PCOS: Lifestyle Practices to Support Your Body
This is the third post in my PCOS Series in honor of PCOS Awareness month. Be sure to also check out PCOS: What it is and How it Manifests and PCOS: The Role of Nutrition in Managing your Symptoms!
The ultimate goal in treating the symptoms of PCOS is to get you to the the top of the Hierarchy of Self Care - belonging, esteem, and self actualization. You have confidence, wellbeing, and are able to really live and thrive in the body that you have.
The big picture goal in terms of treatment around that are to use nutrition, physical activity, and stress management to help reduce the inflammatory burden to your mind and body; improve your insulin sensitivity; support your body’s mechanisms and pathways that will help you achieve regular 21 to 35 day cycles and in doing improve your fertility markers; and, lastly, by addressing these behaviors around healthy living and mindset, achieve weight management or weight loss that can help you reduce inflammation within the body.
In short, you can’t feel your most amazing and have more respect for your body if you do not start from the foundations on the basic level of physiology.
Sleep
Sleep is number 1. If there is one thing you can start doing to improve your hormonal balance and feel good in your body today, that is SLEEP. Women with PCOS actually experience more sleep disturbances such as trouble going to sleep, staying asleep, waking up early or in the night. That is why you have to take time to prioritize it so you are not causing more inflammation.
When you sleep you aren’t just resting your eyes. Your body continues to work. It’s an integral part of the mind body connection by playing a key role in your fertility hormones, gut microbiome, hunger and appetite regulation, and healing the body at a mitochondrial (cellular) level. Sleep triggers the release of lutenizing hormone - the hormone responsible for ovulation. Lack of sleep increases your appetite hormone (ghrelin) and decreases your fullness hormone (leptin) - resulting in that bottomless pit feeling. Sleep heals DNA and cellular damage which reduces systemic inflammation. Want to improve gut health? GO TO BED! Sleep quality is correlated with gut bacteria diversity - the better you sleep the more gut bacteria you have. Not only that but, research shows that our microbiome regulates circadian rhythms so if you’re not sleeping, it’s time to heal your gut!
I live in New York City and it is so common to work until 11:00 pm or 12:00 am, get 5 or 6 hours of sleep, and subsist on coffee to get through the day. All of that is really driving inflammation. We need sleep so that has to be a big priority. Sleep is often the first thing to go but it is really when you restore and heal at a very cellular level. We need sleep and it really plays a huge role in a lot of the mechanisms and hormones that play into fertility and appetite and insulin management.
Stress Management
Staying in the stress cycle does a real doozy on our hormonal and systemic function - impacting sex hormones, metabolism, gut health. When you’re dealing with chronic stress, nutrition and self care can sometimes seem trivial. It can be easy to put your needs on the back burner and resort to coping patterns that don’t serve you. However, in order to heal and restore your energy, you have to act with kindness and compassion for yourself.
When you understand your inflammation response, identify what’s going on, and instill behaviors and practices that help you process, you can cope and heal your body from chronic stress and burnout. When your hormones are balanced, you can decrease low grade inflammation and cortisol - stress hormone levels - which is essential to managing PCOS symptoms.
By establishing boundaries, asking for help, and taking a positive mindset, you reduce stress and prevent ensuing inflammation. Rest and restorative exercise are so important such as walking and yoga - which can reduce anxiety and lower glucose and insulin resistance. Mindfulness and meditation practices are also shown to improve your mood and reduce cortisol.
Physical Activity
Exercise is a celebration of the body, not punishment! I see so often women beating their bodies into the ground when really exercise can be about movement and feeling good in your body. Everyone is different, but what I see most often is that women with PCOS are not strength training enough! Strength training builds lean muscle mass which benefits the whole body and mind. Muscle mass builds insulin receptors. This helps reduce insulin resistance which is great for managing PCOS. At the end of the day, PCOS is an insulin related condition.
Strength training also helps women balance their estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels, improve blood glucose control, build bone and prevent osteoporosis, and boost metabolism by more effectively utilizing energy. Women, we need to be strong to carry the weight of our lives, which I know is more than those 2 lb things you find in a soul cycle class. I recommend strength training 2-3 times a week plus some yoga with cardio sprinkled in there too. Doesn’t have to be crazy, just consistent!
The goal is to be consistent. You do not need to kill yourself in the gym doing 5 HITT classes a week. This idea that we need to go hardcore every day can actually further increase inflammatory responses. So exercising to the point of exhaustion or exercising too much or at too high of an intensity can really impact your PCOS symptoms and the underlying inflammation in your body. Studies have shown that moderate exercise, e.g., aerobics, yoga, 2-3 times a week can improve fertility, insulin sensitivity, and waist circumference even without weight loss.
Eating Strategies
Prioritizing the nutrient density of your food is the first line of intervention when we want to address different systems in your body the impact of inflammation. But we also want to consider how you eat. Your behaviors, practices, and mindset around food impact your metabolism, hormones, and body confidence.
Ideally you want to time your eating with your circadian rhythm so you have adequate energy throughout the day and your cortisol response remains in check. This helps balance hormones, promotes stable blood glucose, and reduces cravings. When you eat too little or go too long without a snack or meal, it can cause high insulin which leads to low blood sugar and sets off the inflammatory pathway.
You also want to be mindful of cravings. Women with PCOS that have severe insulin resistance can experience intense cravings, even after you just ate. You can help mitigate these cravings and manage your energy by always having a fat or protein with your snacks and eating plenty of fiber. Setting boundaries for your nutrition helps you feel more confident around food. They help you tune into your body and reach your goals. Setting nutrition boundaries is an act of self care and body respect.
Tired of taking an all or nothing approach to your wellbeing? I help women understand how to practice self care so they can find peace and feel confident in their bodies. Send me an e-mail if you want to talk.
Reminder: this post is for general education purposes only.
