Why your Endocrine System is so important to your health!
As humans we tend to prefer things we can see and understand. Organs, blood etc. So something like your endocrine or glandular system can often fly under the radar when it comes to our health, even though it’s arguably one of the most important aspects of our health. In this post we will look at what the endocrine system is, and why your endocrine system is so important for your health. As well as holistic and herbal ways you can support your endocrine system.
What is the endocrine system?
The endocrine system, in its simplest explanation, is everything involving hormones in your body.
The endocrine or glandular system is made up of all the glands in your body (no surprise), including : the adrenal glands, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, thymus gland, pancreas, and the sex organs (either the testies or ovaries).
Your endocrine system is one of the ways your body controls and balances your internal state and regulates itself, amongst some of it’s many, many other complex functions.
What does your endocrine system do?
So what does it do, and how does it affect your health?
Your endocrine system is involved in all of the hormonal responses and communication between these glands, your brain, and your nervous system.
Not only are these responses and processes involved in your response to stress, your reproductive and menstrual cycle hormones, but also your emotions, emotional responses, managing your temperature, your immune system, metabolism and more .
If your hormones are out of balance or there is any miscommunication between your brain and body — the endocrine system is often the cause.
There are lots of hormones in your body, each with its particular action. Hormones provide a continuous two way flow of information between your body and your brain. Some substances in hormones are neurotransmitters for your nervous system and immune system. These neurotransmitters and hormones are chemical expressions of our emotions and are therefore affected by our thoughts and feelings and can be affected by them too.
Most hormone secretion is controlled by your nervous system responding to changing circumstances - in both your outer environment and in your body - to keep the right amount of hormones in your blood to maintain homeostasis (or balance).
Endocrine hormones help control mood, growth and development, the way our organs work, metabolism, and reproduction. Not just your menstrual cycle.
Of course hormones and and each glad communicate and affect each other too, passing on onformation and triggering responses like a chanin reaction.
In other words the job of your endocrine system and hormones is incredibly intricate and complex & affects more than just your menstrual system!
Symptoms that your Endocrine system is out of Balance
There are many things that can cause disorders or problems with your endocrine / glandular system and hormones. That also means that there are no specific set of symptoms you can look for, and those that can be common across many disorders such as weakness, fatigue, and swollen glands, can be symptoms of many illnesses.
To be more specific, some symptoms by gland include :
Adrenals - Difficulty awakening from sleep in the morning. Requiring coffee in the morning in order to approach the day. Increased weight with increased waist circumference. Lower immunity to colds or flu viruses. Difficulty dealing with stress. Drop in libido. Lightheadedness on standing quickly. Poor memory or “brain fog”. Feeling of being tired in the morning, or between 3 to 5pm. Feeling the need to snack. Feeling tired in the mornings and afternoons between 3-5pm. Feeling tired between 7 to 10pm, and surge of energy later in the evening. Craving salty foods. Premenstrual syndrome, moodiness and fatigue. Pain in upper back and/or neck without identifiable cause
Improvement in symptoms above when on vacation. Mild depression or anxiety. Multiple allergies. General lethargy and lack of energy (more advanced stages). Increased effort to perform daily tasks. Decreased ability to handle stress. Dry and thin skin. Low blood sugar. Low body temperature. Palpitations. Unexplained hair loss. Alternating diarrhea or constipation. Food intolerances.
Overactive Thyroid (Hyperthyroidism) : Unintentional weight loss, even when your appetite and food intake stay the same or increase. Rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) — commonly more than 100 beats a minute. Irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia). Pounding of your heart (palpitations). Increased appetite. Nervousness, anxiety and irritability. Tremor — usually a fine trembling in your hands and fingers. Sweating. Changes in menstrual patterns. Increased sensitivity to heat. Changes in bowel patterns, especially more frequent bowel movements. An enlarged thyroid gland (goiter), which may appear as a swelling at the base of your neck. Fatigue, muscle weakness. Difficulty sleeping. Skin thinning. Fine, brittle hair.
Underactive Thyroid (Hypothyroidism) : Tiredness. Being sensitive to cold. Weight gain. Constipation. Depression. Slow movements and thoughts. Muscle aches and weakness. Muscle cramps. Dry and scaly skin. Brittle hair and nails. Loss of libido. Pain, numbness and a tingling sensation in the hand and fingers (carpal tunnel syndrome). Irregular periods or heavy periods.
Pancreas - Upper abdominal pain. Abdominal pain that radiates to your back. Abdominal pain that feels worse after eating. Fever. Rapid pulse. Nausea. Vomiting. Tenderness when touching the abdomen.
Thymus - Persistent cough. Shortness of breath. Pain or pressure in the chest. Muscle weakness. Drooping eyelids. Double vision. Arm or facial swelling. Difficulty swallowing.
Pituitary - Headaches. Vision problems. Unexplained weight gain. Loss of libido. Feeling dizzy and nauseous. Pale complexion. Muscle wasting. Coarsening of facial features. Enlarged hands and feet. Excessive sweating and oily skin. Moon face (with reddened skin on face). Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Ovaries - Periods and your repoductive hormones have a whole host of their own symptoms both physical, mental and emotional. Although PMS / PMT symptoms, heavy and or irregular periods are common, they aren’t normal. By balancing your hormones you can reduce if not completely erase PMS symptoms. To read more on balancing hormones for a health mestrual cycle you can read : How to Balance your hormones , How to balance PMS mood & emotions , How to have a happy period , Natural remedies for period pain.
Of course this is just to give you an idea. Always check with your GP or health practitioner if you are worried you may have something going on with your health & don’t try to self-diagnose ALWAYS get a proper diagnosis before self-treating.
The symptoms for endocrine problems, as you can see, are varied and have a pretty big impact on your life. With so much at stake you can see why taking care of and supporting your endocrine system function(s) is so important.
If left ignored imbalances within the endocrine system and your hormones can lead to autoimmune disorders, Chronic fatigue syndrome, burnout, hormone and reproductive problems and more!..
How you can Heal & Support your Endocrine and Glandular health
While treatment of each particular gland or endocrine issue has its own focused set of treatments and herbal allies there are plenty of more general things you can do on a daily basis to support and protect your endocrine system & help it stay balanced and strong.
Manage the Effects of Stress
Stress is one of the major things that can disrupt your hormones and throw everything out of whack. If you are dealing with prolonged periods of stress it causes andrenaline and cortisol (your two stress hormones) to spike, and prevents other key hormones like oestrogen and progesterone from being released. This has a negative affect on your digestion, your menstrual cycle and reproductive hormones and pretty much every other area in your body too.
By reducing the level and frequency of stress in your life and/or changing the way you deal with stressful situations you can start to reduce andrenaline and cortisol and your ‘fight or flight’ response, reduce inflammation that stress causes, and balance things out again.
(There are herbs that can support you in this too which are covered below)
If you want to understand more about changing how you cope with stress, approach stressful situations, and becoming more resilient you might want to chack out this post : How to Build Resilience for a Healthy Mind & Body
Exercise
While intense exercise can exasterbate the stress and increase the strain on your endocrine system and hormones, gentle exercise such as walking, yoga, pilates etc. are beneficial for keeing your energy flowing, reducing your stress levels and benefiting your peace of mind.
Meditation and breathwork are also good for relaxing your parasympathetic nervous system and emotional balance.
Herbal Support
There are many herbs that can support your body through times of stress and healing the effects it can cause on your body, as well ass helping to keep you calm and relaxed enough to come down from that adrenaline high after a hard day.
Adaptogens especially are amazing at adapting to your bodys response to stress and helping you to keep a balanced, healthy, hormone system. Nettle is a wonderful endocrine allie and Chamomile is a safe and gentle herb that you can drink as a tea throughout the day to help you feel calm and relaxed.
Cinnamon is also a good spice / herb to incorporate more into your diet (either as a spice or supplement) as it balances blood sugar levels which can often be out of balance from stress and cause insuline & hormone problems.
To read more on help to relaxy your body you can read : 14 Natural Calming Remedies
Manage your Time
This may not sound like an important one. But propererly managing your time, setting realsitic goals and tasks for your day & being able to say ‘No’ to adding extra to your plate - either at work or at home with frinds and family - is SO impotant for your sanity and your ability to support your body.
Adding more things to do if you know you don’t really have the time or energy for it creates a situation where you feel rushed, overwhelmed, are more likely to make mistakes (adding even more stress), and isn’t an enjoyable way for you to spend your time. Rushing from one place or one thing to another without to to take a breath and regroup is a recipe for high stress hormones, bad digestion, and burnout!
By breaking your day down, planning out your work for the week and social occasions, and even your meals you can start to build a routine that leaves you feeling good at the end of the day. Feeling fulfiled and like you achieved things is a great heat of dopamine and seretonine for our brains…. much better than the dissapointment and feelings of frustration and failure that can come with piling too much on our plate and not getting everything we wanted to do that day completed.
Don’t be disheartened if this takes a little time to perfect. It can take a minute for us to get to grips with how long certain tasks actually take, so you may not always get it right every day, but thats ok too. Give yourself a break, you’re only human.
Incorporate Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a tool that can benefit many areas of your life, helping to manage and reduce stress being one of them. This practice is simple in essence, but a lot harder to master in reality.
A simple explination for Mindfulness is :
“Mindfulness is a practice whereby you choose to focus your thoughts and attention in and on the present moment, removing distractions, to be fully present, aware of where you are, what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around you.”
By practicing mindfulness you get to focus on the important things happening right now, spending time with friend and loves one while you’re with them, and enjoying life, instead of worring about your to-do list, or what happened in the past.
Although a note of warning - this practice is kinda tough to get consistent with at the start. It can take some time for being mindful to become a habit you do subconciously.
To start with you will have to gently draw your mind back to the present when you realise you have slipped off into either the past or future.
You can read more about mindfulness here : Everyday Mindfulness
Acts of Kindness
Its a well documented fact that being kind to others, and acts of service towards others actually helps reduce your stress levels. Doing something nice for someone else not only takes you our of your own little bubble, and takes your mind of whatever is causing you stress to start with (even for a small amount of time), but it also releases dopamine and seretonine - your feel good hormones.
It doesn’ have to be anything big and time consuming. Something as simple as helping someone with their shopping, paying for the person after yous’ coffee, helping an old lady cross the street, making something for a friend or neighbour, volunteering for a hour a week… taking time to help someone else out is a win win situation.
Gut health
The health of your stomach, your microbiome, and your digestive system is possibly the number one contributing factor to health. If your digestion isn’t working properly you aren’t absorbing the right or enough nutrients, you aren’t getting rid of excess hormones, and you can develop leaky gut (which causes inflammation) if not eating properly and healthy or from too much stress!
Your gut health includes identifying food intolerences and allergies and removing them from your diet as these can lead to and contribute to endocrine problems.
Cleaning up your diet is also part of gut health. To give your hormones the best chance of restoring balance you need to cut out junk food, avoid gluten, and processed sugars, all of which upset oestrogen and the thyroid gland.
Eat more vegetables, leafy greens, and healthy fats like nuts, seeds, and avocados.
Remove Plastics & Remove Toxins
Plastics, heavy metals, and other toxins such as pesticedes that we come into contact with can play havoc with our bodies in general, and hormones in particular. They can disrupt your endocrine system, in particular your reproductive hormones not to mention the whole host of cancers, auto-immune diseases and long term illnesses.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals can be found in various materials including pesticides, metals, additives, personal care products, and heavy metals can be found in your water too.
Remember balance is your greatest freind for supporting your endocrine system and hormones.
xo Emily
