As with most things in life, external circumstances can have a significant impact on our health. Some of these outside influences are beyond our control, but there are those that we can have a say in. Certain lifestyle factors are within our grasp and making conscious daily decisions to focus on wellness is as important, if not more so, than the decisions we make about our relationships and careers. Without our health, both those things will suffer in the long term anyways, so why not focus on making smart, healthy lifestyle choices now for a better today and tomorrow!
Lifestyle factors are extremely important when it comes to managing Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). The choices you make on a daily basis have a tremendous impact on the way your hormones function and the way the body is able to heal and restore balance. Making sure your hormones are working properly is extremely important for all aspects of women’s wellness and reproductive health.
If you are not familiar with PCOS, check out my first two blogs in the PCOS series to learn more about the specifics of this diagnosis:
1. PCOS: Understanding Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – A Common Hormonal Imbalance
2. PCOS: Identify and Test – a Functional Medicine Approach to Holistic Hormone Health
So what lifestyle factors are we talking about here?
???? Sleep: Getting Regular and Adequate Amounts of Sleep
???? Nutrition: Eating Regular Well-Balanced Meals
???? Exercise: Engaging in Regular Physical Activity
The key word in all these is: REGULAR! Consistency is key for anything you want to succeed with in life, and your health is no exception.
Some additional lifestyle factors that we won’t go into here but are important to be considered include:
???? Physical Health: Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight, Blood Sugar, and Cholesterol
???? Mental Health: Decreasing Stress, Anxiety, and/or Depression
???? Living Green & Clean: Avoiding Toxins in Food, Home, and Environment and Promoting Regular Detoxification
Sleep: Getting Regular and Adequate Amounts of Sleep
Most people understand the importance of sleep only because they know how bad they feel when they don’t have enough of it. Sure, you will feel more tired and weak when sleep is cut short or interrupted, but did you know that it is important on a physiological level? Simply put, when we sleep, our bodies heal and go through a process of restoration. Quality sleep regulates our stress hormones, specifically cortisol – the main adrenal hormone and in turn, cortisol feeds back into a physiological loop and affects our sleep. Taking this a step further, poor sleep causes our body to become stressed and this causes an imbalance of sex hormones that drive the typical symptoms found in PCOS. Having good sleep habits is important in making a positive change in the progression of your PCOS.
Nutrition: Eating Regular Well-Balanced Meals
- There are no magic or quick solutions involved here. Fad diets come and go but the staples of what a healthy diet is remains. Eating regular, well-balanced meals is the simple answer here. I use the word “simple” very cautiously, as nothing is truly easy when it comes to health and wellness; you have to work for it! The amount of calories and the ratio of macronutrients will of course differ from person to person, and a nutrition specialist can help with that, but the quality of food and a regular and consistent schedule is of utmost importance. What is defined as quality food? It is food that is nutritionally complete in micronutrients, not processed, when possible organic or at least without many chemicals, and non-GMO (genetically modified). Hormone creation partially consists of certain nutritional building blocks: amino acids from protein and fatty acids from fats, and relies on the essential vitamins and minerals to keep the various biochemical processes moving. The caliber of these foundational materials matters and impacts both the quality and quantity of the hormones that our body has the potential for creating. The other factor here is consistency! Eating regular, planned out and balanced meals creates not only a mental habit but a physiological one, and this is the process that your body becomes accustomed to when hormone production, maintenance, and balance is involved.
Exercise: Engaging in Regular Physical Activity
It’s no secret that exercise is an important part of any standard health routine. People have various motivations for daily physical activity: losing weight, building muscle and/or endurance, boosting endorphins, recovering from injury, among many other positive effects. Many are aware that exercise improves mood and helps de-stress. But did you know that exercise affects hormone health? Research around this topic not only exists but has clearly identified this as a management tool in PCOS and “several studies have examined the impact of exercise interventions on reproductive function, with results indicating improvements in menstrual and/or ovulation frequency following exercise.” (1) Moderate daily exercise can be meaningful in keeping hormones balanced. Consider 30 minutes of steady-state cardio such as running, cycling, swimming, or brisk walking, 2 to 3 times per week, alternating with 2 to 3 days of strength training. The general rule is just to keep moving!
These daily lifestyle choices may seem like common sense but implementing them is not as easy at it may sound. It takes consistency, motivation, support, and the right approach.
As a Naturopathic Doctor, I have developed a Holistic Program for PCOS Management that is based on my Naturopathic Approach to PCOS and includes four functional medicine tenets, two of which we have been discussing here:
???? Dietary Modification
???? Lifestyle Changes
The other two tenets are:
???? Specialty Testing
???? Supplementation
PCOS does not have to define you, but rather YOU define PCOS!
References:
1. Woodward et al. Exercise and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32342454/