A Daily Blissful Routine: Balancing Your Hormones with Ayurveda
Looking for a way to restore your hormone balance and lead an energized and blissful life? Ayurveda is the answer! This ancient Eastern healing system offers a different hormone-balancing ritual for every time of day. As we know, maintaining hormonal health is an important factor in good overall health, so discovering the best routine suitable for your hormones can help build an improved quality of life.
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Ayurvedic guidance for balanced hormones
Dinacharya is the Sanskrit word for daily routine. It’s a simple way to establish healthy habits through intuitive connection to your body’s natural hormone rhythms. A good daily routine moves in rhythm with the three doshas—vata, pitta, and kapha—which are each strongest at different times of day. By performing different activities that follow this energy flow, you can gently guide your hormones back into balance.
According to Ayurvedic teachings, pitta dosha governs hormones. The pitta dosha is most active from puberty through menopause, which is when most hormone imbalances occur. And because many modern women deal with stress, a poor diet, and demanding careers, the effects of a hormone imbalance can be even more amplified.
Ayurvedic guidelines focus on overall balance, so you can learn to build a healthy routine to better handle factors that are within your control, as well as those that may not be.
Here are the hormone-balancing activities you should practice, and the time of day they’re most effective, according to Eastern medicine.
Learn more: How to Balance Women’s Hormones…Fast!
Rise early & prime digestion – 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Ayurvedic teachings recommend waking early, preferably around 6 a.m. At this time, vata dosha—which is ruled by space & air—is strong, but afterwards, the heavy, slow kapha dosha takes over. This is why waking up later in the morning may lead you to feel less alert than if you were up with the sun.
Upon waking, drink a mug of warm lemon water. I like to boil 8 ounces of filtered water, and add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, as well as a slice or two of fresh ginger. This helps stimulate digestive movement and primes digestion for the day’s meals. Ayurveda refers to this as agni or digestive fire.
Related: 6 Drinks That Help Shed Belly Fat & Reduce Bloating
Lunch & meditation – 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The ideal time to have lunch is around noon, when digestive fire—or agni—is strong. Experts in Eastern and Western medicine both suggest that lunch should be your most substantial meal of the day.
In midday, the pitta dosha is most active, giving you energy to take on any big tasks you have for the day. Midday is the perfect time to tackle work, errands, or other items on your to-do list as you’ll have greater mental focus and clarity thanks to the qualities of pitta dosha.
If you need an afternoon pick-me-up, you may need added methylation support.
Rebalance – 2 p.m. – 6p.m.
As your focus declines in the afternoon, your energy will naturally shift toward vata. Since vata is governed by space and air, you’ll have more creative energy at this time of day, but it’s important to harness it in the right way. Making space to embrace vata may help you arrive at a solution for a problem you’ve been dealing with.
Since this is the time of day when your focus & attention may start to decline, avoid reaching for a sugary snack or caffeine, as this can easily push vata out of balance and create adrenal hormone imbalance (1). Instead, brew a cup of CCF tea or head outside for a series of breathing exercises to rebalance the body.
Meditation is an excellent practice that will help transition your mind and body into a relaxing evening. Studies show that meditation helps manage stress in as little as 10 minutes per day (2). Stress often leads to hormonal imbalances with estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol. This results in premenstrual symptoms (PMS), irregular menstrual cycles, mood changes, hair loss, and hot flashes. Meditation helps to regulate cortisol—the stress hormone—and increase serotonin, reducing stress and feelings of anxiety.
Related: Ayurvedic Teas to Drink for Bloating: Herbs for Better Digestion
Evening meal, massage, & sleep – 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Your last meal of the day should be lighter than lunch, before sundown, and generally about 4 hours before bed. This gives plenty of time for food to digest before it’s time to sleep.
To help wind down for the night, try the practice of abhyanga. This practice of self-massage has numerous benefits, including soft skin, improved sleep, healthy circulation, and a strong immune system. To practice abhyanga, follow these simple steps:
- Warm 2 to 4 oz. of your oil of choice in an 8 ounce squeeze top or pump top bottle by running it under warm tap water. You can use coconut oil, or a lighter apricot or almond oil.
- Apply oil liberally to your body. Start by massaging your extremities and work inward toward the middle of your body. This should take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes.
- After, step into a warm shower to open your pores and allow the oil to moisten your skin. Then, shower as normal.
After your nighttime routine, it’s time to sleep. Ayurveda believes that sleep patterns should follow the sun, and the best time to sleep is from at least 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The setting sun relays information through your eyes and triggers the release of melatonin in the brain. Melatonin prepares your body for sleep. If you’re scrolling on your phone, watching TV, or have bright lights on, your brain won’t get the message that it’s time for sleep. For better quality sleep, read this post.
To quiet a busy mind at night, try Sleep Savior.
Using Ayurveda for hormone balance
Ayurvedic teachings are an intuitive and effective way to gain more clarity and energy in your daily life. With a few tweaks to your schedule, you can take control of your hormones and lead a blissful day-to-day existence. Learning how to interpret your body’s feedback helps identify imbalances within yourself. Once you can do this, slowly implement the various Ayurvedic rituals and routines into your day. With consistency and dedication, you’ll be able to build an easy-to-follow daily routine that will make you feel healthy and grounded.
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