Last week was my 50th birthday and almost like clockwork my hormones started going crazy – heavy bleeding, super moody, sleep disturbances. Even through all of this, essential oils for hormones have been helping me navigate this new phase of life.
As you may know, hormones are chemical messengers that travel through your bloodstream to maintain the delicate balance in your body. They are responsible for countless functions including hair growth, metabolism, body temperature, energy levels, quality of sleep, libido, weight gain — and of course, your mood.
Hormones are produced and regulated by your endocrine system, which includes your hypothalamus, adrenals and thyroid, in combination with your liver, gall bladder and the lining of your gut.
When these organs are healthy, they create and excrete hormones while in balance. When they are stressed or over-worked from stress, emotional upset, digestive dysfunction, toxic overload or chronic infection, your hormone levels are thrown out of balance, presenting as symptoms like:
- Dry Hair or Skin
- Low Libido
- Weight gain
- Mood swings, irritability
- Eye discomfort or sensitivity to bright light
- Irritable when hungry
- Swelling under eyes
- Sleep disturbance
- Cold hands and feet
- Loss of muscle mass or strength
- Sweet craving
- Fatigue easily
Essential Oils for Hormonal Balance
Natural plant based remedies like essential oils and adaptogenic herbs work by helping your mind and your body return to your natural state of balance, known as homeostasis. This state of balance helps to reduce fluctuations in hormone levels.
By returning the organ systems and regions of your brain that influence and control your hormone regulation to balance, essential oils and other plant based remedies may help you naturally balance your hormones, like progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone, along with cortisol, insulin and thyroid hormones.
A key disruption to the hormonal balance is stress, which forces our hormonal balance to take a back seat to fight-or-flight survival responses. As hormonal levels of the stress hormone cortisol rise, your blood redirects to our extremities, and your digestive and reproductive systems get put on hold, along with your body’s production of reproductive hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. Reducing stress levels helps to reduce cortisol levels, which will help you correct your hormonal imbalance and re-balance your estrogen and progesterone levels. Read More about how stress impacts estrogen levels HERE.
Essential oils are well suited to help balance the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that triggers the stress response in the body, along with the adrenal glands, the organs that trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol.
Similarly, compromised gut function and impaired detoxification can contribute to hormonal imbalance. Returning these systems to balance helps to return your hormone levels to balance.
12 Essential Oils for Hormonal Balance
Essential oils can be used to balance the underlying systems that contribute to hormonal balance. The following oils can help balance stress, the gut, the organs of detoxification and general hormonal issues.
Essential Oils for Stress
1. Parasympathetic®
Your first line of defense against stress is known as your “fight or flight” response triggered by your sympathetic nervous system. Stress activates your sympathetic survival response, which effectively turns off everything not relevant to immediate survival, including hormonal balance. You are designed to switch into this sympathetic state, flee from danger, then drop back into the balanced Parasympathetic “rest and digest” state where your hormone levels can return to balance. To help stimulate the Parasympathetic response, apply Vibrant Blue Oils Parasympathetic® blend to the vagal nerve (behind the earlobe on the mastoid bone).
2. Adrenal®
Our adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and help determine and regulate the body’s stress response by secreting key hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline (epinephrine) which support your ability to rapidly respond to stress. Cortisol, in particular, serves as an immune modulator, reducing inflammation in the body, keeping the overactive aspects of the immune system in check, as well as stimulating and encouraging the potentially under active aspects of the immune system, especially in relation to fighting infections. Prolonged periods of stress can prioritize the production of cortisol over other hormones, throwing our hormones out of balance. Much like adaptogenic herbs, Vibrant Blue Oils Adrenal® blend helps increase the body’s ability to adapt to stress and maintain healthy adrenal function to support hormonal balance.
3. Hypothalamus™
The hypothalamus is a pearl size region of the brain located just above the brain stem that serves as the control center for the entire endocrine system, including all your hormones and your adrenals. The hypothalamus determines how much cortisol is in the blood, so balancing the hypothalamus can help manage cortisol spikes. The Hypothalamus™ blend supports the brain to send and receive the messages from the body necessary to facilitate appropriate hormonal responses.
4. Circadian Rhythm®
The pineal gland regulates circadian rhythm by producing melatonin, a hormone crucial to sleep. Melatonin has an antagonist relationship to cortisol and the two hormones in conjunction help regulate key biological rhythms, known as circadian rhythms. For example, when cortisol is high, melatonin is low. Chronic and prolonged stress can throw off this natural rhythm as it triggers the adrenal glands to release cortisol and throw off the body’s natural cortisol/melatonin rhythm. Cortisol should be high in the mornings when you wake up and gradually taper off throughout the day so you feel tired at bedtime and can fall asleep. High levels of cortisol at night, drive down melatonin and make it difficult to fall asleep. To help return your circadian rhythm and hormonal levels back to balance, you might consider Vibrant Blue Oils Circadian Rhythm® blend, which triggers the pineal gland to release melatonin.
Adrenal®, Hypothalamus™, and Circadian Rhythm® oils are included in the Vibrant Blue Oils Stress Support Kit™. Read More about Essential Oils to Support Stress HERE.
Essential Oils for Gut Health
If the stomach isn’t digesting proteins or the small intestine isn’t producing the proper enzymes to absorb of fats, our bodies won’t receive the proper building blocks to produce hormones. Similarly, the beneficial bacteria in the small intestine metabolizes hormones like estrogen that are discharged from the liver. If your body is lacking the probiotics and bacteria to break down estrogen or the intestinal permeability is compromised from leaky gut, you will reabsorb estrogens. The extra estrogen binds to sensitive areas such as the breast, uterus, or ovaries, contributing to fibroids, tumors and PMS symptoms. Finally, if toxins aren’t regularly leaving the body via bowel movements, they can leach from it into the nearby tissues of the reproductive system and impede their function.
5. Intestinal Mucosa™
Designed to gently permeate topically through the skin to regenerate and heal the mucosal lining of the small intestine to increase optimal nutrient absorption and support healthy microbiome and hormonal regulation. To use, apply 2- 3 drops of Intestinal Mucosa™ in a clockwise circle around the belly button 2 -3 times daily.
6. Anti-Inflammatory™
This blend may be used to reduce inflammation and encourage regeneration in the chronically inflamed tissue of the small intestine. Chronic prolonged inflammation can silently damage tissues and throw off hormonal balance. To apply, gently massage 2 – 3 drops of Anti-Inflammatory™ to any inflamed area of the body. For the small intestine, rub clockwise around the belly button 2-3 times daily.
Parasympathetic®
This blend drops the body into the optimal rest, digest and repair parasympathetic state for optimal gut health and hormonal balance. The Parasympathetic state also sends increased blood flow to the Small Intestine, allowing for healing of the intestinal wall and optimal enzymatic activity and nutrient assimilation. The parasympathetic state also activates the beneficial effects of the probiotic bacteria in the gut and triggers peristalsis, the muscle contractions that move food and waste through the digestive tract to eliminate old hormones. To trigger the parasympathetic state, apply a drop of Parasympathetic® to the vagus nerve (behind the earlobe on the mastoid bone) before meals.
These oils can all be purchased in the Gut Repair Kit™. Read More about Essential Oils for Gut Repair HERE.
Essential Oils for Detoxification
If toxins aren’t regularly leaving the body via the channels of detoxification, they can be reabsorbed and throw off hormonal balance.
7. Liver™
The Liver supports hormonal balance by removing excess hormones of all types from the blood stream. Weakened liver function increases availability of estrogen in the body. If too many excess “used” hormones floating in the bloodstream, the hypothalamus might fail to signal the pituitary gland to send out fresh hormones. If there are too many hormones in the body it becomes unbalanced and symptomatic. For example, an excess of estrogen might lead a woman to experience hot flashes, bouts of anger or depression, weight gain, cramps or irregular cycles. Another important factor in the body’s capacity to make hormones is the liver’s ability to process fatty acids. We must have fats in the diet to make steroid hormones, and the liver has to be able to process them.
8. Gallbladder™
When bile is viscous and not flowing, toxins like old hormones can get stored and reabsorbed into the system. Excess estrogen can make the bile from the gallbladder too thick and less able to efficiently detoxify excess hormones. Gallbladder™ helps mobilize the toxins out of the body. Apply over the gallbladder (on the right side of the body under the breast).
9. Estrogen Balance™
Designed to support the liver with the gentle mobilization of estrogen. Estrogen Balance™ works best when applied over the liver (on the right side of the body under the breast) in combination with castor oil before bed. It is important to use it combination with a binding agent such as chia seeds, psyllium, or a supplement like BIND.
Essential Oils for Hormonal Balance
The following oils can help with general hormone balance. To learn more about balancing hormones click HERE. To learn more about balancing hormones and emotions, click HERE.
10. Hormone Balance™
Helps to balance the body so that the liver, gall bladder and thyroid – the key organs that produce and synthesize hormones – can function optimally to enhance metabolism. Hormone Balance™ contains clary sage, a medicinal herb with unique hormone like components that help to balance out estrogen production in the body. Research on clary sage demonstrated its ability to lower cortisol levels by 36 percent as well as improve the levels of your thyroid hormones. It also works well when used as an abdominal massage to relieve tightening menstrual cramps and uncomfortable tension during your period by relaxing your smooth muscles. To use, apply 2-3 drops over the liver/gall bladder (right side of the body under ribcage) or thyroid (throat).
11. PMS Support™
PMS Support™ blend is formulated with essential oils to help alleviate hormonal discomforts, like reducing cramping and bloating, along with promoting relaxation. Formulated with Rose Geranium and Bergamot Essential Oils that both help balance hormones naturally, as well as supporting relaxation and reducing the underlying emotional stress that contribute to hormonal imbalances. To apply, massage 2 -3 drops across lower back, lower abdomen and around ankles.
12. Lavender™
The ultimate for balancing hormones, mood and emotions. Lavender™ essential oil has been said to decrease stress by lowering cortisol hormone amounts released by the adrenal cortex. Along with helping to balance hormones, Lavender™ can offer pain relief from hormonal related cramps and bloating, along with alleviating feelings of stress and depression.
Resources:
Ready to get started? Click the links below to order today:
- Adrenal® available here
- Anti-Inflammatory™ available here
- Circadian Rhythm® available here
- Estrogen Balance™ available here
- Gallbladder™ available here
- Gut Repair Kit™ available here
- Hormone Balance™ available here
- Hypothalamus™ available here
- Intestinal Mucosa™ available here
- Lavender™ available here
- Liver™ available here
- Parasympathetic® available here
- PMS™ available here
- Stress Support Kit™ available here
