Hormonal imbalance is a condition that is common among women, especially those in the middle age. It results to other complications that can greatly affect a woman’s life and relationships with other people.

This article will attempt to address the topic and enlighten people with an informative background discussion about hormonal imbalance. Find out what causes hormonal imbalance, as well as some steps to avoid it.

Reason for Hormonal Imbalance

To understand the cause of hormonal imbalance, it is important to understand the delicate hormonal balance in a woman’s body. A woman has two important hormones: estrogen and progesterone. These two hormones are always producing equally. When one hormone is increasing in production, the other increases too.

Hormonal imbalance is caused by too much estrogen in a woman’s body, an excess which is not balanced by progesterone. This is in turn caused by what a woman’s lifestyle is. Stress, nutrition, physical activities and ovulation or lack of it are factors that can lead to an imbalance in the production of these two hormones.

Exposure to household chemicals and car exhaust, as well as regularity of birth control pill intake can also contribute to the disruption in a woman’s estrogen-progesterone balance. This is common in industrialized nations, where women are more prone to developing hormonal imbalance.

Symptoms of Hormonal Imbalance

Hormonal imbalance manifests itself in various symptoms, which include:

• Depression
• Fatigue
• Anxiety
• Wrinkles
• Allergy
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Premenstrual Syndrome
• Endometriosis
• Facial hair growth

Effects of Hormonal Imbalance

Hormones are important to the body, thus an imbalance could lead to complications. Women with unbalanced hormones are at risk of developing ovarian and cervical cancers, and may also become infertile.

Preventing Hormonal Imbalance

Hormonal imbalance can be prevented by controlling diet or exercise regimes.

A healthy lifestyle can keep hormonal imbalance in check. Processed foods should be avoided as much as possible because they contain chemicals that can interfere with the production of the two important hormones. Dairy products and meat also contain chemicals stored in animal fats, hence intake of these foods should be controlled and kept to a minimum when possible.

A good diet beneficial to hormonal balance should be composed of foods that are rich in omega-3 and omega-6 acids, which can be found in seeds from plants like flax, pumpkin and sunflower. Phytoestrogens found in soy beans can also help maintain the delicate hormonal balance by providing the needed estrogen to the body.

Of course, synthetic hormones are used in therapies aiming to correct hormonal imbalance in women. These hormones are manufactured by the many pharmaceutical companies all over the world.

Benefits of Hormone Therapy

Therapies, whether synthetic or natural, has several benefits for women when the hormonal balance is restored. These benefits include:

• Improved vaginal lubrication
• Improved metabolism
• Reduced risk of osteoporosis
• Improved sex drive
• Less frequent episodes of mood swings
• Reduced menstrual problems

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