TL;DR
- Exercise has a wide range of impacts on hormones such as cortisol, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and insulin.
- A consistent routine of moderate exercise with some strength training tends to help regulate cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, and insulin and temporarily boost testosterone.
- However, too much exercise can lead to hormonal imbalances and health risks.
- It’s important to find the right balance for you and to support your fitness regimen with a diet rich in healthy fats, Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin B, protein, and gut-healthy foods.
- If you are an individual who menstruates, some trainers and medical professionals recommend tailoring your workout regimen to your cycle. Doing so may lead to improved fitness outcomes and workout satisfaction.
Introduction
The relationship between exercise and hormones is fascinating, complex, and frustrating. Like with a lot of things in life, exercise can be beneficial for hormones, to a point. Hormones can also help your fitness outcomes… in the right amounts.
Making this even more complex, most of the research on exercise and fitness has been on men. This means that our understanding of how exercise, especially high intensity exercise, impacts females is depressingly limited. In this article I will talk about the impact of exercise on hormones for both men and women. However, the emphasis will be more on women because of the complexity of female sex hormones and the menstrual cycle.
Moreover, I know of far more females who have wondered whether exercise impacts their hormones than males who have wondered about the same thing. They may not always realize that that’s exactly what they’re wondering about. However, if you’re a woman who has ever wondered whether you should modify your workouts during or around your period, you’ve wondered about the impact of exercise on your hormones. Same goes if your period has gotten wonky and you’ve wondered whether your workout routine is impacting it. Or even if you’ve noticed that you tend to chafe more around certain times of the month and have wondered, what’s up with that?
In this post, I hope to answer all those questions and more here.
What Are Hormones?
Hormones are produced in the endocrine system by different glands around your body, including the ovaries, testes, thyroid gland, adrenal glands, pituitary gland… is the word gland starting to lose all meaning? Basically hormones are chemical messengers that tell other parts of the body what to do and when to do it. For example, thyroid hormones play a role in weight loss and gain, body temperature, hair and nail growth and so much more. The hormone insulin helps our body use sugar for energy. Basically without hormones, we wouldn’t be able to do a whole lot of anything.
However, sometimes we experience hormonal imbalances. We may have too much or too little of a hormone. And chaos can ensue. We may experience fatigue, immune system depression, weight gain or loss, and so much more. The good news is that our daily behaviors can help balance hormones. For example, getting enough sleep, nutrients, and exercise all play a role in hormone balance. Below I elaborate on the role of different forms of exercise on hormonal balance.
What Is the Relationship Between Exercise and Hormones?
Working out has a cascade of effects on most of our hormones… except for thyroid hormones. Exercise doesn’t have a big impact on thyroid hormones so I’m leaving those out here.
Cortisol
Cortisol is our fight or flight hormone. It’s also called our stress hormone. When we get stressed out, cortisol is activated. Our body can’t tell the difference between types of stress, so emotional stress, physical stress, and environmental stress all manifest the same in our bodies. It’s worth keeping that in mind because when we are going through an emotionally tough time, we may find exercise harder than usual.
The purpose of cortisol is to get us ready to deal with a threat. And because our bodies have evolved over millions of years, our bodies assume we are dealing with mastodon-level threats. Cortisol increases our heart rate, floods us with adrenaline, focuses our attention, and basically gets us ready to either fight a mastodon or run the hell away. In short bursts, cortisol can be quite useful. However, if stress persists, it can lead to inflammation and breakdown in our bodies.
Exercise has a somewhat confusing relationship with cortisol. On the one hand, exercise tends to increase cortisol in the short-term. Exercising at night or regularly engaging in intense exercise and endurance exercises can even lead to too much cortisol. This can negatively affect our mental health, metabolism, blood pressure, and even decrease levels of progesterone (described below). On the other hand, aerobic exercise, especially at low and moderate intensities, tends to decrease cortisol in the long-run.
Given all this, if you’re going through a period of high stress, you might consider decreasing the intensity of your exercise. If you’re worried about high cortisol levels, a consistent routine of low- to moderate-intensity exercise may also be helpful. And I would never tell anyone to remove all high-intensity exercise. Just be mindful of the level of stress you’re putting on your body.
Testosterone
Strength-building exercise generally increases testosterone levels for both males and females. These increases are usually smaller and shorter-lived for females. While we associate testosterone with males, it’s also important for females. For both sexes, it improves energy, sex drive, bone density, lean muscle mass, and more.
Too much testosterone can be harmful for women. However, it is very uncommon to get to this point. That being said, if you’re experiencing balding, acne, or abnormal hair growth, it may be helpful to consult with a physician to see if you’re getting too much testosterone.
Progesterone and Estrogen
Estrogen and progesterone are so interrelated that they’re both presented here. Estrogen has a cornucopia of benefits–improving muscle recovery, bone density, cognition, mood swings, skin strength and thickness, heart health, and more. Progesterone reduces symptoms of anxiety and stress, prevents insomnia, reduces cancer risk, slows aging, reduces weight gain, the list goes on.
Exercise, especially high-intensity exercise, tends to decrease estrogen and progesterone levels. This is particularly the case during the luteal phase of the cycle (i.e. Day 15-28, with the start of your period considered Day 1). While estrogen and progesterone sound like cure-alls, many women actually have excess estrogen. As a result, exercise’s negative effect on estrogen can actually be quite helpful and lead to a decreased risk of breast cancer.
That being said, it’s best not to overdo it with exercise. Too little estrogen and progesterone are also concerning–did you see how helpful they are above!? And the reproductive system requires a massive amount of energy. Excessive exercise can leave too little energy for reproduction (if that’s something that’s on your radar). Even if that’s not on your radar, excessive exercise can sap your energy for other life activities as well.
Insulin
The other hormone that exercise has a big effect on is insulin. As mentioned above, insulin plays an essential role in maintaining health glucose levels (i.e. blood sugar levels). Many of us are most familiar with insulin in the context of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that can lead to your body producing little to no insulin. In contrast, Type 2 diabetes is associated with having poor diet, high sugar intake, and heavier weight. With Type 2 diabetes, the body can’t produce enough insulin to keep up with the sugar in the body. This causes insulin resistance where the sugar in our blood can’t bind as easily to insulin.
To maintain optimal levels of insulin in the body, it’s important to maintain a healthy diet and body weight. Additionally, one of the best ways of regulating insulin is exercise. Specifically, exercise helps lower the glucose (i.e. sugar) circulating in your blood for up to 24 hours after a workout. This increases your body’s insulin sensitivity, making it so that your body responds better to insulin.
What Can I Do To Make Sure My Workouts Don’t Negatively Impact My Hormones?
That was a lot of text and jargon to sift through. The take home point is this: moderate levels of exercise and strength training are often beneficial for hormone balance: regulating levels of estrogen, progesterone, and insulin; temporarily boosting testosterone, and lowering cortisol in the long-run. However, overdoing the frequency and intensity of exercise can lead to too much cortisol, too little estrogen and progesterone, and, in rare cases, too much testosterone, causing hormonal imbalance.
That balance will be different for everyone, so listen to your body and consider adjustments if you are experiencing persistent stress, injuries, or other health concerns.
Moreover, your workouts hopefully improve your stress levels. However, that’s certainly not always the case. If you are getting stressed about your workout outcomes, cutting sleep in order to work out, experiencing a lot of injuries, or feeling pressure to look a certain way, that stress will be associated with higher cortisol and could negatively affect your other hormones. If this is the case for you, you may want to seek out workout activities that you enjoy more, find a supportive community to work out with, prioritize adequate sleep, and/or seek therapy.
The Impact of Exercise and Your Diet on Hormones
Exercise doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The relationship between your exercise routine and how you eat, sleep, and recover also have a cumulative impact on your hormones.
For example, fat helps produce estrogen. So if you work out and eat healthy to such a degree that you have very low body fat or are experiencing large changes in your weight, your periods can become very light or stop altogether. This is referred to as amenorrhea and can have serious consequences for fertility, bone health, and more if not treated.
As a result, it’s important to get enough fat in your diet. You don’t hear that a lot, so it probably sounds a little revolutionary, but it’s true. Of course, not all fatty foods are created equal. If you need to up your fat intake, it’s helpful to focus on foods that are high in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats and high in other nutrients as well (like avocados, yogurt, whole milk, eggs, nuts).
Moreover, Vitamin C, B vitamins, Magnesium, Zinc, and Vitamin E are important for progesterone production. Nuts and seeds like pumpkin and sunflower seeds are high in Magnesium, Zinc, and Vitamin E. Lean meats, fortified cereals, whole grains, and beans are packed with B vitamins. And we probably all know citrus fruits and berries are great for Vitamin C.
Conveniently, these nutrients also tend to be great for regulating cortisol. Foods that improve gut health (like probiotic-rich yogurt and prebiotic-rich kimchi) and high-protein foods are also beneficial for keeping cortisol in check.
And, of course, it’s important to limit sugar and processed food intake to help reduce the risk of diabetes.
Should I Modify My Workouts Based on My Period?
I’m going to start this section by saying, you know your body best. As a menstruating woman, I always feel a little resentful of recommendations to shift my fitness routine because of my cycle. It feels a little too reminiscent of condescending recommendations that we frail little women not over-exert ourselves. So I personally don’t modify my routine based on my cycle.
That being said, even I have to admit there are potential benefits to doing so. Specifically, our cycles can influence the amount of energy we have, body temperature, and other factors that can influence how enjoyable different types of exercise are. Consequently, pairing different types of exercise with different points in your cycle may improve motivation and fitness outcomes. I delve into which type of exercise aligns best with which cycle below.
Follicular Phase
The first part of your menstrual cycle is your actual period. During this time, your levels of estrogen and progesterone are actually at their lowest. Side note, did other people know this already? I didn’t before researching for this article! Because these hormones can boost energy and interest in physical activity, your motivation may be quite low (on top of the discomforts of your period). Estrogen also protects our skin, so our skin may be sensitive and more easily irritated during this time–cue chafing. That being said, working out can mitigate period symptoms. Thus, this is a great time for low-intensity cardiovascular exercise (like walks, light jogs/cycles, swimming), Pilates, Tai Chi, or yoga.
Your follicular phase includes your period but also extends beyond it, lasting for a total of about 12-14 days (including your period). After your period, your estrogen levels rise, increasing energy and motivation. At the same time, progesterone is still low. The post-period follicular phase can be an especially good time for high-intensity exercises and weight training. However, be mindful of any injuries, as this is also the time when you’re more at risk of muscle damage.
Ovulation/Luteal Phase
Next comes ovulation, lasting 3-5 days. Hormone levels are quite similar to the follicular phase, so this can still be a good time for high-intensity exercises and weight training. However, your body temperature does start to rise, making you more sensitive to heat. Given that, make sure to hydrate accordingly and consider working out during a cooler time of day if you feel like this will impact your performance/enjoyment.
Last is the luteal phase (days ~14-28). This is the phase where exercise can get… less enjoyable. Your body temperature remains higher and progesterone increases. The latter raises your resting heart and breathing rate and increases tissue breakdown. As a result, intense workouts may feel especially hard and lower-impact exercises like hiking, walking, yoga, Pilates, and easy cycling, jogging, and swimming may be more comfortable. That being said, there are some conflicting findings on this. For example, one study found that the luteal phase was associated with greater cardiac and respiratory efficiency for women who were not considered overweight or obese.
To Summarize
Regular exercise can be super beneficial for improving hormonal balance. At the same time, overdoing it on exercise can actually cause hormone imbalances. To find the sweet spot, pay attention to your body. If your energy levels are tanking, you’re experiencing chronic stress, you feel like your overall health is declining, or you’re experiencing other symptoms of hormonal imbalance, consider taking a step back from your fitness routine. You might try reducing the number of high-intensity workouts you do and focusing on lighter aerobic and resistance training exercises until your health improves. Of course, it’s also important to consult with a doctor.
In terms of working out throughout your cycle, I’d recommend paying attention to how you feel throughout your cycle. If you consistently feel like workouts are way harder during that second half of your cycle and you are not having fun, perhaps consider lower-impact activities during that time.
Final Thoughts
However, you know your body and preferences best. This information is solely to help you plan your workout routine in a way that is enjoyable and promotes your health. For some people that may mean keeping a consistent workout routine at all times, but understanding that some times will be harder than others. For others, it may mean making some modifications to improve enjoyment or hormone levels.
Either way, your body is pretty dang awesome and fascinating. So let’s make sure we’re treating it right.
If you enjoyed this article or think it would be helpful for others, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing. And if you would like more information about finding the perfect workout for you, check out this personality quiz on finding the perfect workout and this post on developing a workout routine that’s right for you. If you are struggling with getting motivated to workout, check out this post.
Finally, remember I am not a medical professional or personal trainer. It’s helpful to consult with a professional before making modifications to your exercise routine.