Most often females experience hormonal imbalance. What about it makes females experience it so strongly?
Hormones are chemical messengers in our bodies. They are produced in endocrine glands, travels through our bloodstream and assign tasks to our organs and tissues. Controls functions such as metabolism and reproduction.
Some symptoms of hormonal imbalance includes-
Weight gain /loss
Fatigue
Muscle weakness /pain / tenderness
Oily /acne prone / dry skin
Brittle/ oily/ thinning hair
Though the word hormonal imbalance mostly associated with females, it occurs in males too – testosterone – a hormone essential in male development.
Potential causes of hormonal imbalance can be – Hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, stress, diabetes, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, cancer, cushing’s syndrome and more.
Check out my blog on blood tests to know how you can rule out hormonal imbalance.
Tippy tippy tap – which color you want? I choose pink, I choose yellow, I choose red, and on and on… Why are rainbows colorful?
As a child weren’t you choosy about the colors you’d wear or have a favorite toy of a particular color? Why do colors matter?
One of the most beautiful thing about nature is colors. They are present in everything from soil to sky, from bird to animals, from flowers to fruits. Everywhere and in everything that we see is filled with colors just like the children’s book.
Colors have meanings, for example, red symbolize stop 🔴 and green symbolize go 🟢. Colors are often used as expression, for example, emojis – 😊🥶🤢😡.
The Global Color Survey gives you a approximately 130,000 results from all over the world once you take a small survey on what you think about color.
While some colors have a warming effect, such as yellow 🟡 or orange 🟠 others may have a cooling effect such as blue 🔵 or white ⚪.
Colors even have an impact on our appetite – what if all the green 🟢 vegetables turn white ⚪ or if all the fruits were purple🟣 in color. This study talks about the psychological impact of food color and people’s expectations relating flavor based on color.
Human beings are super-organisms. The diet we consume shapes the gut microbiodata. Gut microbiodata plays a crucial role in understanding the mind connection and sometimes mental and neurological disorders.
The modern diets have transformed our genes. Researches indicate that gut-brain connection. Brain communicates via microbiodata-gut-brain axis. This influences the mental processes including mental illnesses and neurological disorders.
The microdata-gut-brain axis (GBA) is composed of nervous pathways, endocrine pathways, and immune pathways. As per a study, there is strong evidence which suggests that gut microbiota has an important function in bidirectional interactions between the gut and the nervous system. It interacts with the central nervous system by regulating brain chemistry and influencing neuro-endocrine systems associated with stress response, anxiety and memory function.”
Here are some super foods for good gut health:
Yogurt
Kimchi
Pickles
Fruits
Beans
Photo Courtesy: Julius David
Fermented foods are brilliant for gut health. Besides, probiotics have shown to impact gut health positively. Alongside, working on stress management – yoga, meditation, talk therapy are equally important.
Meditation is growing popularity among the western nations nowadays. Meditation is a process which focuses on nurturing awareness of here and now. It helps in achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.
Meditation is beyond a practice, it’s a tradition that has been followed and passed on to the generations. It is intimately bound up with the religious context within which it was practiced in the past.
As per Indian philosophy – The quintessential manual on meditation is the Yoga Sūtra. It was composed by approximately 200 CE and includes philosophical positions and meditation techniques from traditions of the Sāṃkhya, Jaina, and Buddhists. Ethics and principles are an integral part of meditation.
Meditation is about practice and the more you do the better you become. Repeated practice tends to make seasoned practitioners.
You can meditate in simple ways by taking a comfortable seat in a comfortable position which is free of distractions or noises. Next you may or may not set a time limit. If you are someone who likes to set a time limit, you can set it to 10-15 minutes if you are a beginner and increase gradually or if you don’t like to set a time limit, just go ahead and begin. Stay stable and notice your body in a relaxed state. Focus on your body, you can choose to keep your eyes open or close. Take a deep breath in hold and release slowly. You may have thoughts, it is okay. Keep at it and bring yourself back to focus on your breathing calmly and at peace. Here is a free guided meditation for you from headspace.
Once you are done, just feel the relaxation in both your physiological and psychological states.
Most importantly, appreciate your journey. You may also choose to hum any prayer or quote or chant or play something based on your preferences.
If you try different methods, do share it below in the comments.
OnPathToGrowth 