The Greek root of the word hormone means “to set in motion.” Hormones send signals that set countless physiological processes in motion, influence every tissue, and are constantly responding to our terrain. They are part of a living network that is shaped by the world around us. Light, food, temperature, chemicals, sleep, stress, relationships, and even our emotional landscape constantly influence how hormones rise and fall.
For many people, hormone balance feels confusing or out of reach. It can seem like a maze of symptoms, lab results, and conflicting advice. But in reality, most hormonal disruptions can be traced back to a few central forces that influence the entire system. When thyroid function is low, every cell slows down and compensates with stress responses. When cortisol stays high, the body shifts into survival mode and pulls resources away from repair, fertility, and metabolism. When estrogen is elevated or poorly cleared, tissues become more inflamed and sensitive.
This is why so many of the strategies for balancing one hormone overlap with the strategies for balancing another. They operate as a network. Once you support the major systems that set everything in motion—thyroid function, nutrients, sun, nervous system balance, and the body’s basic sense of safety— hormones can naturally fall into balance.
When supplementing hormones, I prefer using natural, bioidentical forms rather than relying on herbs or indirect approaches. Bioidentical hormones match the body’s own chemistry and provide a clearer, more predictable response. For many people, this direct method is far more effective than trying to manipulate pathways upstream or hoping herbs will create enough of a shift. It allows us to restore what’s missing with precision.
Thyroid hormones (T4/T3)
Thyroid hormones regulate the rate of cellular respiration—how quickly oxygen and nutrients are turned into usable energy (ATP). T3 affects almost every tissue: it increases mitochondrial activity, stabilizes blood sugar by improving glucose uptake, supports digestion, healthy cholesterol, cell differentiation, and maintains healthy reproductive hormone balance.
To optimize:
- Eat frequent meals (carbs + protein) to keep stress hormones down and support T4→T3 conversion
- Sunlight + adequate vitamin D to improve thyroid receptor sensitivity
- Limit PUFAs
- Ensure sufficient salt, copper, magnesium, and B vitamins for hormone production and conversion
- Support liver health, since ~80% of T3 is produced through liver conversion of T4
- Red light therapy
- Supplement with a combination of T3 and T4 (natural desiccated thyroid)
Estrogen (estradiol)
Estradiol is essential for reproduction and short bursts of tissue growth, but chronically elevated levels can drive excessive tissue growth, promote inflammation, increase water retention, and stress responses. It also burdens the liver, which must continually detoxify and clear it. When estrogen is not properly metabolized, it recirculates and accumulates in tissues, increasing cellular stress.
To optimize:
- Reduce PUFAs (they increase estrogen signaling and oxidative stress)
- Lower xenoestrogen exposure (plastics, fragrances, pesticides)
- Support liver clearance (adequate protein, calcium, raw carrot/charcoal)
- Strengthen thyroid function to improve estrogen detox pathways
- Supplement with bioidentical progesterone
Progesterone
Progesterone is the primary protective hormone. It stabilizes cells by improving mitochondrial efficiency, lowering inflammation, opposing excessive estrogen action, and supporting healthy blood sugar regulation. Progesterone promotes deep sleep, reduces aldosterone (bloating), lowers prolactin, protects the brain from excitotoxicity, and improves oxygen utilization.
To optimize:
Eat enough calories, especially carbs, to prevent cortisol spikes which lower progesterone
- Ensure sunlight + vitamin D to support ovaries and adrenals
- Optimize thyroid function
- Reduce chronic emotional stress
- Avoid PUFAs, which interfere with progesterone synthesis
- Optimize intake of vitamin C and E
- Get sunlight
- Use bioidentical progesterone (cream or capsules)
Testosterone
Testosterone is the hormone that gives the body its strength, repair capacity, and metabolic drive. It increases the rate at which tissues rebuild, improves how efficiently the body produces energy, and keeps inflammation low. Optimal testosterone supports muscle mass, bone density, oxygen-carrying capacity, libido, and stable, grounded mood. When testosterone is low, the body becomes easier to stress
To optimize:
- Support thyroid function
- Get regular sunlight
- Strength train
- Eat enough protein, cholesterol, and micronutrients like zinc, vitamin A, magnesium, etc.
- Avoid exposure to xenoestrogens and plastics
- Reduce visceral fat which increases aromatase (the enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen)
- Support liver clearance (adequate protein, calcium, raw carrot/charcoal)
DHEA
DHEA is one of the body’s primary “youth” steroid hormones, produced mainly in the adrenal glands. It acts as both a buffer and a reservoir: buffering the effects of cortisol during stress while supplying the raw materials for downstream hormones like testosterone and (to a lesser degree) estrogens.
DHEA keeps cortisol in check. In a healthy endocrine system, DHEA and cortisol rise and fall together. But with chronic stress, low thyroid, inflammation, or aging, cortisol stays high while DHEA falls. This shift is associated with faster aging, weaker metabolic flexibility, immune dysregulation, loss of muscle and bone mass, and greater vulnerability to inflammatory conditions. DHEA naturally declines with age, but it also falls prematurely in states of low thyroid, nutrient deficiency, chronic inflammation, sleep disruption, and persistent stress.
To optimize:
- Ensure adequate intake of cholesterol, copper, vitamin B3, B5, B6, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, selenium, etc.
- Get adequate sunlight
- Support thyroid function
- Eat frequently to support blood sugar and lower cortisol
- Supplement with DHEA
Pregnenolone
Pregnenolone is the parent steroid hormone: the first hormone made from cholesterol inside the mitochondria. It sits at the very top of the steroid pathway. It the precursor to all sex hormones including progesterone and testosterone. However, this does not mean it is inert or passive. Pregnenolone itself is a bioactive neurosteroid with direct effects on the brain, stress response, and cellular energy.
Pregnenolone modulates GABA and NMDA receptors, enhances learning and memory, reduces the “stress load” on the nervous system, and improves mental resilience. It influences mitochondrial function, and lowers inflammation.
To optimize:
- Ensure adequate cholesterol intake (eggs, dairy, shellfish)
- Support thyroid function to activate the cholesterol → pregnenolone conversion
- Reduce PUFAs, which suppress mitochondrial steroid synthesis
- Keep cortisol low with regular, balanced meals
- Get morning sunlight to strengthen adrenal + mitochondrial rhythm
- Ensure adequate intake of magnesium, copper, and B vitamins (required for steroid enzyme activity)
- Prioritize good sleep, when neurosteroid replenishment is highest
Cortisol
Cortisol increases blood sugar during acute stress, but chronic elevation has degenerative effects. It breaks down muscle and tissues for glucose, suppresses thyroid conversion, increases blood sugar instability, raises inflammation long-term, and disrupts sex hormone balance. High cortisol increases prolactin, slows digestion, lowers progesterone, and makes tissues more responsive to estrogen.
To optimize:
- Get morning sunlight
- Keep blood sugar balanced (eat every 3-4 hours)
- Drink coffee with meals / enough nutrients
- Ensure adequate intake of sodium, potassium, and magnesium
- Supplement with pregnenolone
- Supplement with progesterone
Insulin
Insulin enables glucose to enter cells for ATP production. It is not inherently “bad”—problems arise when cells are metabolically impaired. Low thyroid, high cortisol, and elevated PUFAs reduce insulin sensitivity by impairing mitochondrial function. When insulin works efficiently, blood sugar stability improves, inflammation decreases, and metabolic rate rises.
To optimize:
- Limit PUFAs, which damage insulin signaling
- Prefer easy-to-digest sugars (fruit, honey, juice) over starches
- Support thyroid and muscle mass
- Keep cortisol low through regular meals
- Ensure adequate intake of B vitamins, magnesium, and potassium which are essential for healthy sugar metabolism
- Get adequate sunlight
Prolactin
Prolactin rises with stress, high estrogen, low thyroid function, fasting, poor sleep, and serotonin excess. It lowers libido, interferes with ovulation, shortens or lengthens cycles, increases breast tenderness, and promotes a more inflammatory, estrogen-dominant environment.
A crucial caveat: prolactin is supposed to rise during pregnancy and breastfeeding. In that context, it helps prepare breast tissue, supports milk production, and shifts the body into a protective, energy-conserving state. Outside of pregnancy, however, high prolactin becomes maladaptive because it mimics a “pseudo-pregnant” state: lower metabolic rate, impaired ovulation, and increased stress reliance.
Prolactin almost always rises when thyroid function is low. Low T3 slows down dopamine production and weakens ovarian progesterone output, which are two of the major brakes on prolactin. Dopamine is prolactin’s natural counterweight. When dopamine drops, through stress, sleep loss, low protein intake, or thyroid suppression, prolactin rises quickly.
To optimize:
- Support thyroid (T3 lowers prolactin more reliably than anything)
- Increase dopamine (sunlight, adequate protein, regular meals, meaningful activities)
- Reduce estrogen dominance
- Ensure adequate vitamin B6 intake
- Avoid fasting and late-night stress
- Improve sleep and circadian rhythm
- Supplement with progesterone