15 Ways to Increase Progesterone: Diet, Supplements & Lifestyle Tips
Progesterone, along with estrogen, is one of the two major female sex hormones. Because it plays an important role in pregnancy, menstruation, and overall health and well-being, you can run into problems when progesterone levels are too low.
If you suspect you may be experiencing low progesterone, there are some easy ways how to increase progesterone levels naturally. In this post, we will look at three major categories: diet, supplements, and lifestyle tips and explore how each can help keep your progesterone levels in check.
Key Takeaways
If you are experiencing low progesterone, there are a variety of effective methods to increase levels. Lifestyle changes that can impact hormone levels include maintaining a healthy weight, proper nutrition, getting enough sleep, and adequate exercise. Your doctor may also prescribe hormone therapy in one of its various forms to help with symptoms. Progesterone hormone replacement therapy can come in the form of creams, suppositories, or oral medications and your doctor will help determine which one is the best for you.
Understanding Progesterone
You can learn a lot about the role of progesterone from looking at the etymology of the word itself: the prefix “pro-” means to promote, and the rest of the word, “-gesterone,” refers to gestation, a.k.a. pregnancy. In other words, progesterone is a reproductive hormone that’s necessary to promote a healthy pregnancy.
Even so, progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum (the transformed follicle that releases an egg during ovulation) whether you become pregnant during your menstrual cycle or not. If you do become pregnant, progesterone will rise to thicken the uterine lining, which provides nutrients to the developing fetus.
Because progesterone is so important in pregnancy, experts believe that low progesterone levels may contribute to recurrent miscarriages in some women. Accordingly, progesterone therapy has been found to have a significant benefit in helping women with recurrent miscarriages get and stay pregnant.
If you do not become pregnant during your cycle, progesterone still peaks, but it declines toward the end of your cycle to signal to your body that it is approaching menstruation. If you have anovulatory cycles where you do not ovulate, you may not experience this peak and decline in progesterone and may fail to have a menstrual period as a result. Tracking your urine hormone concentrations with a digital fertility tracker like Mira can help you determine if your PdG levels are rising and falling as they should.
Please note that Progesterone (measured in ng/mL) should not be confused with PdG (measured in ug/mL), the urine metabolite of progesterone commonly used in at-home testing. Mira tracks PdG. All the information provided in this article about Progesterone is purely educational. Please always refer to your healthcare provider.
Birth control pills work to produce a similar effect. They contain synthetic forms of progesterone and estrogen, or sometimes progesterone only, to keep hormones at a steady level throughout your cycle. This prevents you from ovulating and having a true menstrual period — a “period” on hormonal birth control is actually known as withdrawal bleeding, and is not considered a “true period” — so you cannot get pregnant.
In addition to playing a role in reproduction, progesterone also contributes to many medical conditions. Progesterone pills are used to treat reproductive health conditions like endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). The hormone may also contribute to other medical conditions not involving the reproductive system, including the growth of some cancers and migraine headaches.
Common Causes of Low Progesterone
Your progesterone levels depend on a number of factors including age, gender, and where you are in your menstrual cycle, or whether you’re pregnant or not. Levels fluctuate throughout your cycle and can even vary throughout the day. Ovaries that function poorly can cause low progesterone production and it’s natural for progesterone levels to fall during menopause (along with estrogen).
Some of the most common causes of low progesterone include anovulatory cycles, PCOS, hypothyroidism, high stress, hyperprolactinemia, along with other lifestyle factors.
Since progesterone is produced by the transformed follicle that releases the egg, anovulatory cycles or conditions where you don’t ovulate (common with PCOS) can often be the cause of low progesterone. When your thyroid is underactive (hypothyroidism) it can also be difficult for your body to produce enough progesterone since the hormones that regulate your endocrine system aren’t being produced sufficiently. Consider screening your 5 key biomarkers (TSH, fT4, prolactin, free testosterone, AMH) to dig further into the reasons behind low progesterone.
When the pituitary gland produces too much of the hormone prolactin, a condition known as hyperprolactinemia, it disrupts the hormonal balance and production of progesterone. Basically when prolactin levels are too high, the body produces less progesterone.
Stress is a fertility killer in many aspects but when the stress hormone (i.e. cortisol) is released, it takes over and resources are pulled from other areas. Chronic stress can make it difficult to produce progesterone due to the competing nature of cortisol. Other lifestyle factors like maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and stress management can all play a role in hormonal balance.
Natural Ways to Increase Progesterone
In addition to taking a form of progesterone as medication (known as progestins), there are also certain foods and lifestyle changes you can make to help boost your progesterone levels naturally.
Dietary Changes
Sex hormones like progesterone are made from protein, fat, and cholesterol. When the body doesn’t derive enough of these nutrients from its diet, hormone production can suffer. For this reason, those eating a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet may suffer from symptoms of low estrogen or progesterone.
This is why your body needs a steady supply of healthy fats in order to optimize hormone production. Make sure you are eating enough saturated and unsaturated fats, including monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. You can find these fats in a number of whole foods.
Saturated fats are primarily found in animal products like butter, cheese, and meat, but they are also found in coconut oil. Unsaturated fats, including monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, can be found in fatty fish (such as salmon), nuts, vegetable oils (like olive and avocado), and flaxseed.
Lifestyle and Exercise
Estrogen dominance, which can result when progesterone is lower relative to estrogen, is a common consequence of weight gain in women.
Progesterone levels have a “chicken and egg” effect on your weight: healthy progesterone levels can reverse weight gain by having a diuretic effect, but in overweight individuals, weight loss can also help bring hormones back into balance.
Keeping your BMI in a healthy range by eating healthfully and exercising appropriately is an overall good idea for your hormone health and fertility (more on how to reverse estrogen dominance naturally here).
While exercise is important for your overall health, it’s also important not to overdo it. Why? Because too much exercise and stress on the body can lead to hormone imbalance. Over-exercising can lead to a condition known as hypothalamic amenorrhea, which causes ovulation and menstruation to stop. Essentially, the body stops producing certain hormones in order to conserve energy to survive. When ovulation does not occur, the corpus luteum does not form – which usually produces progesterone during the second half of the menstrual cycle. This can then lead to low progesterone levels.
There is no specific exercise that you should or shouldn’t do to increase progesterone levels. Instead, it’s all about finding the right balance that works with your existing lifestyle and fitness level.
In general, try to avoid crash diets, intense challenges, and rigorous workout regimes. Instead, opt for activities that you enjoy doing such as jogging, hiking, swimming, yoga, strength training, dancing, and cycling. Even something as simple as walking can be extremely beneficial to your hormone health. The important thing to remember while exercising is to stay in tune with your body, take regular rest days, and make sure that you are consuming enough food to fuel your activities. You should also make sure that your weight stays within a healthy range.
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Stress Management
When our stress hormone (cortisol) spikes, it blocks progesterone receptors and limits the activity of progesterone. Even if you have enough progesterone in your body, you might experience symptoms of low progesterone when stressed due to this physiological response.
While you cannot escape everything that stresses you out, you can find proactive ways to manage your stress. Prioritizing your daily to-do list (and making time for self-care) can help you find balance in your everyday life. Mindfulness techniques like meditation or yoga can also be helpful for managing your stress.
Supplements and Herbal Remedies
While you can usually get all the nutrients you need from a whole foods diet — you may occasionally need a boost when seeking to balance your progesterone levels naturally.
Certain vitamins and minerals are essential for progesterone production and help with hormonal balance.
Zinc plays an important role in regulating progesterone levels by interacting with the pituitary gland to trigger the production of FSH. This keeps ovulation regular, ensuring that the corpus luteum forms and produces progesterone during the second half of the menstrual cycle.
You can get zinc from food sources like nuts and seeds, but also from mineral supplements. Avoid consuming more than 40 mg of zinc per day from food and supplements combined. You should also avoid intranasal zinc supplements, which have been linked to loss of smell.
Vitamin C supplements can help raise your progesterone levels naturally. According to one study, women who took 750 mg of vitamin C per day saw an increase of 77% in their serum progesterone levels. The average daily recommended amount of vitamin C is 75 mg, so make sure you are getting at least that much.
Use caution when taking vitamin C supplements, as it is possible to overdose on them. For adults, the tolerable upper limit of vitamin C is 2,000 mg per day from food and supplements combined.
Another option to help with hormonal balance is a practice known as seed cycling. Seed cycling is a naturopathic remedy that involves consuming different seeds at different points in your cycle for their hormone regulating properties.
The “science” behind seed cycling proposes that the menstrual cycle can be regulated by balancing estrogen and progesterone levels. Through the actions of phytoestrogens, zinc, selenium, and vitamin E found in specific seeds, you can naturally balance the hormones of your cycle.
Chasteberry, or Vitex, is an herbal supplement that has been used for centuries to treat hormonal health conditions. It can be used to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as well as to rebalance progesterone levels.It’s believed that taking chaste berry supplements could increase progesterone levels by regulating the pituitary gland. Evidence to support this practice is limited, but since chaste berry is usually well-tolerated, there’s probably no harm in trying it for yourself.
Alternative Methods to Increase
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a type of treatment associated with Traditional Chinese medicine. It involves the penetration of thin, metallic needles across specific pressure points of the body. It is believed that the practice of acupuncture helps to stimulate the central nervous system in order to help relieve pain and promote healing.
So what does acupuncture have to do with increasing progesterone?
Interestingly, research suggests that acupuncture treatments can help to increase both progesterone and estrogen.
It’s important to note that acupuncture is just one component of a holistic approach to health. In order to see the best results, certified acupuncturists often recommend that certain diets, supplements, and exercises should be followed alongside acupuncture treatments.
Massage
Massages are a great tool for increasing circulation, decreasing stress, and promoting restful sleep – all of which help to keep your hormones (including progesterone) in balance.
While some wellness centers promote “fertility massages”, it is important to be aware that there is no scientific evidence that suggests any one particular type of massage treatment can “cure” infertility, help you get pregnant, or magically balance your hormones.
Instead, massages should be seen as a general tool to help promote relaxation and decrease stress.
Medical Interventions
It’s important to seek advice from your healthcare team if you notice symptoms of low progesterone or are trying to get pregnant. Hormone therapy is a useful form of treatment that can help with symptoms of low progesterone, improving your chances of getting pregnant, and symptoms of menopause. It can come in the form of creams, gels, suppositories, and oral medication. Your doctor can help determine which method of supplementation would be best for you.
Progesterone creams and supplements are a popular way to address symptoms of low progesterone but the research and evidence for their effectiveness is limited. Using too much for too long can cause high or even toxic levels since the hormone may accumulate in fat tissues throughout your body thanks to its highly fat-soluble nature. It is not safe for everyone and should be discussed with your healthcare provider to minimize the risks.
Where to Start
Hormonal imbalances, like low progesterone, can cause a host of issues with your fertility, menstrual cycle, and overall health. There are many natural remedies to increase progesterone as well as more targeted treatments like hormone therapy.
If you suspect you have low progesterone levels, it’s important to confirm the diagnosis by getting an accurate measure of your serum progesterone. Your primary care doctor or OB/GYN can read your serum progesterone levels with a simple blood test — and make sure they fall within a healthy range (more on these tests here).
Likewise, a certified Fertility Coach can help you make sense of your progesterone levels and suggest actionable next steps to improve them.
You can also watch your PdG at home using a digital hormone tracker like Mira. Mira measures hormones like PdG, FSH, and LH in your urine to help you identify hormone imbalances and pinpoint your menstrual cycle with greater accuracy.
Please note that urine PdG should only be used for confirming ovulation. Mira Confirm Wands are not designed nor approved or cleared for monitoring early pregnancy status, miscarriage, fetal health tracking, or other diagnostic uses for which progesterone might be an indicator.
With the Mira fertility tracker, measuring your hormone levels is easy and intuitive. Mira uses test wands (similar to a home pregnancy test) to measure hormone concentrations in your urine. After inserting the wand into Mira, it reads your results and sends them to the Mira app, which graphs your exact hormone curve to give you insight into your menstrual cycle. You can use these results to determine if your progesterone levels are too low, too high, or just right. To get the Mira digital fertility tracker, click here.
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FAQs
What are the normal progesterone levels?
Typical progesterone levels among nonpregnant, ovulating individuals can range from 0.1 to 25 ng/mL. Among pregnant individuals, progesterone levels can rise up to 290 ng/mL during the third trimester of pregnancy.
How long does it take to see results from natural progesterone therapy?
Everyone’s body is different. However, on average, it would likely take a few weeks to a few months to see any tangible results after making lifestyle changes.
Can men benefit from progesterone therapy?
Yes. It’s also possible for men to experience low progesterone, and they can benefit from lifestyle habits that help to keep their hormones in balance.
Common symptoms of low progesterone in men include depression, mood swings, low libido, erectile dysfunction, loss of muscle mass, and fatigue. If this resonates with you or your partner, it’s a good idea to seek help from a doctor. They can conduct the appropriate testing and offer further advice on treatment.
What are the side effects of progesterone therapy?
If your doctor has prescribed progesterone as a medication in the form of progestin, you may experience a range of side effects including headache, breast tenderness, upset stomach, constipation, fatigue, and muscle pain.
If you are not taking medication but have made certain lifestyle changes in order to increase progesterone levels, you may experience the following:
- Side effects of a change in diet: headache, bloating, irritability, diarrhea or constipation, fatigue, food cravings, and difficulty concentrating.
- Side effects of increased exercise: muscle aches, cramps, tiredness, fatigue, and changes in appetite.
In the long term, any positive lifestyle changes made will ultimately help to improve your overall health and wellbeing. This includes tangible improvements in mood, sleep, energy levels, and libido.
Can diet affect progesterone levels?
Absolutely! Sex hormones like progesterone are made from protein, fat, and cholesterol. When the body doesn’t derive enough of these nutrients from its diet, hormone production can suffer. Your body needs a steady supply of healthy fats in order to optimize hormone production.
What role does stress play in progesterone levels?
When our stress hormone (cortisol) spikes, it blocks progesterone receptors and limits the activity of progesterone. Even if you have enough progesterone in your body, you might experience symptoms of low progesterone when stressed due to this physiological response.
While you cannot escape everything that stresses you out, you can find proactive ways to manage your stress. Prioritizing your daily to-do list (and making time for self-care) can help you find balance in your everyday life. Mindfulness techniques like meditation or yoga can also be helpful for managing your stress.
Is hormone therapy a viable option for increasing progesterone?
Hormone therapy is a viable and effective option for increasing progesterone but depends on your specific circumstances. If you are TTC, increasing progesterone levels can help thicken your uterine lining to improve chances of implantation and carrying a pregnancy to term. Progesterone hormone therapy may also help with menstrual irregularities and abnormal bleeding. Combined with estrogen, it may also be used for severe symptoms of menopause but is rarely prescribed alone since symptoms of menopause are usually related to low estrogen.
Can exercise influence progesterone levels?
Too much exercise and stress on the body can lead to hormone imbalance. Over-exercising can lead to a condition known as hypothalamic amenorrhea, which causes ovulation and menstruation to stop. Essentially, the body stops producing certain hormones in order to conserve energy to survive. When ovulation doesn’t occur, the corpus luteum in turn doesn’t form – which usually produces progesterone during the second half of the menstrual cycle. This can then lead to low progesterone levels.
Are progesterone creams safe and effective?
Progesterone creams are topical medications that contain progesterone. It is a type of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms of menopause. Research into these creams is limited and outdated and the results have been mixed at best. Unfortunately, progesterone creams are not held to the same standards as medicinal drugs by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because they are compounded and considered a cosmetic product. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t safe and effective though and any use should be thoroughly discussed with your healthcare provider before treatment.
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