Five Ways to Power Up a Sluggish Thyroid

Are you tired all the time? Do you feel sluggish even during the day when you should be active and full of energy?

Believe it or not, this isn’t something that just happens when you have children or a stressful career. It can happen because you’ve got a sluggish thyroid, too.

If you’ve noticed you’re more tired than usual, you’re gaining weight, your super-sensitive to the cold and your voice is hoarse, chances are your thyroid is struggling to keep up with you. This can explain a lot of common health issues that are usually explained by a lack of sleep or poor diet, in total or in part.

You can have your thyroid hormone levels checked. Sometimes your doctor will prescribe synthetic hormones for you to try, but getting the dosage right can be an uncomfortable experience.

You might want to consider some natural methods for giving your thyroid a healthy boost, instead. Natural options are the best, if they work for you, because they’re often easier to stomach.

Prescription drugs can have side effects, but often natural options have fewer and milder side effects. Some of them are easy to incorporate into your diet to gain real health benefits from a better diet and necessary nutrients, combined with proper exercise and sleep routines. 

Be sure to check with your doctor, who may also refer you to a dietician. Your doctor can help you determine what kind of hypothyroidism afflicts you. This, in turn, determines what kind of thyroid support best fits your life.

For example, primary hypothyroidism means that you have a malfunction in the thyroid gland itself, and require different treatments than secondary hypothyroidism.

The latter is caused by another condition interfering with your thyroid’s ability to produce the proper hormones, typically something wrong with the pituitary gland or hypothalamus.

Here are a few ideas to try once you have a better idea about your thyroid support needs.

Iodine

If you live inland and don’t eat a lot of salt or seafood, chances are that your iodine levels are low. Iodine deficiency is one of the leading causes of goiter worldwide, which can lead to thyroid nodules and hypothyroidism.

Iodized salt is one of the easiest ways to get enough iodine in your diet. You can also eat dried kelp snacks, cod (thinking fish sticks? Me, too), shrimp, and tuna. If you feel like you need a supplement, you can look in your local pharmacy or even grocery store to find a staggering variety of vitamin supplements.

Some come in the form of multi-vitamins, and others in the form of single supplements designed to target a specific health need.  

Dietary Improvements

As we often hear but don’t often give as much credence as we should, your diet plays an important role in thyroid support.

Certain kinds of foods can actually have a deleterious effect on your thyroid, worsening the effects of primary hypothyroidism. Knowing what to look out for and how to avoid the most problematic elements is extremely helpful in changing your diet for the better.

Here’s one more thing to look at: if you’re on a superfoods diet and you’re eating a lot of kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts and other cruciferous veggies, you may want to cut back a bit. Sometimes these foods can inhibit the body’s ability to synthesize thyroid hormone if you already have an iodine deficiency.

Foods with gluten, sugary foods, fatty foods, and soy can also have a detrimental impact on how your thyroid functions.

Properly managing your intake of these foods has additional health benefits, even besides combating thyroid issues. Diets too heavy in these kinds of foods are usually unhealthy, and lead to a lot of common health conditions.

However, eating them in moderation, especially in conjunction with some exercise and healthier diet options, you’ll find that you feel more energetic. 

Yoga

Yoga has several health benefits overall, but some poses, in particular, are good for the thyroid. If you’re attending a yoga class, ask your instructor to guide you through some moves that can help boost your thyroid health.

If you’re working out at home, consider joining an online yoga club or getting a yoga app to learn more about which asanas help with thyroid health and how to do them properly.

YouTube videos are also a great resource for yoga routines ranging from beginner to expert.

Seeing a video demonstration of how to perform various poses can be quite the help in learning how to perform the maneuvers correctly.

Some of the most beneficial yoga poses for your thyroid include the supported shoulder stand pose, plow pose, fish pose, bridge pose, cobra pose, boat pose, upward bow pose, and headstands.

Triangle pose is another great asana to try.

Yoga comes with many incidental health benefits, which will help you in recovering from or managing your thyroid health. One of the most important is breathing. Studies have shown that most people simply don’t breathe properly, and that it’s often better for us to have a slower, steadier routine.

Breath is one of those things that is easy to overlook, which is why so many people do it improperly, but proper breathing techniques help you to manage stress, blood pressure, and make your exercise routines more efficient.

Yoga is an ancient art for a reason, and there’s no doubting that yogis are very healthy and full of energy. Try adding a light yoga routine and some beginner breathing techniques to your daily routine for general health and thyroid support. 

Knowledge is Power

When adding to or first creating an exercise routine, having the right tools can help keep you motivated. Keeping good track of your progress can show you how far you’ve come and help you to really see the difference your efforts have made in your general feeling of wellness.

Try something like FitTrack, which offers a variety of tools to help you keep track of your fitness goals, including what you eat, how much exercise you are undertaking, and monitoring vitals to let you know just how well you’re pushing yourself.

It can be hard for most of us to see our progress from day to day. Having a good system in place to keep track of the steps we’ve walked, caloric intake, and dietary makeup can be very enlightening.

That is if you keep an accurate account of all you’ve done and eaten. This information can lead to some surprising discoveries and might help you to make changes that help you achieve your goals.

Crystal Healing

If you like making your own jewelry or wearing jewelry made from natural stones, the idea of wearing healing stones might resonate with you. Sodalite, Lapis Lazuli, Aquamarine, and Blue Lace Agate are all associated with thyroid health.

Wearing something like handcrafted bead necklaces, or enjoying the light of a Himalayan salt lamp, could be soothing and supporting.

If you’re not into jewelry, you can still tap into the healing powers of natural stone by holding an appropriate healing stone over your thyroid for around 20 minutes a few times each week. Chrysocolla and Blue Lace Agate are good choices for healing stones, but if you have questions, check with your local rock shop to get the items that will best meet your needs. 

Many people have reported positive effects with employing crystal healing along with other methods suggested here.