Heading into a new year we often view this season as a reset for multiple areas of life. Many of us have an opportunity to take some time off or at least slow down a bit. We evaluate work, relationships, and health, but don\’t forget about using exercise to improve your hormones.
Your late thirties and beyond bring new realizations about your fitness ability, stress level, mood, fatigue, ability to bounce back and so much more. Many of these issues correlate with diminishing hormones, which is completely natural, but you don’t have to stay in that state. Using exercise to improve your hormones is important to your overall health goals and works well in conjunction with pellet hormone therapy.
The pellet therapy we offer uniquely targets your hormone needs, but there are a lot of opportunities to use exercise as a bonus support system. Here are several ways you can use exercise to improve hormones as well as a few activity suggestions.
Estrogen. Symptoms of menopause, perimenopause, and PMS are in part due to the imbalance and decline of estrogen. Thirty minutes of exercise that elevates your heart rate helps boost estrogen levels.
Testosterone. Both men and women lose testosterone as they age. Testosterone loss can speed up the effects of aging and no one wants that! Regular activity can support testosterone levels.
Dopamine. If you’ve ever heard of a “runner’s high”, THIS is the hormone that induces a sort of euphoric feeling. Don’t worry – you don’t have to run to experience the feel-good benefits of increased dopamine. Get your heart rate up (again, 30 minutes of exercise is a great starting point) and you’ll trigger the feel-good transmitters in your body. Dopamine also has the added benefit of removing some of the edgy feelings that can accompany daily stress.
Serotonin. If you lay down at night ready for the day to be over, only to lie awake with your brain racing through the day’s events, you might be lacking serotonin. Struggling to get comfortable even when you’re exhausted is common with aging. Physical movement is a great way to release serotonin in your body. An evening walk, bike ride, or bodyweight strength training session are all ways to improve serotonin levels.
The absolute best exercises for hormone balance are the ones you actually do. Aside from that, there aren’t too many rules. Exercise should be enjoyable; experiment with different activities until you find one you love.
Social exercise provides a double boost if you enjoy being with friends. Find an interest group such as a walking club or try a class like yoga, indoor cycling, or kickboxing. It not only provides accountability, but also creates human connection, which is just as important to our overall well-being as our hormone health. Using exercise to improve your hormones is bigger than burning a few calories – it’s a holistic approach to optimized health.
Set a goal to try something new. It could be as simple as walking at a new park. Virtual fitness has never been more accessible, so there are tons of opportunities to sign up with an online fitness provider. Who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with boxing, tai chi, hip-hop dancing or parkour. (We would LOVE to know if you do!)
Sure, all of this talk about motivation and 30 minutes of exercise is easy to say, but let’s get down to the core of the matter. If your hormones are out of balance, it can make trying something new (and sticking to it) a challenge.
That’s where we come in.
It’s important to know your hormone levels in the first place, then to treat them optimally. Our medical team will guide you through this process from A to Z. We will collect your bloodwork in our office, set up a free consultation to discuss the best next steps, and get you on a path to balanced hormones and feeling like yourself again.
It begins with a New Patient Consultation. This consultation is FREE to you! There is NO OBLIGATION and is the fastest method to get you on your way towards an “optimized Hormone” life. Once you make a consultation appointment either online or by calling our office, you begin the discovery process.
