Hormone Balancing Oils
Over the last few weeks we have been reviewing the health benefits associated with Essential oils. Essential oils are beginning to grow in popularity due to people seeking natural methods to enhance their own wellness. I too have recently become an advocate of regular use of the oils. I have had a great experience using them and want to share what I have researched, learned by self use and included into my daily routines.
This article is reviewing Hormonal Imbalances, why it matters and some natural ways to help improve your hormonal health by using essential oils.
The Importance of Balanced Hormones
Hormones drive our behaviour and influence everything from our energy, mood, and many aspects of overall health. Hormones such as oestrogen, testosterone, adrenaline and insulin — are extremely important chemical messengers. Hormones are secreted by various glands and organs in the body, including your thyroid, adrenals, pituitary, ovaries, testicles and pancreas. The entire endocrine system works together to control the level of hormones circulating throughout your body, and if one or more is even even slightly imbalanced it can cause widespread, major health problems.
Signs & Symptoms of Hormonal Imbalances
Some of the most common signs and symptoms of hormone imbalances for include:
- Infertility and irregular periods
- Weight gain or weight loss (that’s unexplained and not due to intentional changes in your diet)
- Depression and anxiety
- Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Low libido
- Changes in appetite
- Digestive issues
- Hair Loss and hair thinning
How Unbalanced Hormones Could Be Affecting Your Health
Oestrogen dominance: changes in sleep patterns, changes in weight and appetite, higher perceived stress, slowed metabolism.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS): infertility, weight gain, higher risk for diabetes, acne, abnormal hair growth
Low oestrogen: low sex drive, reproductive problems, menstrual irregularity, changes in mood
Hypothyroidism: slowed metabolism, weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, digestive issues, irregular periods
Low testosterone: erectile dysfunction, muscle loss, weight gain, fatigue, mood-related problems
Hyperthyroidism & Grave’s disease: anxiety, thinning hair, weight loss, IBS, trouble sleeping, irregular heartbeats
Diabetes: weight gain, nerve damage (neuropathy), higher risk for vision loss, fatigue, trouble breathing, dry mouth, skin problems
Adrenal fatigue: fatigue, muscle aches and pains, anxiety and depression, trouble sleeping, brain fog, reproductive problems
Conventional treatments for hormonal imbalances usually include synthetic hormone replacement therapies, birth control pills, insulin injections, thyroid medications and more. Unfortunately, for the majority of people suffering from hormonal disorders, relying on these types of synthetic treatments often results in three things:
- It makes people dependent on taking prescription drugs for the rest of their lives in order to keep symptoms under control.
- It simply masks a persons symptoms, but doesn’t solve them, which means that the person can continue to develop issues in other areas of the body.
- It causes a higher risk for serious side effects such as stroke, osteoporosis, anxiety, reproductive problems, cancer and more.
The good news is there are ways to balance your hormones naturally, and in this article best practice using essential oils. Below you’ll learn what type of hormonal imbalance your specific symptoms might be pointing to, what the root causes of your hormonal problem are, and how you can help treat the problem without experiencing the negative side effects associated with synthetic treatments.
The Long Term Effect of Unbalanced Hormones & Causes
Hormonal imbalances are multi-factorial disorders, meaning they are caused by a combination of factors such as your diet, medical history, genetics, stress levels and exposure to toxins from your environment. Some of the major contributors to hormonal imbalances include:
- Food allergies and gut issues: New research shows that your gut health plays a significant role in hormone regulation. If you have leaky gut syndrome or a lack of beneficial probiotic bacteria lining your intestinal wall, you’re more susceptible to hormonal problems, including diabetes and obesity. That’s because inflammation usually stems from your gut and then impacts nearly every aspect of your health.
- Being overweight or obese
- High levels of inflammation caused by a poor diet and / or a sedentary lifestyle
- Genetic susceptibility
- Toxicity (exposure to pesticides, toxins, viruses, cigarettes, excessive alcohol and harmful chemicals)
- High amounts of stress, and a lack of enough sleep and rest
Best Oils for Hormone Balancing
While essential oils are NOT hormones and don’t function as such, they are capable of supporting the bodily systems that do influence and control hormones to help your body to heal itself.
1. Clary sage; A study published in the Journal of Phytotherapy research found that inhalation of clary sage oil had the ability to reduce cortisol levels by 36% and improved thyroid hormone levels. The study was done on 22 post-menopausal women in their 50’s, some of which were diagnosed with depression and at the end of trial the researchers stated that “clary sage oil had a statistically significant effect on lowering cortisol and had an anti-depressant effect improving mood”. It is known to be calming and soothing for the mind and body especially when coupled with some deep breathing exercises. Diffused with lavender, it can provide an ultimate calming environment, especially when used with topical application on your pulse points or an Epsom salt bath for a dose of much-needed magnesium. A must have in your oil collection.
2. Sandalwood; Sandalwood can be used to increase your libido, reduce stress, promote relaxation, boost mental clarity and even help you to relax. The powerful fragrance triggers peaceful feelings and results in the overall reduction of stress that can lead to hormone imbalances. Inhale sandalwood directly from the bottle, diffuse it at home or apply 2-3 drops to your wrists and bottoms of the feet.
3. Lavender; Lavender appears on just about every list of essential oils due to its versatility and the immediate results that it provides from single use. While lavender is known for its ability to calm the mind and body, the most popular use for lavender is for sleep is to help you fall asleep. It also helps with stress, tension, and anxiety. When used as an abdominal massage or in a relaxing Epsom salt bath, lavender also helps alleviate painful symptoms associated with menstrual cycles while allowing you to have a restful night’s sleep.
3. Ylang-ylang; This oil tops the chart for aphrodisiac essential oils and has been used for centuries in religious and wedding ceremonies to encourage this usage. Its intoxicating aroma both calms and uplifts the mind and body while relieving stressful tension. It enables the body to reduce blood pressure while providing total body relaxation with such intensity that it's an almost sedative effect. While many women use this oil daily for hormonal balance, the actual results achieved are a lowering of the body’s stress levels in order to calm the mind and body, allowing for normal reproductive functioning.
4. Bergamot; Bergamot is amazing due to its dual power of both uplifting and calming simultaneously. Diffused or applied topically, bergamot alleviates stress and anxiety while reviving your emotions and uplifting your mood. By helping to reduce your heart rate and blood pressure, it allows the body to recover from stress and harmonise the body’s systems back to normal functioning. Again, the stress component restricts the body’s reproductive functions, so lowering cortisol levels must be achieved before the body can regulate its other systems. Just remember that citrus oils like bergamot are highly photo-toxic (photosensitivity or a chemically induced skin irritation, requiring light, that does not involve the immune system), so you always want to dilute 1:1 with a carrier oil like coconut oil before topical application, and do not expose your skin to direct sunlight for at least 72 hours after use.
5. Thyme; Research on thyme oil discovered this essential oil has progesterone balancing effects. Thyme oil benefits the body by improving progesterone production. Both men and a lot of women are low in progesterone, and low progesterone levels have been linked with infertility, PCOS and depression as well as other imbalanced hormones within the body.
One of my favourite essential oil uses is to simply mix some fractionated coconut oil with the essential oil, itself, and rub it on different areas of the body such as the bottom of the feet or back of the neck. Because essentials oils are so small molecularly, they can actually be absorbed into your body through your skin, so you can get full body effects simply by putting essential oils directly on the skin.
Other Natural Ways To Help Balance Hormones Include
Swap Out Refined Carbs for Healthy Fats
Eating a variety of foods high in short, medium and long-chain fatty acids is key to keeping your hormones in check. Your body needs various types of fats to create hormones, including saturated fat and cholesterol. Not only are these essential fats fundamental building blocks for hormone production, but they keep inflammation levels low, boost your metabolism and promote weight loss. Healthy fats have the opposite effect of refined carbohydrates, which lead to inflammation and can mess with the balance of your hormones.
My four favourite sources of anti-inflammatory, healthy fats include: coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed butter and wild-caught salmon.
Use Adaptogen Herbs
Adaptogen herbs are a unique class of healing plants that promote hormone balance and protect the body from a wide variety of diseases, including those caused by excess stress.
The next few weeks
I will be releasing an E-Book so you can take ownership of all this information and share with your family, friends or clients to improve health for everyone. The Ebook will have more in depth information about 5 health conditions you can use essential oils to address: stress, sleep, gut health, hormone balancing, immunity.I have curated over 25 recipes from cleaning products to desserts and blends to help you start experimenting with Essential Oils and ways to be in control of your health.
I hope you enjoy it!
