Friday, April 17, 2009

Lower Testosterone In Women

An imbalance of testosterone in women can have side effects, such as unnatural hair growth on the face or chest. It can also affect the distribution of fat and muscle throughout the body, lead to thinning hair and cause excessive sweating. However, those symptoms are the tip of the iceberg. Testosterone overload can also lead to breast or ovarian cancer. It is, therefore, important to keep a woman's testosterone levels as close to normal as possible.


Instructions


1. Make dietary changes. According to the website for Natural Hormones, one way to help bring estrogen and testosterone back into balance is to focus on raising estrogen levels. This can be done by eating foods that are estrogen-rich, including soy products, fruits such as apples and cherries, and grains such as alfalfa, rice and wheat.


2. Get sugar and carbohydrate consumption under control. According to Virginia Hopkins Health watch, excess in either area can actually work to maintain a hormone imbalance.








3. Exercise regularly. Virginia Hopkins Health recommends exercising no fewer than four times a week. Include exercises that focus heavily on techniques that reduce stress, such as yoga or Pilates. Avoid weight training if testosterone levels are too high as it could result in unwanted excess bulk.


4. Look at an all-natural approach, such as ingesting plant estrogens like that found in black cohosh. Keep in mind, however, that while these herbs may temporarily replace lost estrogen, they do nothing to help the body produce new estrogen. Other herbs, such as macafem, contain no estrogen but work to jump-start the body's ability to reproduce that which is lost.


5. Choose a holistic medicine route like acupuncture. The procedure involves the insertion of thin needles into specific areas of the body to open its natural energy pathways. In the case of hormonal imbalance, the benefit would be two-fold, allowing the body to produce higher levels of estrogen while reducing testosterone levels.


6. Consider hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Hormone replacement has been used for years to help women achieve balance with estrogen, testosterone and progesterone, according to Medline Plus. However, in some instances, it becomes a matter of exchanging one problem for another. Some women become more prone to cancer, especially cancer of the breast, ovaries and uterus. Additionally, finding the proper balance may take time, and one can suffer a lot of side effects, including sleeplessness, night sweats and heart arrhythmia.

Tags: testosterone levels, body produce, estrogen testosterone, Hopkins Health, side effects, Virginia Hopkins