Household Chemicals Are Quietly Rewriting Women’s Hormones
We worry about diets and exercise — and we should — but there’s an invisible force in a lot of kitchens and bathrooms: endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Plastics, fragranced products, some non-stick cookware, and even receipts can release substances (think BPA, phthalates, PFAS) that mimic or block hormones. For a woman in her 40s or 50s, already balancing shifting estrogen and progesterone, chronic exposure can amplify irregular cycles, heavier periods, worse hot flashes, and maybe even affect how the body responds to HRT or thyroid medication.
This isn’t about panic — it’s about pragmatic control. Swap heated plastic for glass or stainless, choose fragrance-free personal care when possible, avoid microwaving food in plastic, and wash hands after handling receipts. Small changes reduce your body’s “toxic noise” and make your hormonal signals clearer to your doctor. If you’re tracking worsening symptoms that don’t respond to standard measures, bring an exposure history to your clinician — it’s a real piece of diagnostic data.
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