In our practice we often get asked by our patients how to naturally support their thyroid health. Here are five natural ways to help your thyroid.
- Control stress- Yes stress even effects your thyroid! When the body senses it is in a stressful state it can store your active thyroid hormone (Reverse T3 is the storage form and this can be checked via bloodwork) and leave you feeling wiped out! Try to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep, do some deep breathing exercises several times per day (we like 4-7-8 breathing), and try to manage toxic environments and relationships as best you can.
- Consider adding key vitamins/minerals/herbs to support your thyroid like zinc, vitamin A, iron, vitamin b12 and/or ashwagandha. Always check with your functional medicine provider, naturopath or healthcare provider to be sure this is the right approach for you and monitor your levels be sure you aren’t overdoing it.
- Give yoga a try- Yoga has some great poses for your thyroid: the inverted shoulder stand, the cobra pose, the bridge pose, and the pigeon pose can bring blood flow to your thyroid. Also, the deep breathing that’s in yoga, can help support the adrenal system.
- Check out your diet-if you have an autoimmune thyroid condition in particular, think Hashimotos or Graves, it can be helpful to try eliminating potential triggers of leaky gut like dairy or gluten.
- Clean up your environment- toxins in our environment can cause an inflammatory state and disrupt our ability to regulate hormones and control autoimmunity. Try filtering your water, eating organic foods and avoiding exposure to mercury, lead, arsenic and other heavy metals.
If you want to learn more about natural solutions to thyroid disease check out our youtube video that dives deeper into these ideas