hormonal imbalance Archives - Amazing Health Advances https://amazinghealthadvances.net/tag/hormonal-imbalance/ Your hub for fresh-picked health and wellness info Tue, 19 Apr 2022 20:07:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AHA_Gradient_Bowl-150x150.jpg hormonal imbalance Archives - Amazing Health Advances https://amazinghealthadvances.net/tag/hormonal-imbalance/ 32 32 Evidence That Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Are a Major Health Threat https://amazinghealthadvances.net/evidence-that-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-are-a-major-health-threat-7933/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=evidence-that-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-are-a-major-health-threat-7933 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/evidence-that-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-are-a-major-health-threat-7933/#respond Wed, 20 Apr 2022 07:00:53 +0000 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=14436 Al Sears, MD, CNS – The autocrats at the CDC, EPA, and FDA continue to deny you’re in danger from the daily deluge of hormone-disrupting chemicals they’ve allowed into your environment. They have to know it’s a ridiculous lie. Each passing day brings more evidence these endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a major threat. Synthetic chemicals like the bisphenol A (BPA) from plastics latch onto cellular receptors, increase estrogen production, reduce male fertility, and alter human metabolism. This sets the stage for massive chronic disease. You see, excess estrogen can destroy your health. It can even send you to an early grave. I’ve been blowing the whistle on endocrine disruptors for over two decades now, and at last the research community is beginning to wake up. Dr. Shanna H. Swan is a Mount Sinai medical center expert who initially accepted the EPA’s propaganda about EDCs… until her research validated a shocking global decline in human fertility. Now she’s crusading to alert the world to this massive threat. BPA Nosedive: Fertility and Health Fall Off a Cliff Together Among the stunning trends Dr. Swan documents: Plummeting masculinity: The sperm counts of men in the Western world dropped by over 59% from 1973 to 2011. She based her findings on 183 studies involving 42,935 men. Dr. Swan blames BPAs and other EDC toxins. Fading testosterone: The average male sex hormone level in men is dropping at about 1% a year. And there’s no sign the decline is leveling off. Crashing fertility: By 2045, Dr. Swan predicts that most couples who want to conceive will need artificial means such as IVF to have children… they simply won’t have enough reproductive capacity. Life-threatening consequences: One study showed women struggling with infertility had a 32% higher risk of dying.1 It’s even worse for men – those with abnormal sperm, or low sperm counts, had a 230% higher risk of dying.2 These are grim statistics… and I want to make sure that you don’t become one of them. Your Gameplan to Beat EDCs EDC Defense Protocol No. 1: Reduce Exposure – Start with the basics: Buy certified-organic fruits and veggies whenever possible. Use glass food containers not plastic, and never heat food in a plastic container unless you want a side helping of BPA with every meal. And do whatever you can to avoid fast food. It’s laced with EDCs… fast-food lovers have 40% higher BPA and phthalate blood levels.3 EDC Defense Protocol No. 2: Glutathione – Glutathione is a “seek and destroy” detoxifier that neutralizes environmental toxins and free radicals. Several studies indicate those who reach 100 are more likely to have higher levels of glutathione.4 More glutathione triggers better stem cell function.5 I recommend liposomal glutathione… it’s more absorbable. It can double immune-function biomarkers in a single week, including T cells and B cells.6 Start with a gram a day of liposomal glutathione… and gradually increase to 1 gram twice daily. EDC Defense Protocol No. 3: The Estrogen-Buster From Bali – Eugenol blocks estrogen imitators from locking onto cellular receptors, limiting the ability of EDCs to disrupt normal hormone levels. You’ll find clove oil and eugenol extract online and at your local supplement store. EDC Defense Protocol No. 4: Get Plenty of I3C and DIM – Indole-3 carbinol (I3C) is a special compound found in cruciferous vegetables such as brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower. Your body converts I3C into diindolylmethane (DIM). The I3C/DIM combo converts estrogen into harmless compounds your body easily excretes. I recommend 100 mg a day of I3C and DIM to protect you from EDCs. To Your Good Health, Al Sears, MD, CNS References: 1. Murugappan, Gayathree, et al. “Association between Infertility and All-Cause Mortality: Analysis of US Claims Data.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 225, no. 1, 1 July 2021, pp. 57.e1–57.e11, NIH.gov website. 2. Eisenberg, M. L., et al. “Semen Quality, Infertility and Mortality in the USA.” Human Reproduction, vol. 29, no. 7, 15 May 2014, pp. 1567–1574, NIH.gov website. 3. Zota, Ami R, et al. “Recent Fast Food Consumption and Bisphenol a and Phthalates Exposures among the U.S. Population in NHANES, 2003-2010.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 124, no. 10, 2016, pp. 1521–1528, NIH.gov website. 4. Andersen, H. R., Jeune, B., Nybo, H., Nielsen, J. B., Andersen-Ranberg, K., & Grandjean, P. (1998). Low activity of superoxide dismutase and high activity of glutathione reductase in erythrocytes from centenarians. Age and Ageing, 27(5), 643–648. 5. Jeong, E. M., Yoon, J.-H., Lim, J., Shin, J.-W., Cho, A. Y., Heo, J., … Kim, I.-G. (2018). Real-Time Monitoring of Glutathione in Living Cells Reveals that High Glutathione Levels Are Required to Maintain Stem Cell Function. Stem Cell Reports, 10(2), 600–614. 6. Sinha, R., Sinha, I., Calcagnotto, A., Trushin, N., Haley, J. S., Schell, T. D., & Richie, J. P. (2018). Oral supplementation with liposomal glutathione elevates body stores of glutathione and markers of immune function. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 72(1), 105–111.

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]]> https://amazinghealthadvances.net/evidence-that-endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-are-a-major-health-threat-7933/feed/ 0 The Mental & Physical Health Benefits of Circadian Fasting + Simple Schedule Tweaks That Can Boost Your Mood & Reduce Stress https://amazinghealthadvances.net/the-mental-physical-health-benefits-of-circadian-fasting-simple-schedule-tweaks-that-can-boost-your-mood-reduce-stress-6962/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-mental-physical-health-benefits-of-circadian-fasting-simple-schedule-tweaks-that-can-boost-your-mood-reduce-stress-6962 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/the-mental-physical-health-benefits-of-circadian-fasting-simple-schedule-tweaks-that-can-boost-your-mood-reduce-stress-6962/#respond Tue, 24 Nov 2020 08:00:15 +0000 http://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=10446 Dr. Caroline Leaf – I am sure by now you have heard of the benefits of intermittent fasting. But can skipping meals or only eating during certain time periods really improve our health? In this podcast (episode #228) and blog, I speak with intermittent fasting expert Dr. Amy Shah about how fasting can greatly improve your mental and physical wellbeing, the different types of fasting, why Dr. Amy prefers circadian fasting, how women can fast safely, common fasting mistakes, how to get started, if fasting is safe for people with eating disorders, and more!  When it comes to our health, what we eat, how we eat and our other lifestyle choices can have a dramatic impact on our gut health, which, in turn, can impact the brain and body. The gut-brain connection is incredibly powerful. If your gut is inflamed and you fix that, your brain will feel better, and vice versa. Even though we are learning more and more about the gut-brain connection, our overall health and immunity, many people are not told about this when they are feeling ill or battling with their health. Yes, Western medicine is good for many things, but it doesn’t know everything! One of the best ways to harness the power of the gut-brain connection to improve our mental and physical health is through intermittent fasting. Yet, before you just stop eating for several hours, it is important to understand that fasting impacts men and women differently. Unfortunately, most of the research is done on male animals—we are only now starting to study the different impact certain types of fasting have on women. There are many differences between the male and female body, including our hormones and how we process stressors, which need to be considered when we study fasting and how it impacts our overall health. There are also differences between each individual. When it comes when we eat and when we don’t eat, there is no “one size fits all”! Women are impacted more by stressors like long-term dieting, excessive exercise and aggressive, long-term fasting, which will disturb your hormones and health. That is not to say that women cannot benefit from intermittent fasting, but they need to be aware the risks of aggressive, long-term fasting on the brain and body. GnRH is the master hormone that is linked to our circadian rhythm—it pulses in accordance with this rhythm, telling the pituitary gland to release its hormones, which signals to the ovaries and adrenal glands to release hormones like estrogen in a feedback loop. In women, this system is very sensitive to external stressors. If we fast, exercise or diet aggressively, it affects the pulsing of the GnRH, which has repercussions throughout the brain and body. Some signs of this are: feeling fatigued, bloated or anxious, sudden mood changes, weight fluctuations, and upset sleeping patterns. For most women, aggressive fasting can dramatically impact their hormones and affect their health in the short and long term, especially when they start fasting or do longer fasting intervals on a regular basis. We need to be very careful about listening to what we hear on the media or from the wellness industry! Long-term fasting is not for everyone, just like an Iron Man challenge or ultra-marathon is not for everyone. If you do decide to go this route, train for it, and monitor its effects on your health with the help of a medical professional. We cannot escape the fact that how we live our lives affects our wellbeing. As Amy notes, our hormonal pulses and circadian rhythms are completely intertwined. Every cell in our body has a “clock” that follows these 24-hour rhythms. In fact, 80% of our genes are based on our circadian rhythm! Our bodies are meant to have a rhythm—we are not made to do everything at once. When our circadian rhythm is out of whack, we can suffer from many kinds of health issues, including mood disorders, brain health problems, diabetes, heart disease and so on. On the other hand, if we tweak our schedule just a little bit and let our brain and body know when it is day and when it is night, we can improve our overall wellbeing by improving our sleeping patterns, metabolism, mood and so on. Circadian fasting is one great way to tap into these natural rhythms and create an environment that boosts our mental and physical resilience. If we stop eating 2 to 3 hours before bed, this will prepare our body, telling it that it is nighttime and it should go into “gut repair mode” and deep clean the cells. This can only be done when we do not have more glucose from food entering our bodies. If we eat late at night or before bed, however, the body does not go into this deep clean mode, which can affect our health. Circadian fasting also helps our body harness the power of the metabolic switch. The body generally uses sugar as fuel—this is its preferred source of energy. When we have used up all this glucose and the body needs energy, it switches fuel sources and uses stored fat (fatty acids). This is known as the metabolic switch, which turns on when we are hungry or fasting. When the body does this, it can have many downstream health benefits, such as suppressing excess inflammation, increasing stress resilience and improving cognitive function and emotional health. Circadian fasting essentially trains your body to switch fuel sources. Yes, at the beginning this can be tough and we can feel a little off, but our body will get used to this shift over time. It is a type of good stress—circadian fasting gives the body a little push to get stronger, like a good workout. And it is a lot easier to do than many other fasting regimens because it can be incorporated into a busy schedule. If you have battled with fasting in the past and are not sure how to make the process easier or effective, Amy has some great tips to help you harness the power of circadian fasting: Don’t start too extreme, as changing your eating schedule can be challenging, especially if you are used to eating late at night! Start from 7pm-7am, and slowly increase the number of hours you fast at night over time. Give your body time to adjust! You can also alternate the number of hours you fast for during the week—listen to what your body needs and find out what works for you. Expose yourself to daylight first thing in the morning before 10 am for around 20 minutes, even if it is cloudy outside, which will help balance your circadian rhythm and boost your metabolic switch. Do a fasted workout/movement early in the morning. Get moving before you eat breakfast! But don’t push yourself too hard too quickly—find out what works for you and start there. Try get 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night. This doesn’t have to happen every night, but we should aim for good sleeping patterns around 5 times a week. Our peak eating times is between 12 and 5 pm, so you want to eat your main meals during this time. Eat a smaller meal before noon or after 5 pm if desired, and stop eating 2 to 4 hours before bed.  Eat lots of plant fibers, which help improve our gut health by feeding the good bacteria in the gut that are essential for brain health, immunity and hormone function. Around 2 to 3 hours before bed, turn off your artificial light devices, such as your smart phones or TV. It is also a good idea to switch the light bulbs in the bedroom to yellow light or use candle light. Research has shown that just one bout of bright light at night can delay your melatonin for up to 90 minutes! Avoid these common fasting mistakes: Fasting too long. Eating too much sugar in your eating window, which will make it harder for your body to turn on its metabolic switch, and, when your sugar levels fall, you will experience hunger cravings and jitters that will affect your ability to avoid eating and experience all the benefits of intermittent fasting. Thinking that fasting is a shortcut or magic bullet that will take away all our issues. It is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, not a quick-fix solution. It is also important to remember that fasting may not be for everyone, especially someone with a history of disordered eating. Fasting is not generally good for someone who has a history of eating issues, especially if they cannot do it in a safe way, as it can trigger a restrictive eating response. In a situation like this, it is better to focus on what the person is eating, and how they can cut out processed and refined foods and improve their diet. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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]]> https://amazinghealthadvances.net/the-mental-physical-health-benefits-of-circadian-fasting-simple-schedule-tweaks-that-can-boost-your-mood-reduce-stress-6962/feed/ 0 Depression Is Prevalent During Menopause, Confirms Study https://amazinghealthadvances.net/depression-is-prevalent-during-menopause-confirms-study-6670/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=depression-is-prevalent-during-menopause-confirms-study-6670 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/depression-is-prevalent-during-menopause-confirms-study-6670/#respond Mon, 06 Jul 2020 07:00:10 +0000 http://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=9153 The North American Menopause Society via News-Medical Net – Depression has been shown to be prevalent during menopause, affecting as many as 70% of women transitioning into menopause. A new study not only confirms the high prevalence of depression but also the greatest risk factors for it in postmenopausal women, as well as any relationships with anxiety and fear of death. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). With the decrease in hormone production during menopause, women are more prone to a number of psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, irritability, nervousness, sadness, restlessness, memory problems, lack of confidence and concentration, and a loss of libido. At the same time, as women age, the fear of death becomes more pronounced. Depression and anxiety, which are the most common psychological problems that occur during the menopause transition, likely increase that fear. In this new study involving 485 postmenopausal Turkish women aged between 35 and 78 years, researchers sought to determine the frequency of depressive symptoms in postmenopausal women, the variables affecting it, and the levels of anxiety and fear of death. They then evaluated the relationship between all these variables and postmenopausal depression. They found that depression in postmenopausal women is a common and important health problem that requires further study. In this specific study, 41% of the participants were confirmed to experience some form of depression, although it is theorized that this rate was lower than in some previous studies because of the somewhat lower age of participants (average age, 56.3 y). In addition, the researchers identified those risk factors that most affected depression in postmenopause. These included being a widow or separated from one’s spouse, alcohol consumption, any medical history requiring continuous medication, the presence of any physical disability, physician-diagnosed mental illness, and having four or more living children. They did not, however, confirm any relationship between depression and the fear of death, although the somewhat younger age of the study group may have influenced this lack of association. Study results appear in the article “Depression, anxiety and fear of death in postmenopausal women.” “The findings of this study involving postmenopausal Turkish women are consistent with existing literature and emphasize the high prevalence of depressive symptoms in midlife women, particularly those with a history of depression or anxiety, chronic health conditions, and psychosocial factors such as major stressful life events. “Women and the clinicians who care for them need to be aware that the menopause transition is a period of vulnerability in terms of mood,” Dr. Stephanie Faubion, Medical Director, The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) To read the original article click here.

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]]> https://amazinghealthadvances.net/depression-is-prevalent-during-menopause-confirms-study-6670/feed/ 0 Is a Hormonal Imbalance Making You Moody, Anxious, and Overweight?  https://amazinghealthadvances.net/is-a-hormonal-imbalance-making-you-moody-anxious-and-overweight-6577/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-a-hormonal-imbalance-making-you-moody-anxious-and-overweight-6577 https://amazinghealthadvances.net/is-a-hormonal-imbalance-making-you-moody-anxious-and-overweight-6577/#respond Wed, 27 May 2020 07:00:07 +0000 http://amazinghealthadvances.net/?p=8838 Dr. Caroline Leaf  – The hormonal problem and solution with Dr. Anna Cabeca, OB-GYN and hormone expert: We all know that our hormones are important, but did you know that they can impact our mood and mental health as well? In this week’s blog and podcast, I spoke to Dr. Anna Cabeca, an OB-GYN, bestselling author and hormone expert, about the neuroendocrine system, how our hormones affect our mood and mental wellbeing, how the keto diet boosts brain energy and helps us lose excess weight, and what our urine says about our stress levels. Dr. Anna’s desire to help others was inspired by her own life story. After the traumatic death of her young son, Anna’s health started declining as she went through PTSD-induced early menopause. Even though she was a highly-qualified doctor who had trained at one of the best schools in the country, she was at a loss: nothing was working, so she went around the world looking for answers. During her healing journey, Dr. Anna began to realize the importance of lifestyle choices and habits, and the impact they have on our hormonal health and mental and physical wellbeing. She recognized the importance of a holistic mind and body approach to health, and now teaches others how they too can heal and live their best lives! In her incredible book The Hormone Fix, which is filled with helpful questionnaires, recommendations and tests, Dr. Anna tells women that they do not have to suffer like she did. She explains how it takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. To manage our sex hormones well, we need to focus on our lifestyle, as I discussed in a recent blog and podcast (episode #158). This includes nutrition, exercise, bioidentical hormones and stress management. If we focus on our mind and body health, we can take our health into our own hands! Why is this important? When we experience perimenopause and menopause, which generally occurs sometime between the age of 35 and 55, we enter a period of neuroendocrine vulnerability. This often results in mood swings, irregular bleeding, weight gain, fatigue, memory loss and so on, which is typically treated with medications like birth control pills or SSRI’s. However, these drugs often have negative side-effects, and don’t work for everyone. Stress can make this hormonal process worse, as our cortisol levels are controlled by our hormones. Cortisol is good in balanced amounts; it helps us get up in the morning, maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm, and is anti-inflammatory. Yet, if we are constantly stressed, we produce cortisol in excess, which leads to an imbalance in our hormones which affects our neuro-endocrine system. This, in turn, impacts our mental and physical health, making us anxious, forgetful, overweight and potentially insulin resistant. In fact, when our cortisol is up for too long, the brain shuts down the production of cortisol, which also shuts down the production of oxytocin. This can lead to burnout, isolation, despair, depression, inflammation, hair loss, and other health issues! Thankfully, there is a quick and easy way we can monitor our stress levels: the pH level of our urine! Ideally, we want our urine pH to be great than 7, i.e. alkaline. Acidic urine, that is urine with a pH of lower than 7, indicates high cortisol levels, and is warning sign that you need to do some stress management. Dr. Anna has affordable, easy to use urine strips that can help you monitor your pH levels available on her website. You can purchase these strips at your local pharmacy or online. When it comes to our health, we need to remember that the mind-body connection is real. What we think and how we manage stress directly impacts our physical wellbeing, and vice versa! This is why we should not just focus on our symptoms. We also need to look at all our lifestyle choices and how they affect our hormones and mental health, as I talked about in detail my blogand podcast (episode #158). These include: 1. What we eat. As Dr. Anna describes in detail in her new book, Keto Green 16, ketones from a natural, sustainable low carb/high fat diet are a better source of fuel for the brain and body than glucose, and can help with our hormone production and overall mental and physical health. However, for people who are insulin resistant or older, it can be hard to get into ketosis (you can also test this using a urine strip—Dr. Anna has ketosis strips on her website, and you can also purchase these strips at your local pharmacy or online), which is why intermittent fasting is also good, which trains the brain and body to turn our fat to fuel. This doesn’t mean you must eat meat: Dr. Anna has customizable plans for vegans and vegetarians in her book. If you want to learn more, you can also check out Dr. Anna’ workbook Making Keto Work. Of course, it is also important to remember eating is not just about what you eat, but also how and when you eat, which also affects your health, as I discuss in detail in my book Think and Eat Yourself Smart. Like I always say, there is only one rule when it comes to food: eat real food mindfully! 2. Bioidentical hormones. The brain needs energy, and we are only beginning to understand how this process is dependent on our hormones. When we go through perimenopause and menopause, our hormonal balance is affected, which, in turn, impacts the brain’s source of fuel. As a result, we can experience things like memory loss, fatigue, anxiety and so on. Taking bioidentical hormones is a great way to replace these hormones naturally, especially progesterone, which helps balance systems in the brain and body, including cortisol production. 3. Managing your stress! As I mentioned above, we should always be aware of how stress affects us. If we don’t manage toxic stress and the mind, it can mess with our health. This is why we should pay attention to the physical and emotional warning signals our body and brain sends us. Don’t ignore what makes you feel uncomfortable. Face it and deal with it, before it deals with you! This article has been modified. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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