3 Health Trends That May Negatively Stress a Woman’s Body
Navigating the ever-changing landscape of the nutrition and fitness industry can be both confusing and draining. This can be especially impactful for women who often feel more pressure to live up to certain aesthetic ideals.
While it's encouraged to prioritize health and experiment with new habits to see what suits us, it's important we listen to our bodies and what they’re trying to signal. With women’s unique hormonal fluctuations, we may experience more pronounced and sometimes adverse effects when tweaking our lifestyles. Health-related measures should never take a toll on your mental or physical well-being! Below we’ll explore three common health trends that may leave women’s bodies under unnecessary stress.
Fasting
Fasting is a practice that has been around for centuries in various cultures and religions. Despite the popularity, most studies on fasting primarily involve men. Men and women are physiologically very different so we have reason to believe the benefits/drawbacks of fasting will vary too. Research indicates that fasting during certain times of the menstrual cycle, namely the luteal (4th) phase occurring a week before menstruation, may adversely impact hormones. Since hormones are highly responsive to stress, prolonged fasting can stress the body, disrupting hormone balance and influencing cravings, libido, mood, energy levels, sleep, and more. Ultimately, adopting an individualized approach, starting slow, and attuning to your body’s response is best practice.Low Body Fat Percentage
While the belief of what is considered most attractive and healthy for a woman’s body is ever-evolving, there’s a consistent level of societal pressure for women to uphold a certain figure. This has only been intensified with the prevalence of social media. Although some women feel good at a lower body fat, typically the low teens, most thrive around 20-30%. This range is where our hormones can function most effectively, a critical factor for overall well-being. A clear indicator of excessively low body fat in women is the loss of a menstrual period, which serves as a valuable marker for overall health. While it's common, it's not normal for a period to be painful, unpredictable, overly heavy or completely missed. Maintaining a healthy body fat percentage relieves our bodies from unnecessary stress and supports optimal hormonal function for overall mental and physical well-being, fertility, and more.Intense Exercise & Calorie Restriction
Subjecting our bodies to excessive stress can exert pressure on hormonal function, yielding negative consequences. Intense exercise or severe caloric restrictions directly impact the hormone Cortisol. While Cortisol is crucial for triggering our fight-or-flight response, an excess can result in fatigue, sleep disturbances, weight management issues, high blood pressure, etc. Overall, we need Cortisol to be at normal levels in order to feel and function at our best. Placing too much load on our bodies and not allowing for sufficient rest and recovery is a surefire way to disrupt the optimal state of Cortisol and other hormones.. Believe it or not, a reason you’re not losing weight may be because you’re working too hard! 
Healthy hormonal balance for women can be more intricate than in men and it's important we pay close attention to what our body is trying to tell us when implementing new health practices. What has worked for one person, may not always work for the other. Slow down, take an individualized approach and be weary of what your body is telling you to ensure you’re working with your body and not against it.
