What Hormones Do in Our Bodies
Think of hormones as your body’s messengers. According to the Cleveland Clinic, these naturally occurring chemicals coordinate countless functions by carrying messages to your muscles, skin, and other organs.
Scientists currently know of 50 hormones in the human body, which make up the endocrine system. Hormones are essential to your body’s function and your well-being. They control your metabolism, your mood, sleeping and waking, sexual function, and other processes.
When you have too little or too much of any hormone, a hormonal imbalance happens. Perhaps the best-known example of this imbalance is acne during puberty. Some hormonal imbalances are temporary but others can lead to chronic conditions and require medical treatment.
What Does Balancing Hormones Mean?
Balancing hormones has become a buzzword on social media platforms and beyond. However, once you look more closely, you may find that there is little scientific evidence behind the slogans. Don’t take our word for it, we’ll happily confess to not having read every self-help book on the topic. However, Rutgers University sociologist Norah Kendrick has done just that for the past two decades and found little scientific support for the concept of hormone balancing as a way to achieve weight loss, dealing with stress, perimenopause, and countless other issues.
So, where does that leave us? First of all, if a certain regimen of diet and exercise works for you, stick with it. Second, hormonal fluctuations are the underlying causes of conditions like hypo- and hyperthyroidism or polycystic ovaries syndrome (PCOS). They also account for the changes the female body goes through in middle age. Doctors have clear guidelines and measurements to diagnose those conditions.
As a result, there is no clear idea of what scale hormones are being balanced against, aside from individual observations of feeling better or worse. Unless you suffer from a medical condition that stops your body from working normally or is going through major changes like perimenopause and menopause, your system is designed to regulate hormones by itself.
Still, there can be situations when the body becomes overwhelmed by things like unrelenting stress and needs a little help to stay in balance.
How Can Yoga Support Overall Health and Hormone Balance?
If you’ve practiced yoga for a while, you probably already know in ancient India, this practice was more than a workout. Ancient practitioners used yoga as part of their health regimen, including focusing on specific poses to treat selected health problems.
Yoga can help relieve stress, promote healthy blood flow, and release tension, all of which contribute to a healthy hormone balance. No matter whether you’re a beginner or have been practicing yoga for a while, your overall well-being, including your endocrine system can benefit from spending time on your mat.
Top Ten Asanas for Balanced Hormones
1. Pranayama
When we’re stressed, our bodies release the hormone cortisol as part of our natural stress reaction. Cortisol puts us in a state of alert, allowing us to face whatever challenge is coming. If you’re permanently stressed, though, this permanent state can disrupt physiological processes and lead to health problems.
Breathing exercises like alternate nostril breathing help balance the left and right sides of your brain, relieve stress, and allow you to feel more grounded.
2. Child’s Pose
If you’ve attended any Uptown Yoga class, you’ll already know that you can always find your way into child’s pose when an asana becomes too strenuous, or you simply need to rest for a moment. Staying in this pose for a few breaths calms your nervous system and allows you to digest the previous pose – or any other part of your day. Your stress levels drop and you’ll gain a sense of relaxation.
3. Savasana
An integral part of most yoga classes, savasana promotes an even deeper sense of relaxation than child’s pose. Many instructors use this pose to end their classes, giving you a chance to leave with a sense of calm that hopefully lasts for hours, if not the rest of the day.
4. Pigeon
Hip-opening asanas like pigeon poses may not seem like the most intuitive go-to poses for supporting your endocrine system. However, tension you hold in your hips, for example from a sedentary job, is often more than physical. Tight hips can be a sign of permanently raised stress levels. Encouraging those hip stretchers to release helps you let go of long-term stress and tension.
5. Legs On the Wall
Legs up on the wall is another great pose to reduce cortisol levels and let go of accumulated stress and tension before they cause actual medical problems. In addition, raising your legs against a wall for a few breaths improves vascular health by making it easier for your veins to transport blood back toward the center of your body.
6. Abdominal Twisting Poses
Twisting massages your abdominal organs, stretches muscles in the area, and relieves tension. These movements help your body digest food more easily and also aid in reducing cortisol levels at the end of a stressful day.
7. Seated Forward Bend
Seated forward bends target the abdominal area where they can help relieve discomfort from PCOS. Women suffering from the condition have reported that gentle movements like seated forward bends eased pain and relieved tension.
8. Supported Bridge Pose
This asana is a great way of practicing a gentle back bend – supported by a block or other prop under your sacrum if you like. This pose opens your chest, heart, shoulders, neck, and throat. At the same time, you’re also stretching your abdominal muscles and your hip flexors, while building strength in your legs. The opening movement allows you to lower cortisol levels and take deeper breaths, leading to greater relaxation.
9. Bound Angle Pose
This hip-opening pose not only promotes flexibility in some of our most tightly held muscles, but it also has a calming effect on your body and mind overall. If you struggle to drop your knees to the floor, use a prop until you can relax enough.
10. Yoga Nidra
Yoga Nidra – or yogic sleep – is a great practice for anyone looking to improve their overall well-being. Also known as a gateway to a wider meditation practice, Yoga Nidra has been proven to provide relief to women with menstrual irregularities caused by hormonal imbalances.
Are You Ready to Improve Your Overall Well-Being?
Our hormones play a huge part in many aspects of our mental and physical health. While there may be little scientific evidence for many approaches to hormone balancing, there are studies supporting the effectiveness of yoga in reducing stress levels, breaking the cycle of consistently raised stress levels, and supporting a healthier overall lifestyle. Take a look at our schedule for classes with a restorative element and talk to our experienced instructors today to find out how you can minimize unnecessary stress. At home, try the asanas above to target your stress response and find a greater sense of calm every day.
