17 Aug 5 Mindfulness Facts On Tackling Hormonal Imbalance

Have you ever tired eating a dish without the right amount of salt? If there is no salt, it is flavorless and if there is too much, you will want to spit it out. The same theory applied to your body.

Our bodies are constantly changing depending on the environment we are in. For example, when you spend a lot of time in a pool( or even a bath) you will notice that your fingers develop wrinkles, to the likes of a prune. This is our body’s natural adaptation to slippery surfaces so that we get more grip in our fingers.

So, as you can see nature has carefully designed our cells to seek balance. So, what happens when the body’s systems are thrown off by an accumulation of habits over time? We slowly start to face a hormone imbalance.

But don’t worry, here are 6 ways in which meditation will help you to rectify that:

Meditation helps to reduce cortisol and adrenaline.

High levels of stress or anxiety, similar to that of being hunted years ago, currently makes an appearance in the form of stress during traffic, screaming children, running late, car alarm, or stress at work. This spikes up the cortisol and adrenaline levels in your body.  

Dr. Elizabeth Hoge, a psychiatrist at the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says that mindfulness meditation makes perfect sense for treating anxiety. “People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power,” she explains. “They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit.”

“If you have unproductive worries,” says Dr. Hoge, you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. “You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,’” says Dr. Hoge.

When you reach that state of mind, you will find your blood pressure, immune system and heart rate going back to normal, and a decrease of sugar levels and indigestion caused by excess adrenaline and cortisol. 

Meditation boosts serotonin and oxytocin.

Meditation helps to release serotonin, which is a mood boosting hormone through visualization. Certain guided meditations encourage listeners to go out in the sun(sunlight triggers serotonin), or visualize the warmth of sunlight to increase the production of this” feel good” hormone.

Oxytocin is a hormone that is released with feelings of love, friendship and bonding. Our Relationship Course talks a lot about empathy and how you can change your perspective to people with empathy. As social beings, we need to interact with people who may drive us crazy, so it’s good to rely on mindfulness to maintain a relationship.

Meditation increases your melatonin levels for better sleep.

Meditation helps you reduce stress, and ensure a good night’s rest to get your body into much needed rest and recovery.

Meditation increases dopamine which helps with concentration and focus.

Low dopamine levels lead to fatigue, lack of attention, and the ability to solve problems. So whether you need focus at work or at home, listen to our Focus course or read this guided meditation to bring this hormone level back to normal.

Meditation boosts DHEA, and insulin-like growth factor.

Stress causes aging, and these 2 hormones decrease. Insulin-like growth factors fundamental action is to stimulate growth, and, though IGFs share this ability with other growth factors—such as epidermal growth factor. According to studies, scientists have proven that meditation is a natural method to effectively slow down the aging process.