As you may be aware from reading our other blog posts, exercise is one of the most effective and well-established ways to naturally balance your hormone levels. However, as with everything in life, there is a Goldilocks exercise routine for hormone balance.
Too much or too little and you won’t be getting the results you’re after. In fact, you may further impair hormone function.
So if achieving hormone balance is your goal, we hope this blog post helps you understand the truth about exercise and your hormones, and how to create the perfect routine for success.
How exercise affects your hormones
When you exercise, a number of biochemical and physiological changes occur. These changes can make you feel good, make you feel sore, help you build muscle or feel a surge of hunger after you workout. The way you feel during and post-workout all depends on the type of exercise you do, and what hormonal changes they simulate.
It’s widely acknowledged that exercise affects your hormones. This is one of the reasons why after a workout you get a euphoric rush of happiness: your hormones have shifted. How your hormones change during exercise depends on what type of activity you do, as well as your genetics, diet, sleep, hydration and a range of other confounding variables.
An anabolic or catabolic hormonal response
Hormones can be anabolic, meaning they support the growth of new tissue and cells, or they are catabolic, meaning they cause the breakdown of tissue and cells.
Anabolism
Anabolic hormones like:
- Testosterone
- Estrogen
- Human growth hormone (HGH)
- Insulin
- Insulin-like growth factor (IGF); and
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
are all spiked during exercise. As a result, these hormones encourage muscle protein synthesis, muscle mass growth, fat loss, blood sugar regulation, tissue repair, immunity and cognitive function. This is an ideal outcome in terms of a hormonal response.
However, not all exercise causes a spike in these hormones.
Catabolism
Certain types of exercise elevate your levels of catabolic hormones, including:
- Cortisol
- Adrenaline
- Glucagon
The result of elevating these hormones is increased blood glucose levels by gluconeogenesis – the breaking down of fats and proteins and the breakdown of glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscle, to use for fuel during the workout. As well as a rise in heart rate, blood pressure and respiration.
When your body uses up all the available glycogen (glycogen depletion), cortisol is released to switch to amino acids as fuel (muscle protein catabolism).
As you can see, a catabolic response isn’t necessarily bad, in fact, it’s essential for fueling your activity. However when catabolic hormones remain elevated muscle mass will deteriorate and the immune system becomes compromised.
These hormones are known as the ‘stress’ hormones, because they create a state of physiological stress and inflammation in the body.
In fact, studies show that chronically high cortisol levels promote fat storage, particularly in the face and abdomen, and more drastically among women. It alters the production of ghrelin and leptin, two hormones associated with hunger and satiety, leaving you feeling perpetually hungry and unsatisfied.
What type of exercise triggers an anabolic response?
The types of exercise that trigger an anabolic hormone response include:
- Resistance training
- High intensity interval training (HIIT)
Studies show that short bouts of interval circuit-style resistance training results in the most beneficial hormonal response of any exercise, spiking all the key anabolic hormones to feel, look and perform better than ever.
What type of exercise triggers a catabolic response?
Low intensity steady state cardio (LISS) and endurance sports are linked to catabolic hormonal spikes. These may include:
- Long distance running
- Swimming
- Biking
- Walking; or
- Essentially any type of exercise performed at a low to moderate, steady intensity for a long period of time.
While these aerobic exercises are great for heart and lung health, lowering blood pressure, regulating blood sugar, body weight regulation and immune function – there are some downsides to them in terms of their hormonal response. But this all depends on the conditions in which they are practiced. Let’s explore that.
Avoid these conditions when engaging in catabolic exercise
Aerobic, LISS cardio is vital for general cardiovascular health and fitness. But there are certain conditions that contribute to hormonal imbalance. These include:
1. Not recovering post-workout and between sessions
Exercise causes inflammation and muscle damage as a natural response to the training stimuli. Due to this, you need to recover after your workout and between sessions. If you fail to recover properly, by not fueling your body, depriving yourself of sleep or not replenishing fluids, you are increasing the likelihood of hormone imbalance, as cortisol and adrenaline levels will remain elevated.
2. Overtraining
Even if you do eat and sleep well, stretch and drink water post-workout, you may still be overdoing it. Unless you’re a professional athlete, it’s not recommended to workout intensely for an hour seven days per week.
As per the government recommendation, you should aim for 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity per week. Training too frequently will elevate your cortisol levels and trigger a catabolic response – you will be breaking down muscle and fat tissue, and feeling stressed and tired, constantly.
More is not better!
3. External stressors
Your body and mind are connected. If you’re having a stressful week at work, you should consider altering your workout program. Instead of doing your usual 10 km run, try a 10 minute HIIT session instead.
External stressors like work, relationships, major life changes and environmental influences like media channels, can all impact your mental health and make you feel stressed and anxious. While exercise can be a great cure for mental health issues, it can also exacerbate them, particularly if you are doing catabolic exercise.
4. Caloric deficit
When you do not have enough circulating nutrients, as per a caloric deficit or a nutrient-poor diet, you are inhibiting exercise recovery which can create a state of internal stress in your body.
A study published in 2011 examined this, finding that low calorie dieting increases cortisol levels and psychological stress, increases ghrelin – your hunger hormone, which exacerbates cravings and irritability, and is linked to low mood due to low levels of dopamine.
If you are exercising for long periods of time, you need to replenish your body’s energy stores to help regulate the catabolic hormonal response. If you’re in a calorie deficit, you may struggle to do this effectively.
Conclusion
If you want to balance your hormones, you need to optimize your workout routine. We hope this article has helped you understand how your hormones change as a result of the exercise you do. Work with – rather than against – your hormones to boost your performance, mood and energy levels.
So if achieving hormone balance is your goal, we hope this blog post helps you understand the truth about exercise and your hormones, and how to create the perfect routine for success.