Unlock your hormonal harmony

From PMS to your weight and skin, hormones impact on all aspects of your health. Here’s how to keep them (naturally) in check…

OUR HORMONES AFFECT

almost every part of our body, from our bone and heart health to stress levels and how well we age. So it’s perhaps unsurprising that when they become unbalanced – perhaps through stress, a poor diet or contraception – problems can arise.

At his Harley Street clinic, Dr Yehudi Gordon sees women of all ages who are suffering from a range of issues related to hormonal imbalances. A gynaecologist who worked at the St John and St Elizabeth Hospital in London (where Cate Blanchett and Kate Moss gave birth), Gordon told us, ‘Symptoms of hormonal imbalance can include hot flflushes, insomnia, bad dreams, acne, low energy, poor memory, diffificulty with cognition, muscle pain, headaches, vaginal dryness, pain during sex, urinary symptoms, low libido, low mood, hair loss, anxiety or irritability.’

Hormones are our body’s chemical messengers that take care of things such as growth, reproductive and skin health and mood. There are four main

Sleep deprivation has been found to lower leptin, the appetitesuppressing hormone, and increase ghrelin, which stimulates hunger

hormones produced by the female body: oestrogen is the primary sex hormone, which regulates the reproductive system and is dominant in the first half of your menstrual cycle. Progesterone takes over the second half and is also key to maintaining the early stages of a pregnancy. The third main hormone is testosterone, then there’s dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), an energy hormone produced in the adrenal glands. Levels of all four fluctuate, especially during puberty, pregnancy and the menopause, but they’re also affected by stress and diet. While there’s no such thing as a ‘normal’ count, there are normal ranges and the aim, say experts, is for these four hormones to be always in balance.

Pharmacist Shabir Daya, co-founder of Victoriahealth.com, told Grazia, ‘Hormones are interlinked, so an imbalance in one place can impact on another. For example, your skin may become spotty during your menstrual cycle, and during times of stress your digestion may not work as efficiently.’

So with that in mind, here’s how to keep your hormones in harmony…

STOP STRESSING

Stress causes the adrenals to constantly produce the ‘stress hormones’ cortisol and DHEA, leading to burnout. ‘As the adrenals produce cortisol and DHEA, there isn’t enough reserve left to produce the normal oestrogen and progesterone,’ explains Dr Gordon. ‘The hormones become out of balance.’

Indeed, researchers have found that women in high-stress jobs are 50% more likely to have a short (less than 24 days) menstrual cycle and several studies have linked stress to infertility.

STICK TO TWO COFFEES A DAY

A 2012 study in the American Journal

Of Clinical Nutrition discovered more than two cups of caffeinated drinks a day significantly affects a woman’s oestrogen levels. Researchers found its effects vary by race, with white women seeing a fall in oestrogen levels and black and Asian women experiencing a rise in levels. Women who consumed caffeine through fizzy drinks or green tea had higher oestrogen levels whatever their ethnicity.

GET MORE SLEEP

Sleep deprivation has been found to lower leptin, the appetite-suppressing hormone that’s produced at night. It also increases ghrelin, a hormone that

stimulates hunger. Studies have also shown that not getting enough sleep disrupts hormonal balance, which in turn can cause insomnia – a vicious circle that can be broken by developing better sleeping habits.

DON’T OVER-EXERCISE

While moderate, regular exercise has a positive effect on hormone levels, excessive or high-intensity workouts can decrease oestrogen, causing fertility problems, among other things. This happens because exercise is a stressor in its own right and, while this can be beneficial if your hormones are in good shape, if you’ve got an imbalance – for example, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) or irregular periods – working out a couple of times a week is more than enough. Interestingly, progesterone and oestrogen rise when you’re pre-menstrual and research has found this is a time when female athletes are at a higher risk of injury.

KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR SKIN

‘Your hormones should work together in your body like an orchestra,’ says anti-ageing and hormone specialist Dr Daniel Sister, co-author of Your

Hormone Doctor. ‘When one thing stops working, everything falls apart.’ Dr Sister says many skin problems are a result of a hormonal imbalance. Typically rosacea, eczema, ageing and acne. ‘Acne in particular is nearly always a result of a hormonal imbalance,’ he says. ‘Think about when women are most likely to get it – during puberty, pregnancy, the menopause and often when they’re on hormonal contraception.’ Dr Sister checks hormone levels at his London clinic (drdanielsister.com) via a simple blood test. ‘In France, women often get their hormone levels tested in their early thirties to check things are in order. In the UK, this isn’t available on the NHS but can be carried out at a private clinic specialising in hormonal health.’