Anything that helps move oestrogen through the body and break it down is good," Burns-Hill advises. "Cabbage, Brussel sprouts and spinach, all have something called indoles – they help your body break down oestrogen and process it to softer, safer oestrogens. And add a daily green smoothie to your diet." Supplements Alcohol can spike your oestrogen level to the power of three. And while a spike is temporary, if you keep drinking regularly then it’s having a long term impact on your residual levels," says Burns-Hill. If you're interested in healthy ageing, one of the key areas that you'll have come across is the role of inflammation in how we age and the risk of disease.

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Broadly, PMS is to do with a dominance of oestrogen, while polycystic ovaries are related to too much testosterone." In many cases it’s easy to resolve these imbalances with lifestyle changes," says Burns-Hill. You might need to change things in your diet, factors affecting your stress levels, or even start taking supplements. Humans have many different hormones, all working away doing vital jobs in our bodies. They’re our messengers, that keep our body temperature stable, moderate our growth and development, control our metabolism and fertility and influence our emotions. The treatment for both is to be put on the pill, which isn’t a solution because it just regulates the cycle for the time you're taking it. When you come off pill, the symptoms return and if you then want to have a baby you might find you struggle with fertility," she says. Signs of hormonal imbalance Heat therapy has been appreciated for centuries all over the world for its wellbeing benefits. Red light therapy on the other hand is relatively new. It uses the power of infrared energy without heat (or very low levels) to rejuvenate your cells at the mitochondrial level. Fortunately there are many ways to get the benefits of both heat and light therapy.It’s not just binge drinking that’s a problem either. Regularly consuming alcohol can have serious problems: "Two or three glasses of wine after work is still quite excessive and potentially affecting your health and fertility." Sugar When it comes to our improving our health (and losing weight), we naturally focus on the physical things we need to do (diet, exercise etc). But it's our mindset that will ultimately determine how successful we are. Many things affect the delicate balance of our hormones including what we eat, our environment and how we feel emotionally. Most of the time our hormones just get on with it without us really noticing. It’s only when something goes wrong that we realise how important they are. Reducing stress and learning how to manage the factors that cause you stress is vital to long term healthy hormone balance. She adds: "To break down oestrogen you can get good-quality DIM or I3C supplements which can be beneficial." How will you know if your hormones are balancing out again?

It’s not you, it’s YOUR HORMONES! | Lifestyle | Take a Break

You feel better when you eat chocolate, because your body makes serotonin (your happy hormone) from chocolate, so in a way you’re responding to your hormone needs. It’s just not the best way longterm. If you don't have access to saunas or hot springs, there are various products available on the market, including infrared home saunas, lamps, red light face masks and vaginal devices, sauna suits and blankets, amongst others. Make sure to choose reputable products from trusted sources. Few things have the power to restore quite like a brisk walk and a big deep gulp of fresh air. And the health benefits are many, from lowering your overall risk of chronic disease to helping you feel all is well with the world. Caroline gives us some of her top tips to flip some of those deep seated beliefs we have that can get in our way. She and her team at Happy Hormones now help women all over the world to rebalance their hormones, reclaim their health and feel better than ever!

But if you’re not able to do much cardio or weight training, walking on its own is hugely beneficial. Especially if you're navigating the world of menopausal hormones and feeling tired or stressed. It often boils down to a couple of obvious imbalances for younger women," Burns-Hill explains. "One is PMS (premenstrual syndrome), and the other is polycystic ovaries – though not necessarily the full blown polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) – just somewhere on that spectrum. From the other angle, polycystic ovary symptoms include "acne, ongoing skin problems, excess facial or body hair, an irregular period and a different type of irritability. It’s a more aggressive kind, not weepy but more lion-like, from a sense of being frustrated. Are you struggling to lose weight, despite doing all the right things? Firstly, don't beat yourself up. Midlife weight gain is very real, and it's not easy to shift. Our bodies are going through tough times. The tell tale with a woman is the monthly cycle," says Burns-Hill. "If you’ve made real changes, give yourself a cycle to notice if things are improving. It won’t happen all at once but you should find your period doesn't feel quite as draining and heavy. Over a few cycles you should notice more improvements as well as better regularity and predictability.