If you could take a natural supplement to help control acne breakout, take away bloating or help with hair loss instead of medication would you? There are many natural remedies available from functional foods to herbs.
Hormone balance is a prominent health concern and goal for many of the population, particularly females. From hormonal symptoms like acne breakouts or weight gain, to fertility through to menopause, being able to balance hormones is a necessity for optimising health and wellbeing. Although there are a lot of different hormone replacement therapies available, the need for a natural approach to help alleviate symptoms has become increasingly more popular.
What causes hormone imbalances?
Hormone imbalances can be caused from a variety of biological, environmental and physiological factors and occur when there is too much or not enough of a certain hormone in the bloodstream. As hormones regulate bodily processes such as metabolism, reproductive cycles, sexual function, blood sugar, blood pressure, mood and stress levels, having an imbalance can affect these processes. Medical conditions, lifestyle habits, medications, impaired endocrine glands and environmental exposure can cause hormones to fluctuate and fall out of balance.
What a hormone imbalance looks like
Some very common symptoms of hormone imbalance include weight gain or weight loss, stress, anxiety, acne breakouts, hair loss, reduced energy, GIT discomfort, infertility and irregular cycles to name a few (Healthline, 2022).
How can I restore balance to my hormones?
There are both medicinal and natural therapies available to help restore balance to hormones and pros and cons to each kind of treatment. A great natural food and supplement that can help to restore balance to hormones and alleviate symptoms is ginseng. Ginseng is a root that has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries with scientific evidence highlighting its health benefits.
One way that ginseng helps to restore balance to hormones is by reducing stress in the body and the stress hormone cortisol that comes with it. Cortisol is a very common factor in hormone imbalance so by reducing the amount of cortisol that the body produces it is then able to continue to balance hormones through the body’s hormone regulator called the HPA axis (Lee, 2017).
Research conducted on sex hormone receptors found that the ginsenoside component of ginseng targets nuclear hormone receptors. This has shown benefits to many physiological states and symptoms caused by low levels of the female sex hormone estrogen implicating that ginseng may be useful at helping to natural raise estrogen levels and reduce low estrogen symptoms (Park et al., 2017).
Is Ginseng the magic answer?
Yes! Ginseng can help to restore hormone balance and reduce the symptoms associated with hormonal imbalance as well as some of the contributing factors such as stress. By adding ginseng into your daily eating you can help to improve your hormone levels and alleviate the unpleasant hormonal side effects, giving you a healthier and happier day! The best part is, you’ve got nothing to lose, a natural alternative backed with scientific evidence is a safe and effective way to rebalance your hormones and improve health and wellbeing.
References
Healthline (2022). Everything you should know about hormone imbalance. Reviewed on 05/07/2022, <https://www.healthline.com/health/hormonal-imbalance#signs-or-symptoms>
Lee, S., Rhee, DK. (2017). Effects of ginseng on stress-related depression, anxiety, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. J Ginseng Res. Oct;41(4):589-594. doi: 10.1016/j.jgr.2017.01.010. Epub 2017 Jan 24. PMID: 29021708; PMCID: PMC5628357.
Park J, Song H, Kim SK, Lee MS, Rhee DK, Lee Y. (2017). Effects of ginseng on two main sex steroid hormone receptors: estrogen and androgen receptors. J Ginseng Res. Apr;41(2):215-221. doi: 10.1016/j.jgr.2016.08.005. Epub 2016 Aug 23. PMID: 28413327; PMCID: PMC5386121.
