How Does Stress Impact Your Hormones and How Homeopathy May Restore Balance

Stress is impossible to avoid, and most of us will experience periods of heightened stress at different points in life. In my clinic, I often see how ongoing stress affects not just emotional wellbeing, but physical health too, particularly when stress hormones become imbalanced. This is where homeopathy can be helpful, offering gentle support for both stress and the hormonal changes it can trigger.

What is stress, and why does it affect us so differently?

What defines stress for each person is different for everybody, and depends on personality and personal history. For example, in the case of redundancy, one person may experience severe stress with lowered self-esteem. Another person may see redundancy as an opportunity.

How does stress affect the body?

When the body is under stress, it responds through the nervous system and hormonal pathways. Over time, this can show up as physical symptoms such as:

• low energy

• low mood

• low immunity

• blood sugar balance

• changes to digestion

• changes to thyroid function

The body's stress mechanism - the HPA axis

The body’s main stress response system is known as the HPA axis (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis). This system controls how we produce and regulate stress hormones, particularly cortisol.

Here is how it works:

Cortisol: the main stress hormone

Cortisol is often referred to as the main stress hormone, and it plays a central role in how stress affects the body. Cortisol acts on most tissues in the body. This includes the immune system, the intestines, and the brain.

Acute stress leads to heightened cortisol. This lessens the stress reaction, which also decreases the immune activity. It also has an impact on sleep and anxiety levels.

If you have stress over a prolonged period, this can affect your cortisol levels. The HPA axis then becomes dysfunctional. This can lead to poor sleep, along with low energy and depression.

How chronic stress affects hormones like Progesterone

Chronic stress doesn’t just affect cortisol. It can also disrupt reproductive hormones, particularly progesterone.

When your body is stressed, leading to increased levels of cortisol, progesterone levels decrease.

Low progesterone levels may contribute to irregular periods or difficulty conceiving. Low progesterone is also commonly linked to symptoms such as PMS, anxiety before a period, poor sleep, headaches, and heavier or more clotty bleeding. For many women, painful periods are part of this wider hormonal picture.

Stress, hormones and homeopathy

Stress can significantly impact hormonal balance, leading to issues like irregular periods, mood swings, fatigue, and poor sleep.

When stress is ongoing, it can disrupt the balance between cortisol, oestrogen and progesterone. This is why many people explore homeopathy as a holistic way to support the body. There is evidence showing that homeopathy offers a natural way to address both stress and hormone-related issues by stimulating the body’s own healing processes.

Using homeopathy for stress works by supporting the nervous system and the body’s ability to adapt.

Well-selected homeopathic remedies may calm the nervous system. This may lead to better sleep and a lessening of anxiety over a period of time.

During stressful periods the liver and adrenals work very hard. My approach is to use homeopathic liver support and adrenal support, together with remedies for the totality of your symptoms.

How homeopathy supports stress and emotional balance

How long does it take?

This depends on how severe these stress symptoms are, your current stress levels, your personal health history, and your history of medication

How many sessions are needed?

The first consultation is an assessment where we go through your health history as well as discuss your symptoms. We then have follow-up appointments every 4-6 weeks. These follow-on treatments are important to ensure gradual progress.

Stress doesn’t just affect your mind, it can throw your hormones out of balance too. If stress has contributed to symptoms like painful periods, fatigue, headaches or mood changes, you may find it helpful to read my article on homeopathy and hormone imbalance.

“Naziana is a wonderful lady, with a calm, kind and approachable style. She offered virtual consultations to help me with symptoms of chronic stress.

 She is knowledgeable and professional and her homeopathic remedies worked wonderfully.

 With her excellent guidance, I can happily say that I feel better than I have in a long time.'

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Next steps

If stress is affecting your sleep, mood, energy or hormones, and you’re looking for a gentle, natural way forward, I’d love to speak with you.

I offer a free 20 minute call. During this call, we talk about you, your symptoms, and how they are affecting you. I will ask you some questions to see if homeopathy may be beneficial to you.

I am always happy to hear from you.

Naziana x

I’m Naziana, a homeopath with a special focus on women’s health. Through gentle, natural approaches, I support women in balancing out their hormones and regaining a sense of wellbeing.

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