My Favorite Hormone - The Key to Unlocking Your Period Problems
Progesterone is a magical hormone✨. It is secreted by the ovaries only after ovulation. It is only able to secrete for about 14 days before the corpus luteum on the follicle that just ovulated disintegrates. It’s the withdrawal of progesterone that causes your lining to shed and your period to start🩸.
This hormone has so many benefits for your body such as bone and muscle health, mood stability, metabolism, skin and hair health, and reduces the risk of some cancers. Having healthy levels of progesterone also helps reduce PMS symptoms and heavy/clotty/painful periods. Unfortunately, the synthetic version in birth control pills don’t have the same benefits.
📉Some symptoms of low progesterone include: spotting before your period, irregular menstrual cycles, heavy/painful/clotty periods, mood swings, PMS, anxiety, insomnia before your period starts, low libido, and infertility.
If any of these symptoms sound familiar it’s time to show your progesterone some love.
✨Ways to support healthy progesterone levels:✨
➡️Manage stress. High cortisol levels can steal hormone production away from making progesterone. And your body will always prioritize cortisol over progesterone. Try yoga, meditation, guided imagery, get enough sleep, breathing techniques, journaling, adaptogenic herbs, and time in nature.
➡️Healthy diet. Consume plenty of healthy fats (avocado, salmon, nuts and seeds, coconut) and vitamin c rich foods. Both are necessary for the production of progesterone. Keep your blood sugar stable by eating regular meals and eating 20-30g of protein with each meal.
➡️Low impact exercise. Too much high intensity exercise can activate too much of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), disrupt cortisol levels, and negatively impact progesterone. Opt for yoga, weight training, pilates, or walking.
➡️Plenty of sleep. Sleep is important for all of your hormones. Getting enough sleep helps keep your blood sugar stable, metabolism functioning well, and energy and mood levels up. So get your 8 hours and aim to be in bed by 10 or 11 (and that includes 1 hour of no screens before bed!).
➡️Key supplementation. Supplements like vitex, magnesium, B6, vitamin C, and vitamin D all support progesterone support.
Looking for other ways to support your hormones?
📘Access my FREE e-book: How to Start Balancing your Hormones: Fix Your Period Without Overwhelm.
📗My Eating for Hormone Balance e-book breaks down everything you need to know about diet and your hormones. Learn about the basic macros, how to support gut health, what to do about inflammation, and more!
📞 Book a free 15 minute discovery call to see if we're a good fit to work together.
👩🏻💻 Book a 60-90 min initial consultation where we work 1:1 to dig deep into your health history to figure out the root causes of your period problems. From there I provide you with an individualized treatment plan and consistent support along the way.
🏫 Period University™ is the ultimate self-paced online course that teaches you EVERYTHING you need to know about your period and hormones.
