Put down your prescription and give these awesome oils a go!
Living in the 21st century exposes everyone to two critical factors that can wreak havoc on your hormones: stress and toxic chemicals. In today’s fast-paced life, we’re exposed to countless elements that can disturb the endocrine system and throw your hormone levels off. A hormone imbalance poses its share of less-than-desirable symptoms. These can include tension, anxiety, severe mood swings, depression, appetite changes, fatigue, digestive problems, and issues sleeping. When these feelings rise to the surface and make a dramatic appearance, many people feel the need to tackle their imbalances head-on with pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately, prescription drugs tend to stabilize one imbalance at the cost of complicating another. Luckily, certain essential oils possess powerful properties that make them a natural, holistic alternative to drugs. Their potent antioxidants battle toxicity that can disrupt the endocrine system, while reducing feelings of stress and anxiety, sensations that carry their own set of health problems.
We’ve grouped together 5 unique oils that’ll balance hormones and battle stress when you’re feeling off. The essential oil approach delivers a boatload of health benefits, without the harmful side effects of pharmaceuticals!
1. Lavender
This essential oil delivers a bunch of beneficial hormone-balancing powers. Lavender helps stabilize hormones when you’re feeling emotional or depressed without a cause. This potent oil can alleviate emotional and physical distress especially during menstrual cycles, when women experience PMS or abdominal cramps. Lavender lowers stress levels and helps fight depression. Meanwhile, lavender promotes better sleep when used as aromatherapy, and we all know catching some high-quality REM is critical for maintaining a healthy hormonal balance!
If you suffer regularly from sleep deprivation, score better ZZZs by checking out these 9 Tips to Get Better Sleep.
2. Basil
Your adrenal glands produce cortisol, a natural stress hormone, when your system is under stress. The hectic demands of life can overwork your adrenal glands, boosting your emotional and physical stress levels and ultimately creating a hormonal imbalance. Higher cortisol levels carry extra baggage, including side effects like sleep deprivation, weight gain, and digestive problems. Basil essential oil improves your body’s response to stress, lowering the amount of cortisol it produces and taking the edge off of common stress symptoms, ultimately helping you cope better while balancing hormones.
Along with adding basil essential oil to your regime, eat your stress away by adding these 10 Stress Relieving Superfoods to your diet!
3. Licorice Root
Classified as an adaptogen, licorice is scientifically proven to improve endocrine system function. And its impressive powers go as far as to treat hormone imbalances in people with auto-immune disorders, ultimately helping to prevent excessive immune response. But that’s not all! Licorice also falls into the phytoestrogen category because it contains isoflavones. As a phytoestrogen, the essential herb shields your system for xenohormones, or endocrine system disruptors that create hormonal imbalances, ultimately ensuring sweet harmony among your hormones.
4. Thyme
This delicately sweet essential oil can have an incredible impact on your hormones, and serve as an all natural alternative to medication. Thyme helps improve your system’s production of progesterone, a super important hormone that regulates various factors, and that many men and women lack. Low levels of progesterone can trigger issues like infertility and depression, and oftentimes force people to prescription drugs, which mask the symptoms but carry their own set of repercussions. The bottom line? Keeping this hormone in check will benefit your endocrine system as a whole, and thyme can naturally raise progesterone levels and balance your hormones altogether.
5. Rose
With its sweet, flowery aroma, rose oil does more than evoke lovely childhood memories of playing in the garden. Recognized and praised for its therapeutic benefits and healing powers, rose essential oil acts as a natural mood booster. Oftentimes when you suffer from a hormone imbalance, you might endure mood swings, anxiety, depression, or an overall “down” feeling. Rose oil gives your system’s serotonin production a friendly nudge, ultimately improving hormone health and helping you feel happier. Besides lifting your spirits, rose oil also acts as a natural aphrodisiac–can’t complain about that!
For more natural mood-lifters, fight off sadness and munch on these Mood-Boosting Superfoods!
Learn about the many other essential oils out there, and their incredible, mind-blowing powers by checking out Your Guide to Essential Oils.
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