Science is uncovering several bona fide links between female hormones, hunger, weight loss and fat metabolism. Whether it's your period, menopause, stress, a hysterectomy, or plain old heredity, women have felt vulnerable to hormonal cravings and sluggish metabolisms for years, with little to prove it but instinct. Preliminary evidence suggests that taking advantage of female hormones already in place, may help you to manage your weight, shape, and appetite.
Four steps to harmonizing those female hormones. Each step teaches you a new way to keep the levels of "snacking" female hormones from inching up into the danger zone or to encourage the levels of "feel good" female hormones to rise. Naturally. Now that's something to be thankful for!
Step One: Calm Down
If you're like many people, you've got a demanding job, a family who needs you, and a never-ending to-do list. No wonder you feel tired or depressed, anxious or irritable. Or perhaps you can't sleep (although you have no problem eating). Sex-or at least good sex-is a distant memory.
All are characteristic symptoms of constant stress. Stress
activates the fight-or-flight response, the body's involuntary response to a threat that makes your heart pound and your breath shorten. Principal among the hormones released during this response is the stress hormone cortisol.
Cortisol automatically kicks up your appetite, prompting you not only to want to eat huge quantities but especially to want sweets and simple carbohydrates-foods that make insulin levels spike and then plummet, which may leave you feeling hungrier than ever-and eating again. Stress fat is also concentrated deep in your stomach. To help reset your internal stress-o-meter to normal levels, and perhaps reduce stress-related hormonal cravings, experts recommend the following strategies:
Laughter is the best medicine! Laughter significantly lowers
levels of the stress hormone, epinephrine, during and after watching or listening to something funny. Lighten up your commute with a CD of your favorite comedian or a humorous book on tape. Watch out for funny newspaper headlines or ads. And, of course, watch movies that make you laugh.
Put pictures in your stress zones. Clip a picture from your vacation trip to Cancun to your visor to calm you when you're stuck in traffic. Place beautifully framed pictures of your loved ones in your work area.
Talk some soothing sense into yourself. Silently repeat a soothing word or phrase, such as tranquility or serenity, while taking slow, deep breaths through your nose.
Make regular recreational time. It's beneficial in reducing 
stress levels. Whether it's hanging out with some fun friends or playing with your kids, this time distracts you from your worries, providing a temporary release from stress.
Make love. The more you do the more endorphins your brain releases. The chemicals released in the brain during exercise and after sex are natural painkillers and also help to alleviate anxiety.
Get a deep-pressure massage. A massage stimulates the nerves that cause your levels of the stress hormones cortisol and 
epinephrine to go down, while the levels of two mood-regulating brain chemicals that act like the hormones serotonin and dopamine rise. You will benefit from the reduced anxiety and depression and will have an improved mood and quality of life.
Step Two: Get a Good Night's Rest
One theory is that less than 8 hours of sleep a night may contribute to weight gain by dramatically disturbing the female hormones that control your eating habits and your metabolism.
In one small study, researchers in the University of Chicago's department of medicine compared the hormone levels of 11 
men while they got 8 hours of sleep for several nights, followed by several nights of a mere 4 hours in bed. During the sleep-debt stage, the men's ability to process glucose was impaired as much as a person with type 2 diabetes-indicating that sleep debt could lead to insulin resistance, a condition some experts think encourages obesity. In all the afternoons that followed a sleep-deprived night, the men also had consistently elevated levels of cortisol, which encourages your cells to store more fat, particularly when paired with insulin resistance. Not to mention the fact that levels of thyroid hormone, the metabolism powerhouse, were lowered during sleep deprivation.
Whether you have trouble falling or staying asleep, these professional tips should help:
Get outside. The release of hormones in your brain is regulated by the nerve impulses sent by your retinas in response to light. In other words, living by the earth's natural cycle of light and darkness keeps your serotonin and cortisol at their proper levels. Getting at least 30 minutes of natural light a day helps reset our inner alarm clocks, so we'll want to fall asleep at the right time.
Take a walk. In one study of more than 700 people, those who took daily walks were one-third less likely to have trouble sleeping until their normal wake-up time. Those who walked briskly slashed the risk of any sleep disorder by half. Regular exercise alleviates stress and also raises body temperature, which primes us for slumber.
Reduce or eliminate stimulants, such as caffeinated coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, and nicotine before bed. Also, avoid alcohol, which is sedating but disrupts sleep.
Make your bedroom dark. Darkness stimulates the production of melatonin, a light-sensitive hormone produced by the pineal gland, which is located in the brain. Some evidence suggests that supplementing with this hormone can help remedy insomnia. (Take only temporarily under the supervision of a knowledgeable medical doctor.) To manipulate this hormone naturally, invest in thick, heavy curtains, or simply wear an eye mask.
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