrogen can lead to long-term health deterioration.
While estrogen deficiency can cause you to lose weight rapidly, rapid weight loss can contribute to a downward trend in estrogen. This is a bit of a chicken or egg scenario, but if you’ve recently made attempts to lose a significant amount of weight, you might be harming your body.
Maintaining a healthy weight is paramount for both natural estrogen and progesterone development in your body. The female body starts producing more progesterone when you lose weight, and more estrogen when you gain weight.
If you’re underweight and suffer from an estrogen deficiency, your first natural remedy should be gaining some of the weight back. The good news is you have an excuse to eat a bit more.
Incorporating organic foods into your diet is one of the best ways to regulate your hormones. Organic foods allow your body to right itself naturally and don’t add more pesticides, growth hormones, and other chemicals that could cause your body to underproduce estrogen.
If your doctor diagnosed you with estrogen deficiency, you might not have too many natural options at your disposal. It’s much easier to naturally boost progesterone levels than it is to boost natural estrogen through diet and exercise.
In these cases, doctors often recommend over-the-counter supplements and birth control pills to help boost your estrogen production. These methods aren’t ideal, but they’re the only feasible option for some.
Progesterone keeps estrogen production in check. When your body isn’t producing enough, you may start to notice symptoms such as insomnia, increased stress, a decreased sex drive, depression, and weight gain.
If you allow the deficiency to continue, you could suffer severe consequences in the long-run. You’ll experience more painful periods, a heightened risk of breast cancer, and increased bone density loss.
Ahead are some of the ways you can naturally boost your progesterone levels while decreasing your body’s natural estrogen production, resulting in a hormone balance in your body.
Stress is a massive inhibitor of progesterone production. Therefore, reducing anxiety is one of the best pieces of advice we can give if you need to boost your progesterone levels.
Stress-induced low progesterone is a bit of a vicious cycle. Progesterone plays a large role in decreasing stress, but heightened stress leads to low progesterone production in the body.
If you’re under a considerable amount of stress through your work or personal life, it’s essential that you take the time out of your day to relax. Designate an hour or more of each day to unwind, relax, and do something you love.
If you haven’t tried practicing meditation, it’s a fantastic place to start. Meditation improves your mood and concentration while decreasing your stress.
Stress isn’t isolated to your mind. The stress you put on your body also plays a role in progesterone production.
Working out is one of the foundations of a healthy lifestyle, but don’t overdo it. Exercising too hard or too frequently can lead to a hormone imbalance. Remember that stress is cumulative. If you have a stressful day at work then go to the gym afterward, your progesterone production may start to suffer.
If you think this is one of the causes of your low progesterone, try to take a week off from the gym. Taking a break will allow your muscles to recover and will assist your body in balancing your hormones.
The fuel you put into your body plays a massive role in balancing your hormones over time. Processed foods can wreak havoc on your body, cause you to gain weight, and throw your hormones out of sync.
If you typically eat processed meat, try cutting down on this type of food. Organic food is more popular than ever these days, and there are affordable options if you’re eating on a budget.
Like stress, weight gain and progesterone production are a bit of a vicious cycle. Decreased progesterone production leads to weight gain, which causes further estrogen storage in your fat cells.
Fixing your diet can help you lose weight, but adding exercise to your daily routine is often the most effective change you can make. Many women who struggle with their weight eat the right way but don’t exercise enough. You need both a healthy diet and exercise to combat weight gain and excessive estrogen production.
Part of your hormone imbalance problem could be due to your use of synthetic products that boost estrogen production in your body. You’ll commonly find these xenoestrogens in skincare and other beauty products.
Read the labels carefully before buying these products, and go organic where you can. If you are already overproducing estrogen, the last thing you need is an environmental additive creating more of an issue for you.
Women who are on birth control are at a higher risk of progesterone deficiency because of the synthetic estrogen that exists in the pills.
Many women take these pills to boost natural estrogen in their bodies when they don’t make enough on their own. Unfortunately, birth control can hurt your body if it’s already susceptible to estrogen dominance.
Changing your birth control routine might not be ideal, but it’s necessary if you want to combat a possibly harmful level of estrogen production.
Getting your hormones tested should be the first step before trying to alter your body’s chemistry through natural remedies.
A doctor will be able to tell you where you’re deficient and advise you whether or not natural remedies will be enough. Over Producing estrogen is especially problematic, as it can lead to life-threatening and debilitating diseases such as cancer.
The best advice we can give is that you know your risk and learn your body’s signs. If you think something is out of balance with your hormones, go to the doctor and get yourself tested.
