How Exercise Helps in Balancing 4 Major Hormones in Human Body
Sweating regularly in the living room, gym, backyard, or fitness club is the key to your fitness and above all your well-being. It plays an effective role in boosting the mood, keeping the heart healthy, while enabling you to maintain a healthy amount of weight.
No matter which workout approach you follow plays a positive part in your physical & mental health. Exercise plays a key role in regulating hormones. If you suffer from any condition that is related to hormones, working out is going to play a positive role for you.
For knowing more about workouts that keep you at the top of your health click here.
Table of Contents
What is Hormonal Imbalances?
Hormonal imbalances are pretty common, especially in women, they can get triggered by multiple factors like stress, diet, age, sedentary lifestyle, or any disease. Hormones play a primary role in regulating your major body functions, from your appetite & weight gain to the regulation of your mood & reproduction.
Balancing your hormones is one of the key components of maintaining overall health. Your hormones can be regulated with simple lifestyle approaches like reduced stress, regular exercise & eating healthily. However, when it comes to regulating your hormones with exercise, the key factor is consistency. Developing a regular workout routine takes time, but the benefits it offers are worth it.
What Causes the Hormonal Imbalance?
Supported by the endocrine system, your hormones are very strong messengers of your body that let your organs & tissues communicate via the bloodstream. Every process in your body, let it be major or minor, is carried by hormones.
There are more than 50 hormones in your human body, all doing their unique jobs. These levels and concentration of hormones fluctuate naturally as you age, but the imbalances can get triggered by a lot of things, that includes stress, medical conditions, environmental chemicals, and medications.
Why Physical Activity and Performing a Consistent Exercise Schedule?
Majority of the people turn to supplements & medications for treating hormone-related issues mostly stress, anxiety, depression, sleep deprivation, mood swings, and weight gain. The healthiest and simplest key to balancing the hormones lies in boosting physical activity.
Exercise has been a tested and proven way of enhancing the life quality that regulates your hormonal imbalances. People these days are living the easiest yet the busiest lives ever. They hardly get time for exercise. It’s important more than ever in human history to work out regularly.
How Exercise Helps in Balancing Hormones in Human Body?
Physical activity is a productive and healthy outlet that stimulates the production of feel-good transmitters that plays a role in boosting your overall well-being.
Four major hormones in the human body play a prime role in controlling weight. These are Cortisol, thyroid, insulin & sex hormones (for males it’s testosterone and in women it’s progesterone). These hormones have the biggest and direct effect on your metabolism. When their production and concentration are out of balance, they will become a hurdle in achieving your fitness goals.
Symptoms of hormonal imbalance
The most common symptoms of hormonal imbalance are weight gain/loss, bowel issues, fatigue, hump in between the shoulder blades, vision issues, reduced sex drive, Urinating often/little, feeling hot/cold, hair thinning, muscle & joint stiffness, pains and aches.
The important thing to remember is that hormonal issues work differently for everyone. The best thing you can do in this situation is managing the lifestyle along with medical care treatments.
Working out regularly is critical for endocrine health, as it can help balance hormones like cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormones, and your sex hormones. New research is indicating that there may be some kinds of exercise that are better for you than others.
● Cortisol
It’s the glucocorticoid produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Mental stress, emotional stress, physical stress, and environmental stress all cause the body to increase its production. When the concentration of this hormone increases in your blood, it stimulates your sympathetic nervous system.
The activation of this system tells that your body is facing some kind of imminent danger & immediately boosting its blood pressure, increases your heartbeat while releasing the glucose in your bloodstream by your liver.
If it happens for an extended period, it will affect the production of other hormones. Increased insulin resistance is also a major symptom of increased cortisol production. Chronically increased cortisol develops an internal environment which can be very difficult for allowing for weight loss.
How Exercise Balances Cortisol Production
High-intensity exercise (HIIT) done when the cortisol levels in your body are elevated above the healthy ranges poses an additional amount of stress to the already stressed system. If you are suffering from elevated cortisol levels acutely or chronically, or acutely, reducing your training intensity will not increase the further production of cortisol. Reduced intensity helps your body in recovering sooner, from lowering cortisol.
● Insulin
The production of insulin takes place in the beta cells of your pancreas in response to the elevated levels of glucose in your blood. The small doses of insulin are very anabolic, but the insulin is produced over extended periods, someone is developing the state of insulin resistance, metabolism does become one of the interesting things.
Since your muscles will not be fed properly the signal they will send to your brain of hunger, low sugar levels the fastest thing would be boosted energy levels. The next thing is it will boost inflammation systemically & lastly, with the rise of glucose levels the body will try hard to do anything that will lower its fat-burning.
How Exercise Balances Insulin Production
Insulin balance & regulated blood glucose go hand-in-hand, elevated blood glucose slows down fat utilization, helps in maintaining the healthy insulin balance for better metabolism. HIIT has been proven for improving your insulin sensitivity.
But, if the cortisol is chronically elevated, High-intensity interval training will increase the cortisol, worsening your insulin resistance. So the proper balance between 1-2 HIIT sessions in a week must be mixed with the low intensity & recovery-based activities so they will positively affect your insulin sensitivity. You can also do stretches for improving flexibility.
● Thyroid
This hormone plays the role of a key metabolic hormone in your body. Thyroid hormone is produced by the thyroid gland, which is located in your throat, in response to the stimulating hormone it comes via the pituitary gland.
The initial hormone secreted by the thyroid is thyroxine, which stimulates your metabolism. Gets converted into the T3 for affecting the metabolism. A lot of people get “diagnosed” with hypothyroid, drugs are used widely for treating thyroid-related conditions.
How Exercise Balances Thyroid Production
Your workout intensity, especially the cardiovascular exercises, directly affects the production of your thyroid hormones. A study conducted on the exercise intensity & thyroid hormone levels stated the anaerobic threshold of (~70% of MHR) in which all of the thyroid hormones were improved by the baseline.
● Sex Hormones
Testosterone & progesterone are referred to as the main hormones in males & females, respectively. If the production of testosterone falls in males, it causes the loss of energy, limits their ability to build & maintaining muscle mass, & the loss of libido.
While in women, a reduced level of progesterone production can cause an imbalance in the production of estrogen/progesterone it will cause irregular menstrual cycles, a higher risk of developing PCOS, worst pre-menopausal symptoms & boosted fat storage in the hips & triceps region. Ironically, boosted cortisol lowers the production of both testosterone & progesterone production by the phenomenon widely known as pregnenolone steal.
Questions and Answers on “How Exercise Helps in Balancing 4 Major Hormones in Human Body”
How Does Exercise Balances Sex Hormone Production?
High-intensity interval resistance training is proven to have a beneficial effect on testosterone production in men & cardio training & resistance training done at moderate intensity show the same effect in women. Try practicing freehand initially then go for HIT (High Intensity Training) for procuring physical stamina.
Does Exercise Balance Your Hormones?
For a long time, it is majorly practiced for a profound physicality amongst players and those who strive for good health. So it is natural that working out regularly is great for our physical and mental health. It mainly helps to balance major hormones like cortisol, thyroid hormones, insulin, and your sex hormones.
What Hormones Increase With Exercise?
Simple exercise provides a boost in the overall structure and ecosystem of muscle and blood flow in our system. Almost all major hormones like cortisol, dopamine, prolactin, growth hormone, and testosterone rise with regular exercise. It is obvious and essential to practice exercise that much our body can effectively take. Once you take rest after exercise it is evident of a rise in hormone within the body.
How Do You Fix Hormonal Imbalance?
There are various natural ways exist to balance your hormones. Essentially these practices should be a continuous process for maintaining a normal hormonal flow within the body. Primitive ways exist are –
- Regular Exercise – Regular exercise is a common practice for fixing hormonal imbalances.
- Manage Stress – Whatever happens managing stress should be the first priority.
- Consuming Fruits and Vegetables – Minimum of 40 – 50% of the overall food must be fruits and vegetables.
- Avoid Sugar and Junk Food – Sugar and junk foods create havoc in the system, So avoid them as much as possible.
- Timing and Quantity – While consuming food consistently maintain proper quantity and timing.
- Consume Protein and Healthy Fats – Those who want to fix hormonal imbalances try to consume protein and healthy fat in a balanced way.
- Drink Fruit Juice and Green Tea – Try to have any fruit juice and green tea regularly. It helps to regulate body temperature and much other nutrition for your body.
- Consume Enough Water – Try to drink water frequently, but not when your body doesn’t want it.
What Happens To Your Hormones When You Exercise?
Regular exercise has many positive effects on your hormones. When you perform an exercise, endorphins (A natural chemical in our brain) are produced. These endorphins intermingle with the receptors in your brain and provide an effect of painless perception, similar to that of morphine. Endorphins also activate a positive feeling in the body, drives us to explore more on life.
What Are The 3 Hormones Released During Exercise?
While you perform exercise 3 natural hormones cum neurotransmitters are released, which are Cortisol, Dopamine, and serotonin. It is mainly the play of endorphins and other neurotransmitters. Endorphins are released when you exercise. Physical activity also stimulates the release of these natural chemicals in our bodies. These brain chemicals play an important role to manage your mood.
What Can I Drink To Balance My Hormones?
Fortunately in India, we have many natural herbs and fruits are used from ancient times to balance our hormonal activities. For cold and cough Ginger – Honey – Tulsi tea is a well-known drink. To gain an optimal hormone balance, consumption of fruit juice daily helps to remove toxins in our bodies. More so herbal tea like dandelion root tea (caffeine-free) helps to detox our liver and gallbladder. Eventually, it helps to reduce stress also.
Can Walking Balance Hormones?
Walking is a basic form of exercise that fundamentally cures most hormonal imbalance related diseases. Even though, if you perform high-intensity strength training, aerobics, or other forms of postural activity it will modify your hormone levels, but each day 30 minutes of walking provides nearly the same effect of exercise for 20 -25 minutes. Walking reduces the risk of heart disease and protects heart muscle all through while you get older.
What Is The Best Exercise For Hormone Balance?
To maintain a proper hormonal balance practice combination of high intensity strength training and cardio workouts. These exercises not only help to maximize health benefits also enhance hormone levels. Various high-intensity exercises like pull-ups, crunches, squats, lunges, and pushups are ideal, with minimal rest time in between. The more intense you perform a workout, the more amount of hormones are released.
Which Yoga Postures Are Best For Hormonal Imbalance?
Hormonal imbalance can directly or indirectly affects your body in various health complications. The best way for balancing your hormone level is to practice yoga. These postures are well-known for their effectiveness in balancing our hormones. Such as –
- Sarvangasana or Shoulder Stand Pose
- Setubandhasana or Bridge Pose
- Bhujangasana or Cobra Pose
- Ustrasana or Camel Pose
- Chakrasana or Wheel Pose
Can Yoga Balance Your Hormones?
Yoga is for the well-being of humanity from ancient times in India. It is widely known for its profoundness in breathing exercises, postures, and meditation. Through the attention and awareness movement, yoga conveys your mind into the present moment. It creates a sense of joyfulness in the mind and a sense of calmness in the body. It also balances hormones into a happier, healthier quotient, essential for our joyfulness.
Does Weight Training Balance Female Hormones?
Comparing to the male, the female body produces fewer hormones such as estrogen, GTH, etc. as they grow older. Weight training can be a good practice for any woman aged 15 to 60 provided they can handle their bodyweight properly. Bodyweight exercise is great for any age among women. Producing less hormone can increase the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, etc.
Conclusion
Hormones are principally controlled by our physical activeness. The more we are active, the more we can concentrate on our regular well-being. Now, less production of the hormone or hormonal imbalances can be cured all in natural ways if you are consistent with a regular exercise schedule. So enjoy your fitness regime…Cheers.
FURTHER READING
Have you enjoyed reading about “Top 5 Proven Ways Yoga Improves Our Mind Activity and Mental Stability”? Also, check various Topics on Yoga and about Steps to Control Porn in young People also. Please check the article Overpopulation in India 2020also. Take a look at our collection of articles about books for life as well as other categories in health & Inspiring Indians Life also. Alternatively, read our article about the top benefits of honey for fighting against coronavirus to increase our stamina, & other interesting ideas for various vegetables in our daily groceries.
REFERENCE
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2643988/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2425585/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1402378/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3147122/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6761896/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482280/