The Hormone Estrogen And Why Do You Need It Balanced

Highlights

Estrogen is health-supportive, meaning that it supports energy, sleep, libido, mood, skin, metabolism, and more when it’s in optimal amounts throughout our cycle, or when we are menopausal.

Estrogen Dominance can also happen if we’re exposed to too many estrogen-like chemicals in our environment like plastics, household cleaning and beauty products.

With recent fad diets, eliminating entire food groups and prioritizing weight loss over nutrient content could cause suboptimal levels of these important nutrients. This can also lead to estrogen dominance symptoms

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Have you been feeling a little off lately and not being able to understand why?

While it could be due to many things going wrong in your life, ever wondered if hormones was one of them?

Here are a few questions and if you check most answers then I have news for you.

· Your energy level has hit a sudden low

· You are having a tough time remembering things as your brain is foggy most of the time.

· You can’t keep off sugary and carb rich food and find yourself reaching for it more than usual.

· You’ve slept well all night but still wake up tired.

· Your stress and anxiety have gone up

· You can spot sudden changes in your skin, hair and body.

· You seem to break down into tears at anything slightly emotional.

· You can’t seem to control your moods and find yourself lashing out at people around you more than often.

Well, if you got most of the above going for you, then it might be your hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers running the show, day in, day out. They control everything. We’re all hormonal. Hormones are ongoing, at every age and phase of life across all genders and ages, even kids. Being hormonal, means being alive. It is only when the balance is disrupted and they go out of control that it starts causing havoc.

So if the body is regulated by so many hormones, which hormone exactly could be causing this upheaval in your life?

The answer is Estrogen. Estrogen is ONE of our sex hormones. While all sexes have estrogen, people with ovaries have more. Estrogen plays an important role in nearly 400 functions in the body. Especially for those who menstruate, it fluctuates with our cycle. During the follicular & ovulatory phases it rises and is the highest before ovulation. In the second half of the cycle, it drops & progesterone is boosted (when we ovulate, that is).

If estrogen remains dominant during the second half of the cycle that’s called being estrogen dominant, which can sometimes happen. Estrogen dominance can happen during perimenopause when there’s a shift in ovulation. And during menopause when estrogen and progesterone are out of balance.

What causes Estrogen Dominance?

Estrogen is health-supportive, meaning that it supports energy, sleep, libido, mood, skin, metabolism, & more when it’s in optimal amounts throughout our cycle, or when we are menopausal. It is mainly eliminated via bile & poop. But when this is not being excreted properly from the body, it gets recirculated adding estrogen dominance.

Estrogen Dominance can also happen if we’re exposed to too many estrogen-like chemicals in our environment like plastics, household cleaning and beauty products. These are called xenoestrogens or even endocrine disruptors. Alcohol can raise estrogen too. Estrogen is broken down & packaged up in the liver & gut so healthy liver & gut functions are important.⠀

Important factors that affect estrogen production

· There are three main types of estrogen produced in the body: estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), & estriol (E3).

· Estrone is produced by our fat cells. The more we have, the more estrone we produce. Estrone can convert to estradiol.

· Estrone & estradiol influence our body shape (estradiol = pear, estrone = apple).

Estrogen production is facilitated by these nutrients: zinc, magnesium, boron, B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin E. But it begins to decline in our 30s or 40s, depending on the women. Many lifestyle factors can affect when this happens, and our experience. During menopause natural estrogen is at its lowest.

Heavy training, exercises, stress, head trauma, birth control, hysterectomies, or other factors can suppress our natural health-supportive estrogen. When this isn’t flowing optimally before menopause, it can result in no periods which can in turn stop progesterone production too.⠀

Make sure you get these nutrients from foods which is one reason why good balanced nutrition for women is so important. ⠀

– B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12⠀

– Vitamin C⠀

– Choline⠀

– Amino acids (from protein)⠀

– Phospholipids (from fats)⠀

– magnesium⠀

– glutathione (comprised of amino acids)⠀

Knowing your hormones can help you work with them and regulate them to keep them in balance and control making sure that you enjoy good health.

Also Read Have You Heard Of Seed Cycling For PCOD?

Highlights

The African saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child.” But in today’s pandemic era of all the restrictions and lockdown, the proverb takes a whole new meaning.

Virtual villages or tribes are online groups on social media platforms or apps of mothers who share their experiences and worries about parenting and even personal care or professional demands.

All the mothers going through a particular phase in parenting, get a platform to come under one umbrella. It not only comforts them with various solutions but also instils an emotion of solidarity, the reassurance of not being alone.

There are online communities for almost every phase of motherhood from breastfeeding to traditional weaning to a healthy diet for kids to mothers resuming their careers after a gap.

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As the African saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child.” If one goes by the meaning of the proverb it implies that the right way of bringing up children is to let them grow amongst the community, let them interact with society and learn from its experiences. But in today’s pandemic era of all the restrictions and lockdown, the proverb takes a whole new meaning. The only meaning which resonates with me right now is that motherhood and parenting is not easy and not a one-person or one family’s job. It takes all of your family, friends and colleagues to raise your baby and trying to do this alone is hell difficult.So, it may not be completely wrong to say that, “It takes a village to raise a parent.”

Let’s be real, motherhood is the most beautiful yet can be the most trying time in a woman’s life. Postpartum depression, hormonal changes, body issues, and the overwhelming needs of a newborn takes a huge toll on both the physical and mental health of new mothers. Every day comes with the need of some new parenting wisdom which can be taxing for new parents especially mothers when she doesn’t have her tribe to rely on.

I remember when my aunts were pregnant and when their due date approached near, how my mom and grandmother used to begin making preparations with the postnatal traditional ‘laddoos’, a masseuse was hired for both the babies and new mothers and they made sure they new mother get required time off from the kitchen and other chores and gets ample rest. Their ancient wisdom worked wonders while treating minor problems in kids like colic, latching issues and breastfeeding.

But this pandemic has disintegrated the village for the new mothers. They can’t travel to their families and vice versa as well as can’t get to the vicinity of even their neighbours.

How has virtual village emerged as the biggest strength of new moms?

“Years back, as a new mom, having an uncontrollable toddler, I even found myself helpless sometimes. That’s when the community, the sisterhood made me understand that I was not alone and it’s going to be alright. Women are emotional beings, we just want to be heard. We need a safe space where we can vent out our feelings, where we can seek answers, where we can talk about our issues. Where we do not feel judged or harassed. Where we do not feel discriminated against. This is where the community and sisterhood plays a big role. It is where it’s so important to have a tribe around.”, says Preetha Nagarajan, founder of an exclusive women’s community, ‘Wonder Moms’.

Preetha Nagarajan sharing the journey of her online community with Infano.

Virtual villages or tribes are online groups on social media platforms or apps of mothers who share their experiences and worries about parenting and even personal care or professional demands. Sometimes, it’s easier to share your concerns with stranger women who are connected to you through the common bond of motherhood than the ones near to you as there is no fear of judgement or bias. Moreover, all the moms going through a particular phase in parenting, get a platform to come under one umbrella. It not only comforts them with various solutions but also instils an emotion of solidarity, the reassurance of not being alone.

Women are sharing their journey of motherhood with each other.

There are online communities for almost every phase of motherhood from breastfeeding to traditional weaning to a healthy diet for kids to mothers resuming their careers after a gap.I have found comfort in some of the toughest days of early parenting through the online community, most of the time just by reading the various comments on the relevant topic. Although, there is no one formula for raising a child and each situation and each child needs a different routine of care, so it will be wiser to carefully implement the internet wisdom.

Create your village.

Being connected with women who share with you common roles, responsibilities, goals and purpose be it concerned only with motherhood is empowering and motivating. I have found wonderful suggestions on buying stainless steel milk bottles, reusable cloth diapers for my toddler to planning easy healthy meals for her to dealing with the struggles of the weaning phase to easily potty train her and that too backed by the amazing amount of research put by other moms.

The wonderful aspect of an online community is that sometimes a panel of moderators or members also have experts, gynaecologists, child psychologists, lactation consultants and paediatricians who offer suggestions based on scientific findings and rationale.

Some of the wonderful groups for mothers on Facebook are –

Wondermoms, Brown Mommies Unite, Breastfeeding Support For Indian Mothers, Traditional Weaning (Introducing Solids) India and Fittr Moms.There are also, communities for kids born in a particular month, e.g. October Moms 2015, July Mom’s, 2017.

Infano Care is one such platform that stays with you throughout your journey of periods, pregnancy and parenting. It gives a platform to various subjects which are significant but are either ignored, hushed or are considered taboo. It’s a comfort zone for women across the ages to read and get knowledge on subjects of their interest , be it menstural cycle, irregular period,early pregnancy, women’s health issue, femisim and women empowerment.

Internet boom has brought your tribe to your screen gateway. Build your own village. Choose your team. Empower each other. Our children deserve their own villages.