Fact vs Fiction: The Truth Behind Hormone Balancing

Hormones are chemical messengers that help coordinate a range of different functions and biological processes in your body, including metabolism, homeostasis, growth, mood, the sleep-wake cycle, sexual function, and reproduction. Scientists have spent over 100 years studying the impact of hormones and have discovered over 50 different types in the body, yet it is currently claims coming from the world of TikTok that dominate the media, and it’s all to do with “hormone balancing”.

According to TikTok influencers, hormone balancing is best practiced when the moderating chemicals in your body are not made in the right quantities and are not distributed at the right time. This can lead to a multitude of devastating symptoms, including sluggishness, acne, headaches, and weight gain, and for women in particular, it can assist with boosting fertility and managing menopause. By enacting homone balancing through natural methods such as eating certain foods (30 grams of protein at breakfast, for example) or exercising at prescribed times (like taking morning walks), you can rebalance your body and get your life back on track. 

It goes without saying, but it is important to take everything you see on social media with a grain of salt. While crazes such as hormone balancing are often pieced together using valid concepts and science, a lot of what is out there should not be considered proper medical advice. In this article, we look at some of the most prominent ideas surrounding hormone balancing and whether they should be considered fact or fiction. 

Fact: Hormonal health can be influenced by diet and exercise

The reality is hormonal health can actually can be influenced in a variety of ways, sometimes via medical intervention, but often also through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise, which provides some validation to the idea of hormone balancing. Hormone imbalance is a broad term that represents many different hormone-related conditions, such as irregular menstruation, diabetes, and thyroid disease, and it is medically accurate. 

The problem is that, in most cases, content creators are not focused on these legitimate medical concerns. Their concern is instead a broader, vaguer sense of “hormone imbalance,” and more often than not, they claim issues may not show up in standard medical testing. If you are concerned about your hormones, you must seek proper medical assistance and advice from qualified healthcare professionals like general practitioners, nurses with the requisite MSN program qualification, or other specialists, and not unqualified content creators. 

Exercise can impact hormone levels, but you should always seek professional advice relating to this.

Fiction: “Cycle syncing” can help hormone regulation

“Cycle syncing” is a concept touted by TikTokers that involves making small lifestyle changes multiple times a month during the four phases of your menstrual cycle: the follicular phase, ovulation, the luteal phase, and menstruation. By adjusting your diet and exercise routines throughout the month, you can help with the production and regulation of these hormones to achieve the ideal hormone balance. 

The issue with this, and why hormone balancing lacks a clear definition, is because levels of hormones shift and change naturally in the body, particularly during these cycles - and the body generally does a fantastic job of this on its own. Eating recommended foods, such as veggies, dark-coloured berries, brown rice, or chickpeas at certain points of your cycle has not been proven to have any specific outcome on hormones. More than likely, an overall healthy diet is providing the body with the nutrients it needs - regardless of the time of month it is consumed. 

Fiction: Men do not need to worry about hormone imbalance

It's a common misconception that people assigned female at birth are the only ones who need to worry about hormones. This has likely stemmed from a misbelief that menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause - all processes that involve cyclical hormonal fluctuations - are the only processes that involve hormones within the human body. 

While there is certainly a stronger emphasis on women’s health and balancing their hormones on platforms like TikTok, the reality is that men are also affected by hormonal changes that can impact their health, especially as they age. Though they do not experience the same cyclical hormone fluctuations, gradual changes often related to declining testosterone levels can lead to sexual dysfunction, hair loss, sleep pattern changes, and mood swings. 

Fiction: Burnout is caused by “adrenal fatigue”

One of the other more popular concepts relating to hormone balance is adrenal fatigue - the idea that feelings of burnout, whether it be physical, emotional, or mental, are due to adrenal glands failing to produce sufficient hormones like cortisol due to chronic stress. While adrenal fatigue is a term used to describe a group of symptoms that aren’t specific, like tiredness, weakness, and sleep problems, it is not recognized as an actual medical diagnosis by mainstream healthcare professionals.

Burnout can actually arise from multiple factors, including chronic stress, poor diet, a lack of sleep, anxiety, and depression. While adrenal glands play a role in stress responses, burnout is more likely the result of a broader dysregulation of physical, emotional, and psychological systems. This requires a more multifaceted approach to treating burnout rather than a singular focus on hormones.