The Key to Women’s Health: Balancing Estrogen and Progesterone

As women, our bodies go through tremendous changes from puberty to menopause. These changes are largely regulated by the activity of two key hormones – estrogen and progesterone. Maintaining a healthy balance between these two hormones is absolutely vital for overall physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

Let’s take a closer look at what each hormone does and why estrogen-progesterone harmony matters so much:
Estrogen – The Feminizing Hormone
Estrogen is considered the quintessential “feminizing” hormone because it is responsible for the development of stereotypically female characteristics – both in puberty and adulthood. Estrogen stimulates breast growth, contributes to feminine fat distribution around the hips and thighs, regulates the menstrual cycle and even influences mood. It also plays a role in keeping the vaginal tissue elastic and healthy.

Progesterone – The Calming Hormone
If estrogen kickstarts womanhood, progesterone is what helps women flourish into it. Often called the “calming” hormone, progesterone balances out estrogen’s stimulating effects. It helps make the uterine lining healthy and thick to support pregnancy, is a natural diuretic, stimulates bone-building and even has an anti-anxiety effect on the brain.

Too Much Estrogen Causes Havoc
Now that we understand the unique effects of estrogen and progesterone, it becomes easier to comprehend why hormone imbalance generates so many distressing symptoms. Excess estrogen is extremely common in modern women due to the overabundance of xenoestrogens (“fake” estrogens) in our diets, environment and products.

The consequences of estrogen dominance include:
– Weight gain
– Low libido
– Fibrocystic breasts
– Infertility and irregular cycles
– Fibroids
– Endometriosis
– Accelerated aging
– Anxiety/depression

Too Little Progesterone Magnifies Issues
On the other hand, relative progesterone deficiency makes estrogen’s effects much worse. With inadequate progesterone to put a brake on estrogen’s stimulation, symptoms turn more severe. Monthly cycles get thrown off balance, PMS mood swings turn unbearable, fibroids grow larger, endometriosis spreads further and the risk of female cancers climbs ever higher.

Restoring the Estrogen-Progesterone Partnership
To interrupt this destructive cycle, bolstering progesterone levels is essential. The best source of bioidentical progesterone for women is through transdermal creams derived from wild yams. Micronized progesterone is optimally absorbed through the skin when applied twice daily on areas like the neck, breasts and inner arms.

Alongside progesterone cream supplementation, nutritional and lifestyle changes also help rebalance hormones gently but effectively:

– Avoid xenoestrogen sources like commercial meats, dairy, plastics and chemicals in personal care products
– Load up on lignans from flax, sesame and berries to aid hormone excretion
– Balance blood sugar with low Glycemic Index foods to minimize insulin trigger of testosterone overload
– Take stress-adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha, shatavari and maca
– Get estrogen metabolism supporting nutrients – B vitamins, zinc, magnesium and calcium D-glucarate

The growing incidence of female troubles related to hormonal imbalance underlines the burning need to restore estrogen-progesterone synergy. As partners in women’s health for decades, keeping these two key hormones working in cooperation rather than conflict is crucial.