Is Menopause Changing My Hair?
Any woman who’s been through it can tell you that menopause is about more than just your period stopping– it affects your whole entire body, and often not in the most pleasant ways. If you’re currently going through menopause and are wondering if some new change in your body is caused by it, there’s a good chance that the answer is yes! One thing that some women can experience is changes to their hair. You might notice your hair thinning or shedding in large amounts and looking more sparse than it has before. It may also become dry and frizzy where once you had no problem managing it, or you may notice yourself losing hair length as it suddenly becomes brittle and begins breaking. These changes are upsetting and difficult to deal with, but there are steps you can take to help them! Here’s what you need to know.
Hormones and Menopause
At the end of the day, pretty much every change that menopause puts you through comes down to your hormones– specifically, the fact that there are less of them. As your body enters menopause, the levels of female sex hormones in your body (namely estrogen and progesterone) drop far lower than they were during the rest of your adult life. This causes your period to stop, but also impacts many, many other things in your body, like your weight, skin, hair, temperature regulation, and so on. If you can’t pin down any other reason that your hair might be looking so much different at this time in your life, it’s likely that menopause is the culprit!
Common Menopausal Hair Changes
It’s not uncommon at all for women to struggle with hair loss or other changes during menopause– in fact, it’s pretty common! Some of the things that you might notice are heavily shedding hair, where you can find large amounts of hair left in the shower drain, on your pillow and clothes, or on your brush, or thinning hair that you see on your head through bald spots that you hadn’t noticed before or thin, straggly hair lengths and ends. You might also find that your hair and scalp are very dry to the point of itching and flaking, or you may find that your hair breaks very easily now and you’re losing length. These changes can be upsetting and might make you feel insecure about your hair, but try not to panic! There are things you can do to help counteract the process and help you continue to feel beautiful and confident.
What to Do?
Hair Regrowth Treatments
Treatments for hair loss like Rogaine are often seen as something only intended for male pattern baldness, but anyone can use it to help their hair grow back in! Chemotherapy patients have relied on these treatments for many years, and you might get some benefit from them too. You can find these treatments, usually containing the drug minoxidil, over the counter at any drugstore. Use them as directed and you might start to see some good results! If you have any troublesome side effects from these treatments, make sure to talk to your doctor about them.
Diet Changes
Overhauling the way you eat in order to supply your body with much-needed nutrients is often a very important part of addressing a hair loss problem, and it can have many other benefits for your health and wellbeing, so it’s always good to give it a try! Take a look at your typical diet and see if there are any places where you can add in more protein, healthy fats, and colorful fruits and vegetables, as all of these nutrients are important to helping your body grow strong and healthy hair. Even just adding a multivitamin or some fish oil to your daily routine, if you don’t take these supplements already, can help you to see a difference!
Hair Care Changes
Changing the way you look after your hair is always a good place to start if you’re unhappy with the results you’re seeing. As you age, it’s normal to have to adapt your hair care routine to the new needs of your hair and scalp! Washing your hair less frequently, detangling it more gently, and moisturizing it more intensely with oils, deep conditioners, and hair masks are all good places to start. You can also try sleeping on slippery fabrics like silk and satin in the form of pillowcases, bonnets, nightcaps, or hair scarves. This will minimize friction and breakage on your hair ends and help maintain your length. Scalp massage is also something you can try. This technique can help stimulate your hair follicles while also acting as a relaxing habit.
Hormonal Treatments
If you’re really struggling with hair changes during menopause, addressing the root cause of the issue– your falling hormone levels– might end up being the key to solving your problems. Hormone replacement therapy can help alleviate the difficult symptoms of menopause like hair loss, so don’t hesitate to contact us today to set up an appointment at Renewed Vitality. We can help you to start feeling like yourself again!
Most of us are familiar with melatonin today. We know that it has to do with sleepiness and our sleep cycle, and that we can buy it in vitamin form to help us nod off at night. You might even know a little bit about what affects your natural melatonin levels, like light exposure. But did you know that just like estrogen, testosterone, dopamine, and adrenaline, melatonin is a hormone?
Melatonin is just one of the many, many hormones that act as chemical messengers in our body, allowing the different systems to communicate with each other and interact to keep your normal bodily functions– like sleep, digestion, and the reproductive system– working properly. For everything we know about melatonin, it still remains a mystery in some ways, and scientists and researchers are trying to figure out just what makes it tick. Want to know more about melatonin and what it does in your body? Keep reading to find out!
What is Melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone, and it’s often referred to as the sleep hormone, because that’s just what it does! Melatonin is the main chemical at work in your body to keep your sleep cycle regular. When you start feeling drowsy at night, that’s your body’s natural melatonin at work!
Melatonin is also available as a supplement that you can take to help yourself fall asleep. While melatonin isn’t regulated by the FDA, it’s generally considered safe and non-habit forming, though it’s best used only for short periods of time, and at specific doses. The amount of melatonin in your favorite gummy is probably quite a bit higher than what you should be taking! Experts recommend starting with just 1 mg of melatonin and increasing your dosage slowly to get up to 10 mg only as needed. You should also be taking melatonin at least an hour before bed if you decide to use it, not right before you hit the sheets!
What Does Melatonin Do?
Melatonin is the main force behind your ability to sleep. Rising levels of melatonin in your body help you to feel relaxed, drowsy, and ready to nod off, while falling levels of melatonin in your body make it easier for you to wake up and feel alert and rested. Your circadian rhythm is the term for your body clock or internal clock– the rhythms of changing hormone levels and functions in your body that take place over a period of time. Melatonin is very closely tied to that cycle, and in a normal, healthy body, your melatonin levels will rise and fall at the same times every day, allowing you to have a regular and healthy sleep schedule!
Melatonin also plays a role in your immune function, blood pressure, and your levels of cortisol, or the stress hormone. Notice that these are all things that start to go out of whack when you aren’t sleeping properly!
Where is Melatonin Made?
Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland, a tiny organ in your brain that’s a part of the body’s endocrine system. The time of day, which your body knows based on activity levels and light exposure, plays a role in melatonin production. When you’re exposed to more light (like you would be earlier in the day), your pineal gland doesn’t produce melatonin, allowing you to stay awake and alert. When you’re slowing down your activity and are exposed to less bright light at night, melatonin production in the pineal gland ramps up, getting your body ready for sleep and making you feel tired!
How Does Melatonin Affect Me?
If you had absolutely perfect sleep hygiene (the term for having optimal light exposure, activity, levels, and sleeping habits) and a completely normal and healthy circadian rhythm, you would never have any trouble falling asleep. However, this isn’t the case for anyone! Almost everyone has a few habits that they’re unable to get away from that disrupt their melatonin production and thus their sleep, like using screens and other bright lights too late at night or not being able to keep a regular bedtime or waking time. These things can cause your melatonin levels to be a little off from where they should be, leading to sleepiness during the day or trouble falling asleep at night. In most cases, these problems are temporary and not serious, and a few nights of being better about your sleep habits or taking a sleep aid like supplement melatonin can get you back on track, even if your sleep still isn’t perfect.
However, some people struggle a lot more with their sleep, to the point of having sleep disorders! Problems like sleep apnea aren’t closely related to melatonin production, but circadian rhythm disorders are. Let’s take a closer look at these issues!
What Causes Melatonin Problems?
If you have serious problems falling asleep, staying asleep, or staying awake during the day, it’s a safe bet that your melatonin levels are involved somewhere in the mix. Sleep disorders can arise for a lot of different reasons and make it hard for people to have average sleep habits. Some of these disorders include:
Insomnia
One of the most common sleep disorders out there, insomnia is difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep at night that’s more frequent and pervasive than the odd sleepless night. If you find yourself lying in bed unable to fall asleep for hours or waking up multiple times throughout the night, especially if you have a hard time falling back asleep afterwards, you’re probably suffering from insomnia!
Blindness-Related Circadian Rhythm Disorders
People who are completely blind and have no light perception in their eyes often struggle to feel sleepy or alert at socially acceptable times. This can become a serious problem that affects their relationships and ability to hold a job, as well as their physical health like their weight and their mood. While it can be debilitating to have these disorders, there are treatments that can help.
Non-24 Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder
This is a sleep disorder where a person’s circadian rhythm doesn’t fit a 24-hour pattern, but is instead longer or shorter than a day, causing them to constantly be feeling sleepy at times when they shouldn’t be or be alert when they should be asleep. Their sleep times are constantly moving earlier or later, occasionally lining up with socially acceptable hours before misaligning again. It’s considered to be a chronic problem, although some treatments are available that can lessen its effects.
Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder
People with delayed sleep phase disorder, or DSPD, have a circadian rhythm that is a normal 24 hours in length but that doesn’t match up with most people’s sleeping times. Someone with this condition naturally stays up much later and stays asleep much later than the average person, often being awake until well past midnight and sleeping into the afternoon. It’s common for teenagers to show signs of this problem, although most grow out of it in their adulthood. Some people, however, have DSPD as a chronic condition throughout their lives, and don’t ever grow out of it, leading to problems in their career and social life. They’re not lazy, and they’re not sleeping more hours than the average person, their internal clocks just don’t line up with the hours that society tends to function at!
Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder
Advanced sleep phase disorder, or ASPD, is the counterpoint to DSPD. If you or someone you know naturally wakes up at the crack of dawn and can’t stay awake for long in the early evening, it’s probably this! Where DSPD is more than just being a “night owl,” ASPD is more than just being an “early bird.” People with this disorder often wish they could sleep later or stay awake later. They may suffer in their social life because they can’t stay awake at the later hours when people often like to spend time together after work, and severe cases may affect their jobs as well.
Shift Work Sleep Disorder
People who work outside normal hours, such as taking very early morning shifts or very late graveyard shifts, often struggle with something called shift work sleep disorder, or SWSD. Some people seek out these jobs because they have something like DSPD or ASPD where their natural cycle aligns with the requirements of the job, but for someone with an average circadian rhythm who works a job like this, they will constantly struggle with needing to be awake when they want to be asleep and needing to sleep when their body wants to be awake. This can lead to a lot of serious problems in a person’s mental and physical health.
Melatonin is involved in all of these sleep disorders, but taking melatonin supplements isn’t the magic pill to cure them, even though melatonin therapy as indicated by a doctor can sometimes help to provide relief. When a person’s circadian rhythm, and thus their melatonin levels, are out of sync with what is considered normal, it’s a deeper problem. Your circadian rhythm is something that’s programmed into your body– resetting it is not as simple as taking a sleep aid and going to bed on time for a week or two. Part of the reason that these problems are still so hard to treat is because sleep in general, including melatonin and the circadian rhythm, are very mysterious. While there is a lot we do know, like certain important processes that happen while we sleep, the deeper mechanics of just why sleep is so important to us as humans is still unknown. As scientists and researchers continue to work to learn about this process, more answers will become available, and hopefully we’ll gain a better understanding of melatonin and how to treat sleep problems, from simple occasional insomnia to more serious issues!
If you’re interested in learning more about the many hormones that work in the body, you can continue to read our blog here at Renewed Vitality!
It’s one of the most common indicators of menopause, one of the most widely discussed, and one of the most fearfully anticipated– the dreaded hot flash. If you’re a woman approaching her menopausal years, hot flashes are probably the first thing that pops into your head when you start to sweat. The majority of women will experience them at least a few times throughout menopause, and there are dozens of products devoted to stopping them in their tracks.
However random they may seem, hot flashes actually do have some common triggers that can bring them on! Avoiding these triggers may help you to more easily manage the discomfort of your hot flashes, and reduce how often or how severely they occur. Here’s what you need to know!
Heat
It makes sense that when your environment is hot, you feel hot, but when you’re suffering from menopausal hot flashes, the heat can end up feeling much more intense, and it can be hard to cool down, even after you’ve exited a hot and stuffy environment. Planning your day to avoid putting yourself under excess heat is just a fact of life when you’re in menopause, so try to dress in light, loose layers that are easy to take on and off, plan your travel and events accordingly with the weather, and bring a fan or cool drink with you to help you beat the heat!
Spicy Foods
If you’re a lover of cuisine with a kick, this trigger will be a hard pill to swallow, but spicy food can commonly trigger a hot flash. If your dinner is hot enough to get your forehead sweating, it’s probably going to lead to you being uncomfortably warm down the line! Switching to foods that are a little more mild in the heat department can help keep your hot flashes at bay while you’re going through menopause.
Caffeine
Your daily latte or cup of joe may feel vital to your morning routine, but unless you want that routine to include a regular hot flash, it might be best to reduce your caffeine intake. Caffeine affects the body in all kinds of ways, and is a common hot flash trigger. Switching to a decaf version or eliminating your caffeine intake altogether can be a challenge, but if it helps your hot flashes, you might find that it’s worth it!
Alcohol and Smoking
Notice yourself checking the thermostat after a nightcap or a quick drink with friends? It’s not a coincidence. Alcohol has been known to trigger hot flashes for women with menopause, and you may even notice through your own observations that certain types of alcohol, like wine, may trigger them more easily than other types. Smoking can also trigger a hot flash, so cutting back or eliminating both of these substances is not only good for your health, but can help keep you feeling cool!
Tight Clothing
A snug-fitting dress or tight top and skinny jeans are a great fashion statement, but they might end up making you more uncomfortable than you bargained for as the day goes on. The restriction of tight-fitting clothes is a very common trigger for hot flashes, and on top of that, wiggling your way out of a tight garment while you’re trying to fight a hot flash is an exercise in frustration! As good as they look, it might be best to ditch some of your more tight-fitting outfits while you’re going through menopause. Choosing clothes that are more lightweight, flowy, and loose-fitting will keep you much more comfortable, and you might even find that you like the style too!
Avoiding these common hot flash triggers can make a big difference for some women, but if you find that you’re still struggling with hot flashes and other unpleasant symptoms of menopause, seeking out hormone replacement therapy like the kind we offer here at Renewed Vitality can get you feeling like yourself again!
Your body is a complex organism full of systems that interact and affect each other in intricate ways, sometimes in ways that don’t make a lot of sense to us modern humans on the surface. We tend to think of the mind and body as two separate entities, and because stress is primarily a mental state for people today, it seems like stress shouldn’t have much of an impact on the physical health of the body.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth! The body affects the mind and the mind affects the body in turn, and if you’re under high levels of stress, it’s likely that you’ll notice it affecting your wellbeing and how you feel on a daily basis. In fact, a lot of the physical signs of stress, like weight gain, sleep and energy problems, and even menstrual problems, share common ground with the signs of hormonal imbalance. That’s because your stress levels are affecting your hormones! It all comes down to a little chemical your body makes called cortisol. Let’s take a look at the ways it is affecting you!
What is Cortisol?
Cortisol is a hormone– more specifically, it’s a steroid hormone– that the human body produces in the adrenal glands, which are located near the kidneys. Cortisol is naturally occurring and every human body needs it! In the right amounts, it helps to regulate your blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and keep your blood pressure at an optimal level, along with many other jobs.
The issues arise when stress is introduced to the situation. Cortisol plays a vital role in the body’s “fight-or-flight” response. This is actually the reason it’s often referred to as the stress hormone. When your system is triggered by a stressor, whether it’s an actual physical threat or an anxiety-inducing modern threat like a deadline you forgot about, your body is flooded with high levels of adrenaline to prepare you to respond to the stressor. If the stressor goes away, these levels drop off, but if it stays, the body starts producing high levels of cortisol as well, releasing blood sugar to give you energy and slowing down the digestive and immune systems to conserve effort. Once you are no longer being confronted by a stressful situation, these levels will go back down to normal and your body will start to function as it usually does, but if you’re dealing with chronic, ongoing stress, your cortisol levels stay elevated, leading to a whole host of health problems.
Effects of High Cortisol
High cortisol from long-term stress can really wreak havoc on your physical health. Some symptoms of high cortisol are frequent headaches, digestive problems, low sex drive, appetite changes leading to overeating or undereating, brain fog, and anxiety. If it goes on for long enough, high cortisol can also cause heart disease, depression, and can affect your menstrual cycle. Basically, cortisol levels that are too high for too long have a waterfall effect on all of the systems in your body, telling them to constantly be ready to fight or run from an incoming threat. Your body moves resources away from less essential systems like digestion and reproduction to focus on keeping you ready to act at any moment. When your body is in this state for a long time, it can be bad for your health in both the short term and the long term!
How to Regulate Your Stress and Hormones
Regulating your hormone levels when you’re dealing with chronic stress and high levels of cortisol is something that it’s wise to consult a doctor about. However, there are some healthy lifestyle changes that you can easily make on your own that can help you to start feeling better! Eating right, exercising enough (but not too much– you don’t want to overtax your body when it’s already stressed!) and making sleep a priority will help put you on the right track for recovery.
Additionally, taking measures to reduce your stress can help pull your body out of that constant fight-or-flight state. If you’re able to remove external sources of stress, like cutting down your hours at a difficult job, that’s a great place to start, but not everyone has that option. In both cases, it can also be beneficial to use techniques that talk to the base systems of your body and tell it that it’s not in danger. Meditation can be a great way to do this, and so can deep breathing exercises and mindfulness practices that focus on stopping stressful thinking patterns. Basically, anything that you wouldn’t be able to do if there was a tiger or a bear right in front of you is a good way to tell your body’s primal stress response system that it’s ok to calm down and relax. Any activities that increase endorphins, the feel-good hormones, are also great to counteract high cortisol, like dancing, spending time with friends and loved ones, cuddling a pet, or even just laughing!
These techniques are a great way to help address hormonal imbalances caused by stress and high cortisol, but what about other kinds of hormonal imbalances? For more information, you can learn about your hormonal health and how to improve it by reading our blog here!
If you’ve spent some time online recently in spaces devoted to discussing aging, menopause, and womanhood, then you might’ve heard the term “menopause vacation” or “menopause retreat” getting thrown around. A vacation always sounds nice, but what exactly are these phrases referring to, and what do you need to know about it if you’re currently staring down the barrel of menopause yourself?
Here’s the short answer– a menopause vacation or retreat is a program, usually that lasts at least a day or as long as a few days, focused on menopause and dedicated to increasing a woman’s understanding and enjoyment of the experience as she goes through it. For the long answer, keep reading below!
Why Go On a Menopause Vacation?
Right off the bat, you might have mixed feelings about the idea of a menopause retreat. This stage of life is something that isn’t frequently acknowledged or discussed by society at large, so dedicating an entire wellness program to it might seem like an unusual decision. However, there are lots of reasons that women choose to go to these retreats!
For starters, menopause vacations or retreats often have a strong focus on education, information, and awareness. Menopause is something that every woman goes through once she reaches a certain age, and yet many women don’t fully understand what the change entails and aren’t prepared for it. Learning more about what’s actually happening in your body, how to make it easier to cope with, and how to embrace it can create a positive experience for many women.
On the subject of embracing it, part of the idea behind menopause vacations is to celebrate and relish this time in your life. Menopause is often viewed through a negative lens, but it’s not necessarily a negative thing, even if at times it isn’t the most pleasant. Going through menopause means you’ve grown and experienced so much as you aged! It means that you have wisdom to share, memories to treasure, and new experiences to look forward to. Celebrating the process of aging and all of the developments that come along with it is something of a radical idea in our society that tends to look down its nose a bit at older women, and programs especially dedicated to embracing this stage of life are a great vehicle to do it.
One of the other main reasons that a woman might enjoy going on a menopause retreat is to enjoy camaraderie and community with her peers– other women who are in a similar stage of life and who are going through the same experiences. For lots of people, school is the last time that they’re ever surrounded by people their own age, and even if you have lots of friends and family that you love, if there’s no one in your circle who’s at a similar stage in life to you, it can be hard to feel understood. Meeting other women, making friends, and exchanging stories and advice is a huge part of these vacations or retreats, and it’s a big draw for a lot of the people who attend them!
What Do Menopause Vacations Include?
What a menopause vacation or menopause retreat will include depends a lot on the individual program, its location, and its length. However, you can definitely expect to see sections of the program dedicated to learning about menopause as well as sections devoted to socializing and bonding with the other attendees. It’s also common to have activities on the schedule that promote rest, relaxation, and wellness, like massages, yoga, meditation classes, and other activities designed to alleviate stress. You might also have activities that discuss exercise and healthy movement, nutrition, sleep, and other aspects of your physical wellbeing that can help to alleviate the less pleasant symptoms of menopause.
Would a Menopause Vacation Benefit Me?
Whether or not you feel like a menopause vacation would be a good idea for you is a personal thing. However, if you’ve been feeling like you could use some deeper knowledge about menopause, some friends to talk about it with, or just a chance to relax and slow down for a minute, going on a menopause retreat might be a good idea for you!
If you want to start learning more about menopause and the many ways that it can affect you, you can continue to read our blog here!
The human body is full of hormones. They’re the sophisticated message system that your body has in place so that all of your different organs and systems can communicate properly. Most people know about hormones in the context of their reproductive health– estrogen, testosterone, and other names will probably sound familiar to you. However, there are far more hormones at work in your body that can be helpful to learn about! Ghrelin is one that you might or might not be familiar with, but you feel its effects every single day. It’s the hunger hormone! Let’s take a closer look at how ghrelin works inside your body.
What is Ghrelin?
Ghrelin is a hormone produced in your body that mainly affects your digestive system. Unlike neurohormones, which work in your brain, or sex hormones, which work in your reproductive system but have jobs all over the body, ghrelin is a hormone that’s pretty directly focused on your hunger, digestion, and eating habits.
What Does Ghrelin Do?
Ghrelin is called the “hunger hormone” because its main function is to do just that– make you hungry! It’s what gives your body feelings of hunger and creates the drive to eat and seek out food. In prehistoric humans, ghrelin was what drew you out of your safe, protected dwelling to hunt and seek out sustenance. In modern times, the only places ghrelin is likely to drive you are to the fridge or the grocery store. However, the function is the same. The human body needs fuel, and ghrelin is what makes you seek it out.
Ghrelin works in tandem with another hormone called leptin. One of leptin’s main functions is to make you feel full, so when you eat, your ghrelin levels go down and your leptin levels come up, letting you know that it’s time to stop eating for now. After a meal, your leptin levels gradually come down again as your ghrelin levels come up, increasing your feelings of hunger the longer you go without eating.
Ghrelin also plays a small role in your sleep/wake cycle, or circadian rhythm. Ever had trouble sleeping when you had a light dinner and are really hungry, or when you’ve eaten way too much before bed? Blame ghrelin for that. It also has to do with your reward-seeking system, your taste sensation, and the way you metabolize food. If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know the feeling of ghrelin making it hard to stick to that low-calorie plan!
Where is Ghrelin Made?
Ghrelin is produced in your digestive system, mostly in your stomach. An empty stomach is what triggers the production of this hormone. Once it enters your bloodstream and makes your way around your body, ghrelin eventually finds its way into your hypothalamus, the part of the brain that helps to control and regulate your appetite. That’s where it works to trigger feelings of hunger and that thought of “it’s time to eat something!”
What Causes High Ghrelin?
Ghrelin levels are found to be high in people who follow restrictive diets for one reason or another. People who suffer from eating disorders like anorexia tend to have high ghrelin, as do people who are frequently on yo-yo or fad diets. High ghrelin is also sometimes found in people who restrict their diets for health reasons, like those with celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease.
What Causes Low Ghrelin?
While it might sound counterintuitive, people who struggle with obesity often have low ghrelin levels. Scientists are still working to understand this, but one theory is that overweight or obese people are more sensitive to ghrelin, and can feel its hunger-causing effects even at lower levels. Low ghrelin is also associated with conditions like chronic gastritis, irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia, and infections like H. Pylori.
How Does Ghrelin Affect Me?
For the most part, your ghrelin levels are something that naturally fluctuates with your diet and eating schedule. If you’re trying to lose weight, however, you probably feel like you have a pretty antagonistic relationship with your hunger, and so, by association, your ghrelin hormone. Try to think of it this way– in this day and age where we have access to more food than we can possibly eat, ghrelin may seem like a simple annoyance, but in the early days of humanity, ghrelin was what helped us protect ourselves from starving. It helped humans maintain healthy fat levels that would sustain them through times of scarcity.
If you have abnormally high or low ghrelin levels, there’s probably an underlying cause like a digestive disorder that should be treated by a specialist. However, if you’re otherwise healthy with no additional symptoms but you’re struggling with your feelings of hunger, it’s likely that you’re just feeling the effects of ghrelin doing its job and trying to keep you fed.
You can help to keep your ghrelin levels more balanced and manage your hunger by eating a healthy diet full of satiating foods like protein, fats, and healthy carbs, as well as adding in high-volume foods like vegetables. Try to get an adequate amount of sleep and stay hydrated as well– these things can help to regulate your appetite!
Ghrelin and your digestive system don’t exist in a vacuum within your body, and all of your hormones and body systems are connected. Imbalances in your sex hormones have the power to affect your appetite, so if you’re struggling with too much or not enough hunger along with other symptoms, seeing the hormonal specialists at Renewed Vitality might help you! Talk to our team today to learn more.
There’s a reason that we associate menopause, PMS, and adolescence with moodiness. There’s a genuine link between your hormone levels and your mood or mental state. While your hormones are far from the only thing affecting your moods, their balance (or lack thereof) can lead to you feeling better, energized, and more positive, or sluggish, cranky, and more susceptible to negative moods. Unsurprisingly, this means that long-term hormonal issues can show up in what your mental health looks like. The coming winter months are a time when a lot of people struggle with their mental health, and if yours is already in a place that’s less than ideal, now is a good time to be looking at contributing factors that you could fix to help yourself start feeling better, and your hormones might be one of them! Here are some of the ways that your hormones affect your mental health.
Mood Swings
Mood swings, or sudden and unpredictable shifts in a person’s mood, are common symptoms of any body state that puts your hormones out of whack. Teenagers, PMSing women, and menopausal women are often written off as “hormonal” any time they’re a little less chipper than usual, but mood swings caused by your hormones can be a legitimate problem for some people. If you’re finding yourself surprised by your own mood changes and feeling as though you have little control over how you feel throughout the day, this might be the reason.
Low Mood and Low Energy
The sex hormones in particular (mainly estrogen and testosterone) play a very significant role in your energy levels. If your levels are off-balance, particularly if they’re lower than they should be, you might find yourself struggling with fatigue, sluggishness, brain fog, and other low-energy related problems. This low energy can lead to low mood as well. Depression and fatigue are very closely linked, and if you don’t have enough energy to be happy and engaged in your life, you’ll certainly struggle with feeling sad or numb for long periods of time.
Anxiety
Hormone imbalances can also have a negative effect on the way your body handles stress and worry, leading you to deal with pounding heartbeats and racing thoughts anytime you start to fret about something. Some people struggle with anxiety that is completely unrelated to their hormones, but others might notice it getting worse during times when their hormone levels are changing, such as prior to a period. Additionally, if you’re developing new anxiety alongside other symptoms of a hormonal imbalance, the two issues are likely to be related.
Sleep
The amount of sleep you get and the quality of your sleep are absolutely vital to every aspect of your health, including your mental health. Poor sleep and struggling with your mental health go hand in hand, affecting each other in a vicious cycle– being sad or anxious makes it harder to sleep well, which in turn makes you more sad and anxious. Imbalances in your hormones can also make it hard for you to get to sleep or stay asleep, leading to a whole host of unpleasant physical and mental health symptoms.
What to Do?
Eat Well
Taking a look at your diet is a good place to start when trying to make positive changes to your physical or mental health. Eating balanced meals full of nutritious, nourishing foods throughout the day gives your body the necessary tools to function properly!
Get Enough Exercise
The feel-good hormones that get released in your brain when you’re physically active can be incredibly helpful in combating mental health issues like anxiety or depression. Regular exercise also helps you to regulate the various rhythms and functions of your body, including your hormonal levels.
Consider Mental Health Treatment
If your moods, emotions, and thoughts are starting to affect your life, work, and relationships, it’s time to seek out professional help. Therapy and medication can help people make incredible changes and move towards happiness and positivity in their lives. They might help you, too!
Consider HRT
If you suspect that your hormone levels are playing a role in your mental health struggles, it’s a good idea to seek out a specialist like the ones on the team at Renewed Vitality for help! They can address these symptoms and others that you may be having and propose treatment plans that can help you to start feeling like yourself again. If you’re interested in learning more, make sure you contact us today!
Menopause is a process that every woman goes through when she reaches a certain age. It’s completely natural and normal. It’s also annoying, disheartening, and at times can feel a little embarrassing. Just because it’s something that’s supposed to happen doesn’t mean that it’s easy to deal with!
Additionally, for a long time in our society, periods, menopause, and women’s health in general was something that wasn’t meant to be discussed in public, and even talking about it among your female friends was shaky ground. It can be hard to break that habit! However, as we all get more open discussing our reproductive health, there are a lot of benefits to be gained by talking to your friends about going through menopause, especially your female friends of a similar age who are in the same boat! Here are some of the reasons to have those conversations.
Feel Supported
If there’s one thing you can learn from talking to your friends about menopause, it’s this– you’re not alone! Every woman goes through this process, and the struggles and challenges you’re facing, while they aren’t much fun, are normal and not something to be scared or ashamed of. Talking to people who understand what you’re going through can be a huge benefit to your support system. After all, your family members or friends who don’t have a frame of reference are helpful, but they can’t fully relate. The feeling of mutual support that you can get from talking to your friends about menopause is something very valuable.
Exchange Coping Tips
Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, fatigue– the list of unpleasant symptoms of menopause goes on. Again, while they’re normal and to be expected, they’re a complete pain! Talking to your friends who are experiencing the same symptoms can be hugely helpful in dealing with them. They may have methods and tips that you never thought of that make these annoyances much easier to cope with. Maybe one of your friends puts a facial mist in the fridge for hot flashes, or another has found the perfect method for dealing with night sweats. Collaboration is the name of the game when it comes to friends helping each other through this tough time.
Appreciate Aging Together
It can be tough to look for the silver lining during a process that doesn’t feel very fun, but the truth is that there’s a unique beauty in every stage of life that you get to experience, including this one. You and your friends are changing physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially, and there are upsides and downsides to those changes, but they’re all worth appreciating. Being able to get older and experience this point in your life is a gift, and talking to your friends and hearing about their experiences can help you to find the positives and appreciate aging alongside each other!
Practice Communication
During menopause, your relationships with people in your life– like partners, family members, or children– might get a little bit strained. You’re under a lot of stress that they don’t have the ability to fully understand, and it can lead to arguments and tension. When you talk to your friends, however, you’re talking to people who are in the same boat, and who understand the difficulties! Things like mood swings and general annoyance at the process of menopause are common, and talking to your friends can be a good way to practice communicating what’s going on and stating what you need. When you can carry these skills over to the other relationships in your life, you might be surprised at how the strain eases up!
Normalize the Transition
The more we openly talk about things like menopause, the more normalized and accepted they become in society. This makes it easier for women to learn what’s common and what’s uncommon, and makes resources that ease the difficulties of menopause, like hormone replacement therapy (HRT), much more accessible! You might’ve heard in chatting with your friends that HRT can lessen the symptoms of menopause and make the process easier to cope with, and that can be available to you at Renewed Vitality in Wyomissing, PA. Check out our hormonal services today to learn more!
