Achieving hormone balance naturally is critical to your ongoing health. Hormonal imbalance is at a record high and affects every aspect of your body. The endocrine system consists of finely turned glands which instruct different parts of the body to act appropriately to the situation.

Disruption of these glands obviously has an adverse effect on the healthy functioning of the body.

There are many glands, and there is a hierarchy. Starting with the pineal and pituitary glands, both in the head, followed by the thyroid and parathyroid glands in the neck, followed by the thymus gland in the chest, the adrenal glands situated over the kidneys, the pancreatic islets in the solar plexus region, ending with the ovaries or testes.

When the top or higher glands are affected, it has a ripple effect on the lower ones. So although you could have a hormone imbalance in, say your thyroid or your adrenal glands, the cause of the disruption is likely to be in a higher gland.

It is estimated that around 95% of women and 20% of men suffer with some form of hormonal imbalance. Since this is a comparatively new phenomena, it is considered to be caused by synthetic hormones, in line with their increased availability and use.

Synthetic hormones abound everywhere. The oral (and now injected) contraceptive pill was perhaps the start of the problem. And it remains as one of the top hormonal disruptors. Other medical drugs are also hormonal, such as the cortisones/steroids, which again are in very common use.

Plastic food and drink containers are in wide use and leach the chemicals used to make them, into the food they contain. The leaching increase the higher the ambient temperature. You can often taste it. The plastic linings of cans are similar.

Drugs are used to increase the growth rate or production of farm animals. Most of these are synthetic hormones. The effect will always remain. Dairy is one of the largest sources of synthetic (as well as natural) hormones.

Synthetic hormones are used to increase the effectiveness of pesticides, fungicides and an increasing number of other garden and agricultural chemicals.

There are more signs and symptoms of hormonal imbalance in women obviously. But men have their fair share, too. The common ones include:

• menstrual disorders
• changes in breast tissue, pain, itch or discharge
• low libido and infertility
• intense menopausal symptoms
• sleep disorders
• moods swings, anxiety, depression
• acne
• persistent weight gain and belly fat
• loss of muscle mass
• irregular or excessive sweating
• memory fog
• digestive issues
• constant fatigue
• headaches and migraines
• unstable nutritional absorption

These symptoms also cover almost all the common health issues that are presented to any health professional.

And often, the medical solution is more synthetic hormones which adds to the overall problem.

So how do you limit your synthetic hormonal intake?

There are better ways to avoid conception than by using synthetic hormones - using an ovulation calendar is one or just using the good old condoms.

There are better ways to treat your ailments than by adding in more synthetic drugs - homeopathy is perhaps the best and safest natural health care systems.

Buy certified organic food, or grow your own organically.

Limit or stop your consumption of animal protein, especially dairy.

Consume fresh food, rather than packet or canned food, lessening your dependence on plastic containers.

It may take a concerted effort to achieve all this, and it’s unlikely you’ll manage it all at once. But if you work through the list in bite size chunks, you may feel so much healthier in a years time. Achieving hormone balance naturally is an investment into your future health and an example to others. It’s worth aiming high.

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