
There are straightforward, pharmaceutical methods for altering specific hormones, and, as I showed in last week’s testosterone replacement therapy post, they can really help. But a safer intervention for your overall endocrine environment is a systemic one. Some might call it scattershot approach in that one input affects multiple endocrine targets. I’d say, “That’s the whole point.”
Today, I’m going to give you some tried and true methods for helping to normalize your endocrine health. These are things that apply to everyone, as far as I can tell. They won’t fix every problem, but they’re good places to start. Whether you’re a post-menopausal woman, a 21-year-old bodybuilder worried about overtraining, or a thyroid patient, these interventions can’t hurt and will probably help.
When you sleep poorly, everything falls apart, including the normal function and patterns of testosterone, thyroid, and growth hormone. Sleep loss itself alters the activity of the master endocrine organ, the pituitary gland, so following good sleep hygiene is a non-negotiable.
Sleep in a cold, dark, quiet room.
Get plenty of bright natural light throughout the day, especially the morning, and limit bright light after dark, especially blue and green lights. Sun lamps can help if actual natural light is unavailable during the day. Blue-blocking goggles or glasses like these (inexpensive, block blue but not much green light) or these (expensive, but block both blue and green) can help at night.
Use the seasonal variation of daylight as a rough barometer for how much sleep to get. In the summer, when it’s lighter longer, you can probably get by with 7-8 hours. In the winter, when it’s darker longer, you should aim for 8 at a minimum and 9 as an ideal.
Check out TS Wiley’s Lights Out for a full treatise on seasonal sleep variations, and why they’re so important.
Make the effort—nay, commitment—to get more sleep. Stop fiddling with your phone at 10 PM (you always regret doing it). Don’t fall asleep with the TV on (read a book instead). Get a bedtime routine.
To make hormones, you need the basic structural building blocks. That means eating enough dietary fat, especially saturated, monounsaturated, and omega-3 fats.
Cholesterol is an important building block, too, and has been shown to increase muscle and strength gains in weight training adults, an indication of testosterone boosting.
Minerals like zinc, selenium, magnesium, and calcium are also extremely important for healthy hormone production and metabolism.
You also need to make sure you’re eating enough calories—not too many, not too few—as the amount of food you eat sends a strong signal about the bountifulness of the environment around you. Hormones like leptin, thyroid, testosterone, insulin, and others all perceive and are modulated by the caloric balance. Your endocrine system responds to the availability of energy by up- or down-regulating hormone production. You’re not going to get pregnant very easily during a famine, nor will you produce much testosterone if you’re obese.
Carb/glycogen balance is another indicator your endocrine system uses to determine production. If you’re training hard and burning through glycogen, you’ll probably need to eat some carbs. If you’re just doing easy slow movement, some sprints, and strength training, you probably don’t need extra carbs. The key is to eat the carbs that you earned—no more, no less.
For Crossfit hardcores, that might mean dropping from 4x/week to 2-3x. For endurance heads, that might mean trading 140.6 goals for 70.3 goals, or 26.2 2 for 13.1 (and buying the requisite new bumper sticker, of course). For everyone, that means making your short, intense workouts even shorter and more intense.
My good friend, former co-competitor, and current writing partner, Brad Kearns, more than doubled his free testosterone simply by sucking it up and lowering his assumed aerobic base heart rate (the heart rate at which you’re burning primarily fat) from 145 to 130. Didn’t change his actual training, diet, or anything else. Staying at or below 130 HR during long slow days was enough to get his free T to the 99th percentile for his age.
Increased daily movement—fidgeting, walking, housework, gardening, carrying groceries, playing with your kids/pets—adds up, and it’s something that the most health- and fitness-conscious tend to ignore or discount. This is the stuff Katy Bowman talks about in Move Your DNA and Don’t Just Sit There.
When we’re stressed out, everything gets put on hold until we can deal with the stressor. This makes sense, because back in the day a stressor was usually a life or death situation like an enemy tribe encroaching on your tribe, a huge predatory cat, or famine. Even though most stressors these days aren’t life or death in the immediate sense, our body treats them like that—and there are a seemingly endless string of them to contend with.
What happens when stress hits? Cortisol appears. If stress sticks around, or constantly wells up, cortisol levels become chronic and disrupt your endocrine system. Chronic cortisol opposes testosterone production. Chronic cortisol reduces thyroid hormone production and impairs the conversion of inactive T4 to active T3. Chronic cortisol makes you insulin-resistant.
Everyone’s stressors are unique, but there are some big ones to watch out for: toxic relationships, terrible commutes (at the very least, find a great podcast you can listen to on the drive/ride), lack of time in nature, excessive technology exposure (especially social media).
Hormones direct physiological processes in the body. They’re a bit like software programs—if they’re riddled with bugs, nothing gets done. But just as computers need a user to tell the software what to do, our bodies need a narrator to give the hormones a goal to work toward. Without meaning or life purpose, the endocrine system drifts aimlessly. Why produce testosterone if there’s no competition on the horizon?
There’s admittedly not a ton of clinical support for this hypothesis. Middle-aged women with strong life purposes have better sex lives, indicating a more favorable hormonal environment. I suspect a lot of the links between life purpose and hormonal function are circular, with causation going in both directions. But that means disrupting the circle at any point can help.
Search within for what makes you tick. What makes you get up in the morning. What inflames the passions and makes you feel strong and good and right when you’re knee-deep in it. Then stick to that.
I’m a big believer in following the symptoms, in going by how you feel, look, and perform. But having the numbers in front of you can really help, especially if you if you pair them with your symptoms, get tested at regular intervals, and track the trends.
Case in point is the earlier example of Brad Kearns, who more than doubled his free testosterone by tweaking his training and tracking the trends in his numbers. Had he not done the testing, he wouldn’t have any reference points.
Directlabs has good deals on male and female hormonal panels.
We lead comfortable lives. Everything works. We don’t have to face pulse-pounding situations or bring down large game just to eat. If we get cold, we turn up the heat. Hot, we turn up the AC. Things are so easy that we can spend all winter in short sleeves. It turns out that exposure to uncomfortable physical and mental sensations is important for hormone function.
Cold exposure is great at improving insulin sensitivity and reducing insulin levels. In one study, women swam in cold water at least twice a week for 7 months, enjoying huge increases in insulin sensitivity and drops in insulin.
Heat exposure also has positive hormonal effects. It increases endocrine homeostasis in Russian fighters. Sauna use increases insulin sensitivity. A 1989 study found upwards of 5-fold increases in GH after using a sauna.
Sometimes you just need modern professional medical help. As I’ve said time and time again, the Primal Blueprint is about availing ourselves of everything both traditional wisdom and modern science have to offer. And because our environments are so wildly different from our evolutionary environments, we occasionally need to step outside of “natural” methods to get the help we need. Sometimes replacement therapy is the ticket. Sometimes supplementation and healing protocols. That’s okay, especially if they’re laid atop a strong foundation of ancestral health practices. There are no purity tests.
And yes, they may recommend hormone replacement therapies or pharma/nutraceuticals. Exercise caution and implement extreme vetting, but don’t dismiss them out of hand. According to Weston A. Price, North American Indian tribes would often harvest moose thyroids when they were at their largest and most potent and reserve them for men and women trying to conceive. They may not have known the word “thyroid” or even understood the concept of a hormone, but they took artificial steps to enhance men and women’s hormonal health.
For more guidance, check out the podcasts Elle Russ did with Dr. Gary Foresman. He’s a former UC Irvine doctor who got sick and tired of all the nonsense and decided to branch out into integrative medicine.
NourishBalanceThrive does comprehensive testing and consultation for the peak performance minded client interested in maintaining or regaining hormonal health.
I can vouch for Dr. Howard Liebowitz in Santa Monica. A former athlete with an athletic mindset, he curates customized regimens that emphasize hormonal health, especially for the aging adult.
Don’t sell traditional docs short, either. At least not before you actually see them. They may know more than you assume, and if nothing else, they can help you order the necessary tests.
That’s it for today, folks. There are plenty of other ways to modulate your hormone function, I’m sure, and I’d love to hear about any of the ones I missed. Thanks for reading!
Question: Has anyone done all these measures and had your hormone situation worsen?
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56 Comments on "9 Ways to Normalize Your Hormones"
Thank you for the comprehensive, balanced approach in addressing this topic! I teach high school Health and yesterday my students were sharing frustration with feeling like their hormones were out of control (acne, emotional swings, irrational stress, etc). We’ve talked about sleep, diet, screen time, and exercise, but I am very excited to share this article with them. Even though you are generally talking about hormonal issues in adults, I think that this information could be very beneficial for teenagers as well!
What about when you’re a pre-menopausal woman–fit and active–not overweight–and rollercoaster hormones are wrecking your sleep? AND, you’re arleady doing the above suggestions? Is there a way to help naturally balance female hormones for a middle aged woman?
Hoping you get an answer as I am in the same situation!
Good information to keep in mind.
ATP Science natural organic herb supps are getting me through menopause. Controlling hot flashes, night sweats and emotional roller coasters. Combining there supps and education myself with there podcasts are working beautifully for me.
I hear you sister. Try Progesterone topical cream. Ask your GP to provide it. Makes a positive difference.
I am currently struggling a bit with hot flashes at this menopausal stage of my life. I have good days and bad and am amazed at how I can track the bad days back to when I am not as conscientious with all your recommendations above. I have also found a few Yoga poses and calming music at night have helped ease the stresses of the day and get me ready to sleep well and deep. Thank you for reminding me of these important lifestyle tweeks!
Very interesting protocol!
It’s funny how often we start with a biochemical insight — “doing X improves Y hormone according to a study” — or an n=1 experience.
But how often do we proceed from an anthropological observation? “Apache squaws carried 200 pounds on their backs when moving camp, so how can we work this into our routine?”
Even when we are trying to take the primal view, so often our justification comes after the fact.
We need more anthropology. Like medicine it is too important to be left to the “professionals”!
By the way, “The Way of Men” is very good.
“Bonobo masturbation society.” Merciless!
Does anyone have any suggestions or resources for low cortisol? I’ve worked on general lifestyle changes for the last year (I was a wreck!), but while my thyroid and general sleep issues seem to have improved, my cortisol curve still looks like a flatline. I see a lot of stuff for high cortisol, but not as much for the other end of the spectrum.
Have you checked your adrenal glands…
Dr Lam is a great blog to follow…m
Sounds like you should supplement with hydrocortisone. Talk to a doctor about getting a prescription. And bring your test results!
Indeed, Dr. Lam is awesome. I especially would direct your research to Dr. Lam and NIR Infrared sauna. I am currently using a NIR infrared panel system in my traditional FIR sauna (Saunaspace). Do some good research on the differences of FIR and NIR saunas. I have both, but use the NIR almost exclusively now. The results are spectacular.
Cleaning up one’s diet is, to me, paramount for good health. I have a few friends and one family member who think food is food, and the only reason we eat is to keep from feeling hungry. Yet these same people know exactly what their car needs in order to run properly. Interesting that they never seem to make the connection.
Good point, Katie. I think its important for our youth to get an early start in learning about hormones and how lifestyle/nutrition affects the future of growing bodies and minds. These (hormonal) issues are ones that will effect the health of the world, (by extension) eventually and its never too soon to become educated about it all.
Hi Mark! Regarding my hormones, what should I get tested? I’m a 30 y/o female. Thanks
A couple of caveats regarding organs and glands… Make sure the animal is very healthy. Nasty things like mad cow disease are more likely to settle in the organs and glands than in the muscles. Also, organs and glands are very high in purines for those who have a tendency to develop gout.
Funny you should mention, I also can’t stand the taste or texture of cooked liver, and avoided it for years because of that. But turns out I can eat it raw with no problem, and raw in a shake with fermented veg, kefir and berries tastes absolutely fantastic to me.
But whether you try to savor them, or just hold your nose and “take your medicine”, your body learns by experience what makes it feel good, eventually developing an acquired taste.
Raw… I am impressed!
Loved the article ! I have tried all this but it has become almost impossible for me to sleep on time. Not that i don’t sleep enough but the timings are way too off. Maybe because i don’t have anything in the morning to look forward to. Can anyone please help ?
Reading books at night wire me up much more than TV. I wear the blueblockers for tv, but can’t read in them.
autophagy –> hormesis –> autophagy –> hormesis … rinse and repeat. 🙂
Healthy Hombre: Please explain
Thank you for the clarification HH!
Here’s a simple one–take off sound notifications, or popups on your electronic devices. The sounds/alerts trigger adrenaline each time they appear.
Good one. I hate sound notifications. I usually keep the sound turned off on my computer for that reason. I can watch TV or read before going to bed, but using the computer gives me too much of a second wind. I limit that to earlier in the day.
Hi Mark…..Sunbathing and fasting might have been missed?
I don’t understand the comment about ‘lowering his assumed aerobic base heart rate’. The way you say it sounds like he just decided one day to concentrate really hard and things changed. What are you actually talking about here? If the exercise didn’t change, what did and how?
The way I interpreted that is if someone who does distance cardio, if they are in such good shape they can maintain a heart rate of say 145 BPM for a long period of time, it can reduce free testosterone levels. So by actually “slowing down” to 130 BPM and saving the higher rates when you do “short burst” and shorter time HIIT he was able to increase his testosterone levels. If I’m wrong about that someone feel free to correct me. 🙂
Google MAF heart rate which will take you to a site that explains the 180 formula of training at a lower heart rate. I have adopted this method with good results (which I assume will be different for everyone). For me, it provided a faster recovery rate, stronger body, able to keep my muscle base and I found deeper layers of endurance for my sport which is mountainbiking.
My message has nothing to do with the fantastic article, but I need to send it.
I have had na enormous difficulty in reading the articles in the site, Mark. The font you are using are too small, thin and too light… There is no contrast… I am able to increase the size, but I cannot make the font darker or change its colour to black… Please, check this. Thnaks.
Might be something to do with your computer, Rita. I’ve never had a problem with the contrast, font size, or overall legibility of any of the articles. The print always appears black on my screen..
Thanks for this, great information.
Perfect and timely read considering how many chemicals and endocrine disruptors they are putting in our foods.
Great topic. Everytime I reach for my hoodie in the winter, I think about how soft we are in our modern world, but how adaptive and incredible our bodies are. I am a strength & conditioning coach in SLc and i am trying to start an outdoor winter training camp to encourage my athletes to get ucomfortable and reap the benefits.
it is very difficult for me to normalize my hormones. I hope with the help of these tips I can do it
A few years ago, I was prescribed injectable testosterone. About 3 months later I started feeling more and more tense, then suffered a massive panic attack. I finally figured out that about three to four days after my weekly injection, when my test levels were at their highest, I would have another panic attack. When I figured this out, I stopped the treatment and recovered completely. Out of control hormones are no joke! If your considering testosterone injections, beware!
I’m so glad I read this. After a testosterone level test, my personal physician had suggested testosterone injections but I was a bit skeptical. I eat well, get plenty of sleep, and train often so I thought I would try to do it naturally but after 3 months, there were no improvements. Now, I’m looking into alternative methods and was strongly considering the injections but now….
i think that stress and not organize your time well is the main responsible of this. so i think we should have enough sleep besides avoid any kind of stress. what do you think, im i right ??
Mark, is there really any difference between the more expensive pair of blue/green blockers linked above ($119) and this Swanwick one that Jockers recommends ($69)
(https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Light-Blocking-Glasses-Registered/dp/B010B5GUH0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1506817489&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=blue%2Blight%2Bblocking%2Bglasses&th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=wwwexodushcco-20&linkId=573789b3291422bae8791058defc65d6)?
I don’t have a working heater in my car for a 40 minute commute. Is that enough uncomfortable cold exposure?