The Surprising Ways Meditation Changes Your Hormones

Meditatio — a quiet, calming practice where you focus your attention on something, such as your breath — is often touted as a simple (and free) practice that can benefit nearly everyone. What you might not be aware of, however, is the impact that meditation can have on balancing hormones, and therefore helping to reduce stress, increase calmness and clarity, boost your mood, and help you sleep. Let’s dig into the latest research, and explore the best ways to meditate if you want to get in on the perks.

Overall, meditation may influence the function of your endocrine system---a network of hormone-producing glands such as the pituitary gland, the thyroid gland, and the adrenal glands, among others. All of these glands work together to manage how your body responds to stress. Meditation affects a stress pathway in your body called the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), which produces and releases stress hormones, including cortisol, notes a July 2020 paper in Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism.

When you’re stressed, one of the last things you want to do is pause and take a breath, but

meditation can be the antidote to out-of-control stress hormones. In a meta-analysis and systematic review of 45 randomized controlled trials, meditation was found to decrease systolic blood pressure (the first number in a blood pressure reading, which measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats) and reduce heart rate. It was also found to reduce cortisol levels and markers of inflammation, according to the December 2017 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The mechanisms for exactly why still need to be studied, but for now, researchers know that meditation calms the activation of your sympathetic nervous system (or SNS, the “fight or flight” response), which may have the long-term effect of helping you better manage stress and reduce the risk of mood disorders such as depression.

If your head hits the pillow and you immediately begin to spiral about everything you didn’t get done that day or have to do tomorrow, you may benefit from a pre-bedtime meditation. Researchers in Current Psychology in September 2020 looked at a specific type of meditation called Yoga Nidra meditation, a guided meditation that prompts you into a conscious awareness of each part of the body (body scan) for deep relaxation — often done before sleep. In the study, people who listened to an audio clip of a Yoga Nidra meditation and then practiced it throughout the month had lower stress, improved well-being, fewer negative thoughts, and better sleep quality compared to a control group. Researchers point out that this type of meditation has been shown to help tamp down cortisol levels, and higher stress levels are known to interfere with sleep.

So, how do you know if meditation might be a useful tool in bettering your hormonal health? The first step is to monitor your hormonal health to uncover the hormones that may be currently out of balance.

One way to do this is to go directly to the source: Check your hormone levels. You can do this by visiting your doctor for a thorough lab work-up or by ordering an at-home test. The  Base Sleep Testing Plan (which measures the sleep hormone melatonin, the stress hormone cortisol, vitamin D levels, or DHEA and testosterone) can help you uncover any imbalances that are preventing quality shuteye. And the Base Stress Testing Plan (measuring cortisol levels throughout the day, testosterone/DHEA, and thyroid hormones) can help pinpoint if a hormone imbalance is behind your symptoms of stress.

If your hormones are indeed out of balance, meditation can be a useful part of your improvement plan (including other lifestyle, dietary, and potential drug-related interventions). Consistency is key when creating a meditation practice you can stick to. Carve out a few minutes in the morning when you wake up or make it a part of your wind-down routine at night when you’re getting ready for bed. You may also try setting an alarm in the middle of the day to take a five-minute break to turn your mind off.

Different types of meditation have different effects on brain activity, which is why certain methods may be more effective than others for hormone balance. In one review, one type of meditation was especially beneficial for cortisol: Focused attention meditation. This type of meditation involves directing your full attention on one thing, most commonly your breath; when your mind wanders, you simply notice the thoughts without judgment and gently redirect your focus back to your breath.

You can also try mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation has also been found to improve sleep quality, according to the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. It involves paying attention to whatever you’re doing in the present moment and really focusing on that experience. Whether you’re taking a walk or washing the dishes, simply focusing on the sensory aspects of the experience (i.e. feeling the hot water, noticing the size of the dishes or your feet hitting the pavement) can bring you into mindfulness meditation.

While you can practice meditation and mindfulness on your own, if you don’t know where to begin, start by downloading a meditation/mindfulness app (e.g. Headspace, Calm, Insight Timer). These apps can help teach you how to bring your mind back to focus when it wanders, can track the days you practice, and help you make it a habit. Try it for one month and then reflect on any improvements that you’ve made with sleep and stress levels --- or re-test your hormone levels. Once you can feel the positive effects, that will be the motivation you need to make it a lasting part of your daily routine.

Meditation has been shown to decrease stress hormones, which can have positive effects on your sleep, too. Using meditation can be one tool you use to balance out your hormones. If you sense that something is off with your hormones, the Base Stress Test is a great place to start.