Your adrenal glands produce both pregnenolone and cortisol. Pregnenolone is a precursor hormone to different hormones in your body like progesterone, testosterone, estrogen, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). But sometimes your pregnenolone levels become low. This could happen because of various reasons. Menopause is one reason. Another is adrenal fatigue and the adrenal's inability to convert cholesterol to pregnenolone. However, there are ways to increase pregnenolone naturally.
Often, those with lower pregnenolone levels have a hormonal imbalance. You may experience symptoms like loss of energy, memory, and libido. Suffering from hair loss, joint pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression are also common. Low pregnenolone may also hasten the aging process. You can reduce these symptoms when you make an effort to increase pregnenolone naturally.
As a point of interest, pregnenolone has strong anti-inflammatory properties. People with adrenal fatigue or one of its associated health issues often suffer from chronic inflammation.
Your hormones play an important role in endocrine function. Your endocrine system, starting in your brain and including multiple organs and processes in your body, is governed by the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. Once stress sets in, your NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response kicks in, setting into action a chain of events that affect all your body systems and your hormones in particular.
Stress results in an increase in your adrenal glands’ cortisol production. This leads to elevated blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It also causes an increase in your heart rate. This is the "fight or flight" response, designed to give you the energy, strength, and speed to handle stress in the short term. Long-term cortisol production, however, could have devastating consequences to your health. This is because the constant high production of cortisol comes at the expense of the production of other hormones not deemed necessary for your immediate survival.
Testosterone is important in maintaining fertility, energy levels, bone and muscle strength, as well as your libido. Both men and women have testosterone, although its production in women is much less as compared to that in men.
DHEA plays an important role in the production of estradiol and testosterone.
Estradiol is a type of estrogen. It plays an important role in reducing the symptoms associated with menopause, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness, as examples. It is thus important that menopausal women do what they can to increase pregnenolone naturally.
Your body converts cholesterol into pregnenolone. This means that we need to eat enough healthy fats for a natural pregnenolone increase.
Cholesterol is made in your liver but is also derived from your diet.
Some protein sources contain cholesterol but also saturated and trans fats that harm arterial health. Examples of these include poultry, red meat, and dairy products. Eating too much of these foods could increase your levels of ‘bad cholesterol’.
Good fats, on the other hand, promote heart health and are found in coconut oil, avocado, fatty fish, nuts, certain seeds, and olive oil, to name but a few. They provide healthy fats that ultimately help increase pregnenolone naturally.
It is worth mentioning that certain foods have an antioxidant effect, and while this may not have anything to do with pregnenolone production, they could reduce internal inflammation and provide key nutrients that support your adrenals.
There are many factors that could cause an imbalance in hormone levels. When you increase pregnenolone naturally, you may positively influence these factors, helping to restore hormone balance within your body and resolve symptoms associated with lower pregnenolone levels.
One of the main factors having a negative effect on your hormone levels is stress. This stress could come from the environment, an illness, relationships or financial trouble, or mental health issues. Higher stress levels result in a higher cortisol output, which uses pregnenolone in your body for cortisol production. This slows down or stops the production of other hormones during this time of crisis. The result? A hormone imbalance.
Under normal conditions, things would balance out once the stress is over. But prolonged stress could call for a constant and even increasingly elevated supply of cortisol. Your adrenal glands could ultimately become affected, eventually unable to meet the demand. The result is adrenal fatigue and a range of symptoms.
You could help prevent this or even provide adrenal support if you increase pregnenolone naturally.
Overweight people often have more estrogen because fat promotes estrogen production. Overweight men often have more breast tissue because of this. In women, however, the scale tends to tip towards more testosterone. This could see the development of more bodily hair as is often seen on the face, for example.
Your body heals while you sleep. Too little sleep, however, puts added stress on your body which boosts your cortisol production and reduces your pregnenolone levels. Lack of sleep is one of the factors associated with adrenal fatigue.
Many people either overuse supplements or take the wrong types of supplements. This is often the case with those suffering from adrenal fatigue. Many supplements labeled as providing adrenal support, for example, contain certain hormones and steroids that could worsen your condition. They could also cause a further discrepancy in your hormone levels. This is because each person is different, and determining which supplements are right for you depends on your level of adrenal fatigue and your hormone composition. There is no one size fits all solution.
Fortunately, there are a few safe ways to increase pregnenolone naturally without having to resort to drastic measures.
Changing your diet is one of the easiest ways to increase pregnenolone naturally. Healthy fats are an excellent way to encourage your body to make pregnenolone. These include olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, flaxseeds, and certain fish. Make sure your diet includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids, and proteins. Foods with anti-inflammatory properties are also good to include. Among these are seeds, nuts, tomatoes, and many others. The adrenal fatigue diet includes many of these elements.
Also avoid sugary foods and beverages, caffeine, and processed foods. They all add to your body’s stress load. Processed foods, for example, contain various compounds that could add to your stress levels and cause an imbalance in gut bacteria. Sugar is quickly converted to glucose, raises your blood sugar levels while any excess is stored as fat. Caffeine is a quick pick-me-upper but could cause an adrenal crash, depending on your level of adrenal fatigue.
We have noted how stress impacts cortisol production. But with the stressful environment we live in, we tend to constantly find ourselves in stressful situations. Not all of us can move away from anything that causes us stress. Our best option, therefore, is to learn to manage it. But we often find this easier said than done.
To manage stress, try aromatherapy. The different oils used for aromatherapy, like peppermint, sandalwood, and lavender, all have calming properties. You could also opt for deep breathing exercises, doing a gentle exercise like yoga, or meditating. Starting a new hobby also works well for many people.
While you need to use caution in choosing supplements, certain supplements, like vitamin B 5 and B6, Vitamin D3, and vitamin K, are beneficial to many people. Herbal supplements are another option. Ginseng and Rhodiola are both good at stress management.
However, these should be taken with caution. Before you start taking any supplements, please first talk to your healthcare provider who can advise you on their suitability and dosage. Some supplements contain hormones that may affect your hormone balance.
The importance of getting a good night’s sleep cannot be overstated. You should get an average of between six and eight hours of sleep every night. If you have difficulty falling asleep, consider a glass of warm milk with a spoon of honey. Relaxation exercises may also help, as could meditation. Sleep can help increase pregnenolone naturally.
"Hormone balance" refers to having enough of the right hormones, at the right time, to do a certain job. Both men, women, and children of all ages could have a hormonal imbalance. Children undergoing puberty often have a hormone imbalance due to the changes taking place in their bodies as they reach adulthood.
The most common symptoms of hormone imbalance include:
There are many other similar symptoms, but given that each of us is unique, our experiences are not identical. Symptoms differ from one person to the next. Your healthcare practitioner could tell you whether your symptoms relate to a hormonal imbalance.
All your body organs and systems are linked. When one part of this intricate system becomes unbalanced, all areas of the system are ultimately affected. Hormone balance is but one of these. Remember, your hormones play an important role in most body functions, so doing what you can to keep them balanced is especially important.
Because pregnenolone is one of the important precursor hormones in our bodies, it makes sense to do what we can to increase pregnenolone naturally. Many symptoms indicate lower levels of this hormone, as it is tied to higher cortisol levels. The latter, although necessary to manage stress, could have long-term, damaging consequences if not kept in check. One of these consequences is a hormonal imbalance.
If you suffer from adrenal fatigue or a hormone imbalance, here are a few things you can do to help alleviate the situation:
Acquaint yourself with the different ways you can increase pregnenolone naturally.Please remember that supplements affect people in different ways. Their effectiveness also depends on your stage of adrenal fatigue. Therefore, always first talk to your healthcare practitioner before using a supplement.
If you would like to know more about how to increase pregnenolone naturally, the team at Dr. Lam Coaching can help. We offer a free** no-obligation phone consultation at +1 (626) 571-1234 where we will privately discuss your concerns. You can also send a question through our Ask The Doctor System by clicking here.
Your level of adrenal fatigue often determines whether something will help address the issue. Healing, unfortunately, is a long, drawn-out process that may take years in some cases. But when you increase pregnenolone naturally, you provide adrenal support, so it may assist you in your efforts to better health.
