Feeling tired? A bit flat? Not sleeping well? Finding it harder than it used to be to lose weight, or easier to gain weight? While there could be a number of things at play, this important gland controls so many processes in your body, it’s worth taking a deeper look at your thyroid health when assessing your overall health.

Your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland located at the base of your neck. It controls your metabolism, your energy, and affects every cell in your body. This is why your thyroid is such an important gland to keep healthy.

What can go wrong?

Your mental and physical health can suffer due to poor thyroid health, which occurs when the production of thyroid hormones is impaired. This can happen if: * you are under a lot of stress * your thyroid doesn't have enough (or has too much) of the right nutrients * your thyroid is being attacked by your body's immune system (an auto-immune condition) or * your thyroid gland has been removed or physically damaged.

If you have a family history of thyroid conditions, it leaves you more susceptible to having a thyroid condition yourself. The thyroid can be under-functioning - hypothyroid, or over-functioning - hyperthyroid. While both conditions are more likely in women, especially at times of hormonal change such as post-pregnancy and menopause, they also occur in men.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism, where the thryoid gland is not producing enough of the thyroid hormones, or they are unable to be converted into the active form by the cells, often goes undiagnosed. Symptoms include:

• Fatigue, poor sleep
• Feeling cold, especially cold hands and feet
• Difficulty concentrating, poor memory
• Gaining weight or difficulty losing weight
• Mood changes such as depression
• Hair loss, dry skin and hair
• Constipation
• Poor growth in children.

It can occur due to insufficient dietary iodine, iron, selenium, zinc, essential fatty acids and protein.

Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism, where the thyroid gland is producing too much thyroid hormone can cause:

• Fatigue, poor sleep
• Feeling hot and sweaty, being sensitive to heat
• Difficulty concentrating
• Weight loss
• Mood changes such as anxiety or nervousness
• Rapid pulse, heart palpitations, hand tremor
• Diarrhoea/loose stool

So you can see that there is some cross-over in symptoms with hypothyroidism, making it difficult to diagnose on symptoms alone.

What can you do about it?

In addition to consulting your healthcare practitioner, there are three things to start looking at.

• Diet. Ensure you are eating enough nutrients to keep your thyroid healthy, such as lean meats, legumes, nuts and seeds such as Brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, chia, flaxseed, sunflower seed, pepitas, leafy green vegetables, cooked broccoli and cauliflower, and oily fish such as salmon, sardines and tuna. Also cutting down on refined and processed foods, sugar (including artificial sweeteners) and caffeine has been shown to improve thyroid function.

• Stress reduction. Manage your stress levels through practicing mindfulness, yoga or deep breathing and taking time out for yourself.

• Sleep. Make sure you get enough, consistent and qualty sleep. Most people need 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep to allow their body to properly rest.

Need more help?

Your health practitioner, including your naturopath, can help you identify and treat the underlying cause for poor thyroid health and reduce your symptoms. You are likely to need some blood tests in order to identify issues so that you can properly improve your health. It's worth investigating if you want to feel like your best self!

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