Heading into a Hormone-Smart Summer with Dr. Amersi
- LaReine Chabut
- May 1
- 5 min read
Summer is the season of sunshine, travel, pool days, late nights, family plans, and hopefully a little more fun. But it is also a season where routines shift — and when routines shift, your body notices.
That does not mean anything is wrong. It simply means your hormones are responsive. They are constantly listening to your sleep, stress, hydration, nutrition, movement, and environment. The more you understand how they work, the better you can support your body through a busy, beautiful season.
As an OB-GYN, Dr. Shamsah Amersi has spent over two decades helping women better understand their bodies. One thing she emphasizes is that hormones impact so much of daily life: your energy, mood, sleep, metabolism, cycles, skin, libido, focus, and overall sense of balance.
So instead of guessing your way through summer, let’s get a little more informed. Here’s what every mom should know about hormone health heading into the warmer months.
Your Hormones Love Rhythm
Hormones work best when your body has a rhythm. That does not mean your life has to be perfectly scheduled — because, let’s be honest, motherhood and summer rarely work that way.
But your body does benefit from some consistency. Sleep, meals, hydration, sunlight, movement, and stress recovery all send signals to your endocrine system, which is the system responsible for producing and regulating hormones.
During summer, kids are home, vacations pop up, bedtimes get later, meals get more flexible, and workouts may move around. None of this is bad. Summer is meant to be lived. But small anchors can help your body feel more supported while you enjoy the season.
Hydration Supports the Whole System
Hydration is one of the simplest ways to support hormone health. Water helps with digestion, energy, circulation, temperature regulation, and overall cellular function.
In the summer, sweating, heat, travel, caffeine, and alcohol can all increase your need for fluids. A good baseline is to aim for about half your body weight in ounces of water per day, and consider electrolytes if you are sweating more or spending time outside.
Cortisol Helps You Handle Busy Seasons
Cortisol is often called the stress hormone, but it is not bad. It helps you wake up, focus, and respond to everything your day asks of you.
The issue is when your body stays in go-mode without enough recovery. Summer schedules can be fun but still demanding, so small resets like morning light, short walks, quiet time, and consistent meals can help your nervous system feel more grounded.
Estrogen Does More Than Regulate Your Cycle
Estrogen supports mood, brain health, bones, skin, heart health, and temperature regulation.
For women who are postpartum, perimenopausal, or menopausal, estrogen shifts may feel more noticeable during busy or hot months. Understanding this helps you connect the dots and support your body instead of brushing symptoms aside.
Progesterone Supports Calm and Rest
Progesterone is often connected to sleep and emotional steadiness.
When summer nights get later and routines become less predictable, rest can take a hit.
A simple wind-down routine, morning sunlight, and reducing late-night screen time can help protect the rhythm your body relies on.
Thyroid Hormones Help Regulate Energy
Your thyroid helps regulate metabolism, energy, mood, digestion, temperature, and focus.
If you are consistently feeling more tired than usual, relying heavily on caffeine, or noticing changes in weight, digestion, skin, hair, or mood, it may be worth asking your doctor about a full thyroid panel.
Start With Hydration
Before overcomplicating anything, start with water.
Try keeping a water bottle nearby throughout the day, especially during errands, workouts, beach days, pool days, or travel. If plain water feels boring, add lemon, cucumber, mint, berries, or an electrolyte packet.
The goal is not perfection. The goal is to make hydration easy enough that you actually do it.
Build Balanced Plates
Food is information for your hormones.
Aim to include protein, healthy fats, and fiber at your meals when possible. This helps support blood sugar, cravings, energy, digestion, and hormone production.
Think eggs, Greek yogurt, chicken, salmon, turkey, avocado, olive oil, nuts, berries, vegetables, lentils, beans, and high-fiber carbs. You do not need to eat perfectly. Just give your body enough steady fuel to work with.
Protect Your Sleep Rhythm
Summer sleep is not always perfect, especially with travel, kids, events, and later sunsets.
Instead of forcing a rigid bedtime every night, focus on a few repeatable cues: get sunlight in the morning, move your body during the day, dim lights at night, avoid late caffeine, and create a simple wind-down routine.
Hormones love consistency, even in small doses.
Move in a Way That Feels Sustainable
Movement supports insulin sensitivity, stress management, mood, sleep, metabolism, and overall hormone health.
This does not have to mean intense workouts every day. A walk, strength training, Pilates, stretching, swimming, or a quick 10-minute movement break all count.
The best summer workout is the one you can keep doing.
Track What You Notice
For a few weeks, pay attention to your energy, sleep, mood, cycle, cravings, digestion, hot flashes, headaches, and stress. There are many great tracking devices to help that we will be covering.
However, you do not need a complicated spreadsheet. A simple note in your phone is enough.
Patterns are powerful because they help you have a more informed conversation with your doctor.
Know When to Ask for Testing
If something feels persistent, do not just push through.
Ask your provider whether a full hormone panel, thyroid panel, or other labs make sense for your symptoms and stage of life. Knowledge gives you options — and moms deserve more than guesswork when it comes to their health.
Bonus Tip from Dr. Amersi
Dr. Amersi also recommends the Designs for Health Women’s line of supplements to help support women’s wellness and hormone balance.
Supplements should always be personal to your needs, lifestyle, and health history, so it is best to work with a trusted provider when deciding what is right for you.
The Bottom Line
Hormones are not something to fear or ignore. They are one of the most important ways your body communicates with you.
Heading into summer, the goal is not to control every routine or avoid every disruption.
The goal is to understand your body well enough to support it with confidence.
A little hydration, consistent sleep, nourishing food, movement, stress recovery, and symptom awareness can go a long way.
This summer, let knowledge be part of your wellness routine.
