What are hormones?

What are hormones?

Raena

Did you know the word hormone comes from the Greek meaning, “set in motion?”

The term hormone was introduced by scientists in 1902 to describe a chemical substance that travels around the body influencing physiology and behavior. Hormones really do set everything in your body “in motion.” Hormones are chemical messengers produced by glands in the body and transported by the blood to target organs. They communicate between organs and tissues and control almost all tasks in the body related to regulation. These include sex and brain function, growth, and the breakdown of food. Hormones tell other parts of the body how and when to work.

One of the first people to investigate the importance of hormones was a zoologist who noticed that castrated roosters did not act the same as roosters with their testes intact. He realized that certain organs produce hormones that are imperative to keeping the body functioning optimally.

There are many different classes of hormones, defined by their function. Steroid hormones are derived from cholesterol. These include testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol.

Two major classes of steroid hormones include:

  • Corticosteroids

    • Glucocorticoids: Cortisol

  • Sex steroids

    • Progestogens: Progesterone, a protective hormone involved with many functions but known to support fertility

    • Androgens: Testosterone, a hormone known to facilitate male characteristics

    • Estrogens: Estradiol, a hormone known to contribute to female characteristics
      (There are several other estrogens including estriol and estrone.)

Among these are the three major sex hormone groups: estrogens, androgens, and progesterones. Males and females make all three, just in different amounts.

Sex hormones have many effects on the body, including:

  • Body development

  • Fertility and pregnancy

  • Mood

  • Metabolism

  • Skin health

  • Aging

  • Immune system

  • Brain health

  • Cancer development and apoptosis (programmed cell death)

  • Muscle growth

  • Heart rate

  • Menstrual cycles

  • Wake and sleep cycle

  • Regulation of production and release of other hormones

Hormones travel throughout the body, either in the bloodstream or in the fluid around cells, looking for target cells. Once hormones find a target cell, they bind with specific protein receptors inside or on the surface of the cell and specifically change the cell's activities. The protein receptor reads the hormone's message and carries out the instructions (Tulane University). Hormones exist not just in the bloodstream but also in our tissues. For example, “The tissue/plasma ratio of E2…”

Many factors can affect hormones such as nutrition, stress, environment, medications, and other lifestyle factors. Furthermore, all hormones affect each other. For instance, progesterone influences estrogen, testosterone, LH, FSH, and prolactin. An excess of any of these hormones will suppress progesterone. Each hormone affects the others, stimulating or inhibiting depending on secretion levels.

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