Gaining Weight Or Feeling Moody? These 4 Habits May Be Messing With Your Hormones

When it comes to maintaining your health, both emotionally and physically, hormones play a major role in keeping you feeling balanced on a daily basis.

From weight fluctuations and energy levels, to mood, digestion, and sleep habits, hormones try their best to regulate your different behaviors.

Sometimes, it may feel like your hormones have gone haywire, making you feel moody, tired, or restless for no reason.

Though it’s hard to truly pinpoint exactly why our hormones often feel like they’re out of control, you may be surprised to learn that certain habits of yours could be causing this sudden imbalance.

If you’ve been feeling a little less like yourself lately, some of these common habits could be the culprits behind your out-of-control hormones:

1. You’re not eating enough fat: Have you been gaining weight on a low-fat diet? That’s because limiting your intake of healthy omega-3 fatty acids is causing sudden inflammation in your body. As a result, your body may be converting testosterone into estrogen or blocking your progesterone receptors. This sudden hormonal shift can make you feel moody, gain more weight, increase the heaviness of your periods, and more. As a woman, you need healthy fats in your diet for complete nutrition. Try adding salmon, avocados, and walnuts to your diet and see if that small change improves the way you feel.
2. You’re exercising too much: It’s important to always keep in mind that you really can have too much of a good thing—exercise is no exception. While regular exercise can boost feel-good hormones, like serotonin, overdoing it may actually have the exact opposite effect. Running on the treadmill for too long can result in the release of cortisol, the infamous stress hormone, according to researchers from the University of New Mexico. Overwhelming stress can also disrupt your menstrual cycle, which may result in fertility issues.
3. You’re eating bad canned foods: An extremely controversial chemical, called bisphenol-A, has been shown to interfere with hormones that affect a woman’s fertility. You can find this risky chemical in a variety of different canned soups and tomato sauces. Even when buying a water bottle, make sure to look for the BPA-free label.
4. You’re using too much hand sanitizer: Any time you try to get rid of bad bacteria, you’re probably killing the good bacteria on your body, as well. If you’re constantly interfering with this normally balanced mix of bacteria on your hands, your body may respond by increasing inflammation, which could also make your hormones go haywire. In fact, the FDA is currently investigating the harmful effects of antibacterial soaps, as one particular chemical—triclosan—may boost estrogen levels in women and suppress the thyroid hormone.

Are you guilty of any of these common habits? Tell us in the comments!

Photo Copyright © 2007 Valerie Everett/Flickr