If you have ovaries it is very likely that you produce the hormones called estrogen and progesterone. These hormones hold a great deal of influence over all your body’s processes including your gastrointestinal and digestive process. When your hormones are imbalanced it can cause a great deal of stress on your body leading to unpleasant symptoms such as bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and other digestive ailments. These issues can also impact your period cycle as well.
Hormones also hold a great deal of importance for men, as it impacts not only their digestive process similarly to women, but also the remaining systems in their bodies. Learning how to best maintain balanced hormone levels as well as a balanced gut is essential in keeping your body in good standing.
How Your Hormones Change Around Your Period Cycle Leading to An Impacted Digestive System
While an imbalance of hormones for women is less than ideal, it is actually quite natural for your hormones to fluctuate before, during, and after your period. This makes it quite challenging to control and understand. A week before your period begins, your progesterone levels become higher which acts as a relaxant to your body. It relaxes your muscles and your colon which slows down the digestive process leading to complications such as bloating and constipation.
In contrast to your progesterone levels, your estrogen levels actually decrease before the start of your period which also contributes to a slower digestive process. This is important to know, because if you are tracking your period correctly you can adapt your diet and daily habits to incorporate more activities that could benefit your digestive system if these symptoms do arise.
After your period, your estrogen levels tend to start to rise again leading to a boost of energy for your digestive process leading to possible diarrhea. These abrupt changes can make it hard to track when and how you should be treating your gastrointestinal system, but two of the main ways you can generally work to better your digestive process even through these changes is through exercising and maintaining a healthy diet. Exercise is known to reduce hormonal fluctuation making it less noticeable when these changes do occur, and can potentially reduce the opportunity for digestive ailments to arise. A healthy diet filled with whole grains, fiber, fruits, and vegetables is recommended at all points of your period cycle, but is especially helpful in creating a strong gut.
How To Balance Out Your Hormone Levels For Both Men and Women
Hormone levels are important to keep regulated for both men and women as it can negatively impact systems in our bodies such as digestion, mood levels, tissue function, and growth. Here are some ways to regulate your hormone levels when you do feel as if they are out of place.
For men, their testosterone levels tend to drop as they age and some might just have low testosterone levels naturally. Some studies have found a link between low testosterone levels and inflammation in the body which can be detrimental to a healthy gut. When you have inflammation it causes a host of problems for your digestive system. This is why when men are experiencing a loss of testosterone in their bodies, they can try and boost them naturally by maintaining a healthy sleep schedule, keeping their bodies at a healthy weight, eating a balanced diet, and regulating stress levels.
The many recommendations for men are similar to the recommendations for women in terms of how to regulate hormonal imbalance. Since all of the systems in our bodies are connected, some of these are essential in not only hormone regulation, but strengthening our other systems such as our digestive processes, our immune systems, our energy levels, and even our skin health. The earlier we start to understand and respect the connection between all the various aspects of our bodies, the easier it will be to minimize any adverse issues that might arise.
Ways To Create a Healthy Gastrointestinal System
If for some reason someone does encounter hormonal imbalance that leads to poor gut health, there are some ways to strengthen your gut health and gut lining.
One of the most unknown ways to maintain a healthy gut is to ensure you are practicing proper oral care. When you have an overload of bacteria in your mouth due to poor cleaning, it can travel to your stomach and digestive system. Since your gut needs healthy bacteria to overpower the bad bacteria that might try and enter its area, keeping this bacteria from your mouth out of your gut is quite important. Aside from general oral care such as brushing, flossing, and using mouthwash, it is smart to avoid foods that are highly processed sugars or fats as these contain ingredients that can be more detrimental to the health of your mouth and in turn your gut.
As previously mentioned, your mood can also be negatively impacting your gut health. If you have been feeling overly stressed lately, dedicate some time to yourself to relieve any pressure you might be feeling and get your mood back on track. Not only will this help you be more productive in your daily life, but it will also help to relieve some pressure on other system’s in your body that might be working overtime due to the added stress.
Taking a probiotic is a great way to boost the amount of healthy bacteria in your gut. Probiotics contain healthy bacteria and can be taken in a supplement that helps with bloating or can be found in certain foods you can add to your meals. Some foods that naturally contain probiotics include fermented foods such as kimchi. If you are looking for a more efficient way to get your probiotics daily, a slim supplement for digestion and gut balance like our product named Probiotic Renu would be great for you. It contains both bifido probiotic cultures and lacto probiotic cultures to increase the healthy bacteria in your gut, while also helping your digestive system digest foods that might be harder on your body to process.