What is Bioidentical Hormone Therapy & What Are Its Benefits?
Balancing your hormones is key to integrative and functional health. There are many reasons a person may experience a hormone imbalance. Some may be health conditions or treatment-related while others may be a body’s natural reaction to aging, stress, or other underlying factors.
Treating hormone imbalances or deficiencies holistically means understanding what natural factors may be triggering or exacerbating a hormone imbalance, empowering the body to heal and balance hormones naturally, and—if needed—to utilize therapies or hormone replacement to support the body’s natural hormones.
A Holistic Guide to Hormone Replacement
Below, we’ll discuss how to approach hormone replacement holistically. This includes identifying which factors may be contributing to hormone imbalances or deficiencies and empowering your body to balance itself naturally.
1 – Identify Contributing Factors
In holistic medicine, the first step to treatment is to determine what factors may be causing your condition. This includes looking at physical sources as well as mental, spiritual, emotional, and environmental factors.
If you are working with a holistic healthcare provider, they may do tests to determine which hormonal deficiencies or imbalances you may have, then will work with you to understand what factors may have a role in causing these deficiencies or imbalances.
Potential causes of hormonal imbalances may include:
- Health conditions such as Cushing’s syndrome or Addison’s disease
- Menopause or other aging factors
- Chemotherapy
- Stress
- Poor diet or nutrition
- Being overweight
- Underactive or overactive thyroid
- Hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia
- Allergies
- Infections
- Exposure to toxins or pollutants
2 – Balance Your Diet
Whether your hormone imbalance is caused by a health condition or from an external factor, balancing your diet can help empower your body to naturally balance your hormones. In some cases, a nutritional diagnostic will help your holistic healthcare provider determine any deficiencies or allergies you may be experiencing. This can help inform a nutritional treatment plan that will better support healthy hormone levels.
3 – Balance Your Gut & Liver
Since hormones are metabolized in the gut, poor digestive health often leads to poor hormone balance. Similarly, poor liver health also directly affects hormones. This means anything that hurts the liver or gut—such as sugar or alcohol—will also impact the hormonal balance in your body. For information on improving gut health, read our online Holistic Guide for Improving Gut Health.
4 – Address Allergies & Infections
Whether or not allergies or infection are a primary cause of hormonal imbalance, it can be an important part of your holistic hormonal care to address these factors. That’s because allergies and infections cause chronic inflammation that impacts your body’s ability to self-regulate. By healing infections and by addressing allergies—by eliminating exposure or increasing immunity—you are helping your body better control your hormone balances.
5 – Improve Your Stress Levels
Chronic stress can have a negative impact on your hormone levels, making stress management an important step in holistic hormone treatment. You can do this by improving the ways you cope with stress, including meditation, deep breathing, or yoga, as well as through exercise, improving your quality of sleep, and massage therapy.
6 – Get Better Sleep
Hormones rise and fall with the rhythm of the day, but inconsistent sleep patterns or low-quality sleep may impact these fluctuations. Improve your sleep by having a predictable sleep schedule, eliminating light when you sleep, avoiding technology leading up to bedtime, having a nighttime routine, and getting an adequate amount of sleep each night.
7 – Consider Bioidentical Hormone Therapy
If your body is unable to balance its hormones after making the above holistic hormone care changes, you may benefit from additional hormone replacement therapy. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is a good choice for individuals who need additional support to increase or balance hormones. Bioidentical hormones are synthesized chemicals derived from plants and made to be molecularly identical to hormones the body naturally produces.
Request a Consultation
Are you experience hormonal imbalance or deficiency? Speak with a hormone expert at CentreSprings MD today.
