Update…
The Energized Parents group has been changed to the EcoHuman Health Community. Don’t worry, you can still find the challenge there and join in!
What exactly are happy hormones?
You might be accustomed to having your hormones out of balance and not really notice it, most people are.
But…
When hormones are in balance, they help the body to thrive and allow the you to:
- feel energized
- be happy
- be at an ideal weight
- fight off colds and the flu before they set in
- get lean and toned
- think clearer
- have a better functioning thyroid
- have regular, easy and enjoyable periods, etc.
- enjoy sex
As you can see, hormones are a crucial part of your body’s functioning and can play a significant role in your overall health, both the good and the bad.
If your hormones are out of balance you may experience signs and symptoms like:
- fatigue
- low libido
- PMS
- weight gain
- Gynecomastia (males who carry excessive tissue in their chest area – male breasts)
- inability to gain muscle mass or a loss of muscle mass
- mood swings, anxiety, depression
- bloating and constipation
- skin problems
- food cravings
What is a Hormone?
A hormone is a special chemical messenger in the body that helps to control most major bodily functions, such as hunger, satiety, reproduction, emotions and mood, to name just a few.
To put it simply, hormones help with the growth of cells and inflammation in the body.
According to Wikipedia:
Hormones are used to communicate between organs and tissues for physiological regulation and behavioral activities, such as digestion, metabolism, respiration, tissue function, sensory perception, sleep, excretion, lactation, stress, growth and development, movement, reproduction, and mood.”
Our 7-Day Happy Hormone Challenge is designed educate you AND provide easy, simple and implementable strategies that you can start doing right now.
As you know, we embrace the idea that the whole body works together. Therefore, a strategy given on one day in relation to a certain hormone or a group of related hormones is meant to be built upon with other strategies to support many of the other hormones.
After all, hormones typically function and dysfunction together.
A little Science About Happy Hormones
We can’t talk about hormones without addressing the HPA Axis. Say what!?!
Your HPA Axis is a critical component for your hormone regulation and production.
The H in HPA Axis stands for your hypothalamus. This is the part of the brain that interprets how happy or stressed you are, as well as receives signals from your body on your metabolic state).
The P stands for your pituitary gland. Part of your pituitary gland produces the hormones and releases them into the bloodstream.
The A stands for adrenal glands which help to regulate your reaction to stress by producing cortisol which helps to regulate your metabolism, blood sugar levels and blood pressure.
The Feedback Loop
To keep things simple, let’s bring in an analogy.
Your HPA Axis works similarly to a thermostat.
Your Hypothalamus and Pituitary gland are like the thermostat. It gets the reading of your body temperature and then sends messages down to your adrenal glands to regulate this temperature.
Your adrenal glands act as the air conditioning or the heating system and reply accordingly.
This system works efficiently and productively to keep things regulated and you feeling good.
If your H/P finds the temperature too cold, it sends a message down and the heat goes on. If it finds the temperature too hot, it sends a message down and the A/C goes on.
This is very similar to how we handle stress.
The information is received in the brain and a message is sent down to the adrenal glands to respond to the stress.
It works as a feedback loop.
The Ideal Situation
Ideally, you should always all be happy, healthy, relaxed and have no internal stressors. Think of animals in the wild. Most of the time they are not stressed but moving, grazing and hanging out. When there are moments of stress, it is intense and short. They deal with it and then go back to a relaxed and calm state.
Think of animals in the wild. Most of the time they are not stressed but moving, grazing and hanging out. When there are moments of stress, it is intense and short. They deal with it and then go back to a relaxed and calm state.
This is how this feedback system works.
Unfortunately, perceived stress is almost a constant in this day and age. When you are under chronic stress, the brain sends messages to get the body to adapt but the system eventually gets overloaded by this and breaks down. There becomes communication errors in this feedback loop.
Dysfunction Occurs
Back to the analogy of the thermostat. On a hot day, your thermostat is reading very hot and sending messages to cool down but air conditioning isn’t kicking on. The feedback loop is broken which results in dysfunction occurring in your body which equals imbalances in hormone production.
As you know by now, we don’t look at symptoms as something to fix but instead address the whole body as a system and the underlying cause(s).
This 7-Day Happy Hormone Challenge is going to address dysregulation in this feedback loop, look at different hormones and give you strategies to get you started on the road to having healthy, balanced hormones.
The 7-Day Happy Hormone Challenge is starting on Monday, February 20, over at our Energized Parents Facebook group. We’ll be posting a LIVE video each day at 12 pm PST, where will outline a hormone or group of hormones, give you easy, simple, actionable things to do and present you with a challenge.
Come on over and join us! This is an amazing community of people who are empowering themselves to take responsibility for their health. The community is very supportive, encouraging and we all learn from each other. And, being part of a community keeps you ACCOUNTABLE!!!
Grab a friend, get your husband involved or just join yourself.
It is guaranteed to be a fun, entertaining and educational week. You can expect to your mood to improve, more energy and perhaps, even experience a few extra pounds start to come off.
See you Monday!
