Stress. It’s a killer. Tasks pile up, life events take over, and sometimes you go through hormonal changes that throw you completely off balance. Read on to find out what causes hormonal stress and how to get stress relief for a better and more beautiful life.
What is Hormonal Stress?
Cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine are stress hormones that shoot up when you’re under pressure. The brain thinks it needs to defend or flee, so it sends signals to increase stress hormone production.
This action inhibits other hormones such as dopamine and serotonin (your happy hormones) and melatonin (your sleep hormone). When these become dysregulated, it’s known as hormonal stress.
What Causes Hormonal Stress?
Women go through a lot of hormonal changes. They don’t have more hormones than the opposite sex, but the fluctuation is more significant. Here are a few key things that can cause hormonal stress:
Pregnancy
It’s well known that pregnant women are emotional during pregnancy, and while this is normal, it's easy to forget that the body is under immense pressure. It needs hormones to develop the baby, exhausting the woman and triggering hormonal stress.
Menopause
There’s barely any information on menopause, considering it's a life-changing event for women. One of the huge and mainly unknown symptoms of menopause is anxiety and low mood, a form of stress.
The reason this happens is because menopause causes a drop in oestrogen. This hormone usually helps stabilise cortisol, but without regulation, stress can soar.
If this is something you struggle with, then we advise trying our Menopause Support Supplement. It contains beautiful hormone-balancing ingredients, including Black Cohosh, Wild Yam, and Chasteberry Extract.
Chronic Conditions
Chronic conditions have a massive impact on your life and can make you feel out of control and exhausted trying to complete basic tasks. It can also be a scary thing to go through, putting stress on your body.
So, it’s no surprise that chronic stress symptoms are common in people who have to manage long-term health conditions.
Life
Life. It’s wonderful, messy, confusing and stressful! Work, kids, moving house, marriage, and studying are all life experiences that cause you stress.
You may experience long-term stress, such as a heavy workload, an ill family member, or a single event like losing a loved one. These all have an impact on your stress levels and mental health.
What are the Symptoms for Stress and Anxiety?
Stress symptoms in women are slightly different from those in men. Whereas men tend to feel depersonalised (out of themselves and spaced out), women feel emotional exhaustion. Here are the typical stress and anxiety symptoms in women:
- Stress headache
- Struggling to sleep
- Loss or increase in appetite
- Feeling exhausted all the time, physically and emotionally
- Constantly on the verge of tears
- Irritable
- Poor gut health
How to De-stress
You can nurture your body, mind, and soul to combat stress in many ways. Here are a few of our favourites:
Sleep Hygiene
If you don’t know about sleep hygiene, where have you been?! Good-quality sleep is vital, or your body cannot regulate your hormones properly. Unfortunately, struggling to sleep is one of the first things to happen when stressed. So, what do you do?
Wind down roughly an hour before bed by limiting screens, playing relaxing music and making your bedroom a safe haven. Use a sleep mask to block out light and earplugs to reduce background noise that might disturb you.
As you sit back with a cup of chamomile tea, take a Calming Sleep Supplement. The Arella Dream supplement combines ashwagandha, an ancient Ayurvedic herb for sleep, with magnesium, which is known to relax the body and produce melatonin (the sleep hormone).
But we didn’t stop there. We’ve also infused it with gorgeous lavender, rose and chamomile powder so you can drift off into a gentle slumber.
Read more: 10 Evening Routine Tips for Better Sleep.
Gut Health
Caring for your gut is essential to balancing stress hormones. When you don’t look after your gut health, your stomach becomes inflamed, disrupting hormones and increasing stress.
You can lower cortisol and increase happy hormones by eating the right foods, such as spinach and kale (you knew they were coming), sweet potato and avocado. Go one step further and nurture your gut with a Liquid Collagen Supplement to support your gut lining and increase nutrient absorption.
Take a Supplement for Energy
One of the key symptoms of stress and anxiety is feeling exhausted all the time. Isn’t that normal? We hear you ask. No, it is not. It’s common but not normal, and you shouldn’t have to struggle through your day because of a lack of energy.
Luckily, we’ve formulated an Energy Boost Supplement containing stimulating ginseng, turmeric and lemon balm to get your blood flowing and increase your energy.
If you’re struggling to get up in the morning (we know the feeling), start your day with our Rise Supplement. It’s created using watermelon juice powder (yummy) and ginseng for blood flow. We’ve also infused it with elderberry, rich in iron, providing focus and a great start to your day.
Read more: Always Tired? Why You're Exhausted and How to Fix It.
Accept Support
If there’s one thing we believe at Arella Beauty, it’s getting the support you need to live a beautiful life. Accepting help isn’t a weakness, and it doesn’t mean you can’t cope. It’s a smart way to live and care for yourself so you don’t burn out. Whether that’s hiring a person to clean the house or talking to someone about life, we’re behind you all the way.
Live a Balanced Lifestyle
Balance is mainly about nutrition and exercise. Getting those five a day and moving your body increases dopamine and lowers stress hormones. But it’s so much more than that.
It’s about socialising, giving yourself breaks, and not taking on too much. We’re only on this planet for a short time, and you don’t deserve to feel stressed and burnt out your entire life.
If you have extra energy one day, you don’t have to use it to be productive. Save it! And regulate your energy for the next day.
Combat Stress With Arella Beauty
Arella Beauty isn’t just a supplement company. We’re so much more. We’re here because we know what it’s like to struggle with stress. We’ve BEEN there. That’s why we have formulated our supplements to relax your soul and bring joy to your life. It’s about time, don’t you agree?
Read next:
- 7 Incredible Benefits of Arella’s Collagen Supplement
- The Beautiful Benefits of Vegan Collagen for Gut Health
- How To Boost Collagen Naturally
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Written by Emma Carey for Arella Beauty.
Emma is a holistic beauty and wellness writer. She has three years of experience in the well-being industry and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing and Wellness. Check out her portfolio and follow her on Instagram.
