Cortisol and adrenaline
Whether you're dealing with a rabid Rottweiler or an angry client, your body's response to stress is the same: your hypothalamus sends a signal to secrete hormones that scare you into action. "
Cortisol and adrenaline are your body's alarm," says Dr. Fonseka. They make your heart beat faster, the bronchi dilate so that more oxygen can reach the brain and feed it to be attentive.
They cause fat and glucose to be released into your bloodstream, so that the body has energy for an emergency.
Are your hormones in balance? Due to too much stress, your cortisol can be constantly elevated, which disturbs the metabolism. For this reason, the cells receive a signal to store as much fat as possible.
Even worse, fat begins to accumulate in the form of visceral fat behind the abdominal muscles and therefore has more cortisol receptors than normal fat.
To protect yourself from disrupting your stress hormone levels, make it a habit to exercise for an hour at least three times a week. That amount of activity helps regulate cortisol levels, say Ohio State University scientists. In addition, eat organic foods whenever possible to avoid the common pesticide atrazine. This chemical is known to affect the hormonal balance of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. And a study by the US National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory found that atrazine produced extremely high levels of stress hormones in rats, the study noted.
Weight hormones: Leptin, ghrelin, cholecystokin and insulin
A legion of hormones tell you when to eat and when to put away your cutlery.
The hormone ghrelin starts the cycle when your stomach is empty, by telling neurons in the hypothalamus to remind you that you are hungry. When you start eating, your stomach stretches and begins to secrete cholecystokinin, an appetite suppressant.
Hormones start working overtime to help you get off the table. Your intestines produce peptide YY, which tells your brain that you've had enough food, and your pancreas sends insulin into your circulation. This signals that it is time to metabolize the meal and that you no longer need food. Leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, also tells your hypothalamus that you are full by stimulating the secretion of alpha-MSH, another hormone that suppresses appetite.
All this helps your body balance hunger and satiety.
Why so many hormones for that? "Energy regulation is necessary for survival, so we have many redundant (duplicate) cycles in case one fails," says Dr. Robert Lustig, an endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco. "But it is not intended that so much food will be available to us, and especially not so much sugar."
Are your hormones in balance? Hungry? Sew? Maybe you shouldn't trust your gut. When you put on extra pounds, you start excreting too much leptin. "And if you chronically secrete leptin, the brain should get the message: "I'm gaining weight, I should eat less," says Dr. Fonseka. But disruptions in the leptin cycle (most likely due to a lot of sugar) instead tell the brain to send signals for hunger, even though you just ate.
This can lead to fatty liver and insulin insensitivity. "When your insulin goes up, it blocks the leptin signal, which means your brain thinks you're starving," says Dr. Lustig.
This, of course, puts you in a vicious circle as your waistline expands.
Besides losing weight, the best weapon against leptin disorders is to reduce your sugar consumption. You should cut your sugar intake in half. The problem is not only the one you use to sweeten coffee and tea, but also fructose syrup, an industrial sweetener. Fruit juices are not innocent either, so drink water.
Spmale hormones: Testosterone, LH, FSH
Are you proud of your steel erection? Thank your hormones for that, especially testosterone, a key ingredient in normal male sexual health. Its production is stimulated by luteinizing hormone (LH), while follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) helps the production of spermatozoa themselves. When you're excited, your adrenal gland secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline, raising your heart rate so your muscles, brain and penis get extra blood. Then the hormone dopamine increases your sexual appetite and, in a duet with the hypothalamus, causes an erection.
Are your hormones in balance? An increased level of estrogen can overshadow your testosterone and extinguish your sexual desire. Yes, men have estrogen too. "In fact, the estrogen receptor is the most abundant hormone receptor in the body," says Dr. McLahlan. When a man is exposed to chemicals that bind to estrogen receptors, such as bisphenol A (BPA) from plastic bottles and cans, he can experience erectile dysfunction and weight gain.
The best defense against estrogen invasion is to lose weight and build muscle. "Fat turns testosterone into estrogen," says Dr. Jack Midlo, chief of the Department of Urology at Temple University School of Medicine. Losing weight will improve your testosterone-estrogen ratio in favor of the former, which will boost your libido and erections. And when you're actively building muscle, you become more sensitive to insulin, which means more glucose ends up in the muscles, says Dr. Fonseka. Thus, more energy is created, which stimulates libido and weight loss.
Energy hormone: Thyroxine
Your thyroid gland controls your metabolism, or your body's ability to convert calories into energy. It's another command post: your hypothalamus senses fatigue and then your pituitary gland signals your thyroid to secrete thyroxine. This hormone enters almost every cell of our body. "
It promotes the burning of sugar and the intake of oxygen into the cells," says Dr. McLahlan. "It raises your body temperature and increases your heart rate."
Are your hormones in balance? When this system is disturbed, the result can be muscle breakdown, weakness, fatigue and weight gain. There is growing evidence that certain chemical compounds in the environment can block thyroxine," says Dr. McLahlan. Last year, a study showed that BPA can knock thyroxine out of its receptors and even block it.
Brominated aromatic compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls also interfere with the thyroid gland.
(Brominated aromatic compounds are found in clothing, furniture and electrical appliances, polychlorinated biphenyls can be found in some types of food). "If you're exposed to them, you could have some form of hypothyroidism - a lack of thyroxine production that causes a lack of energy and weight gain," says Dr McLahlan. On the other side of the spectrum is hyperthyroidism, that is, excessive production of thyroxine.
This can lead to restlessness, rapid heart rate, weight loss, thyroid enlargement and swelling in the head, behind the eyes.
Sleep hormone: Melatonin
When it gets dark, your pineal gland fires up to produce melatonin, a hormone that helps you fall asleep and regulates your circadian (day-night) rhythms. It lowers your body's internal temperature, which when too high causes insomnia. Melatonin production is strongest in the middle of the night, and even a small amount of artificial light can disrupt the process.
Are your hormones in balance? There is growing evidence that nighttime exposure to light, whether you are asleep or awake, can play a key role in the development of cancer, diabetes and obesity.
The World Health Organization has declared "circadian rhythm disorder" to be probably carcinogenic. In addition, night light is considered to disturb the hormonal balance, not only of melatonin, but also of cortisol, ghrelin, leptin and testosterone. "Most people think, even the companies that produce drugs encourage you to do so, that waking up at night is harmful," explains Dr. Sci. Richard Stevens, a malignant disease epidemiologist at the University of Connecticut Medical Center. He says that's not true: the problem is actually exposure to light at night. "If you wake up in the night, and most of us do, it's a time of quiet wakefulness - stay in bed in the dark and enjoy it," suggests Dr Stevens.
You don't need to be asleep for your melatonin rhythm to be good, but you do need to be in complete darkness. Buy thick curtains, cover the clock with something and turn off all gadgets. "It should be so dark that you can't see your hand," says Dr. Stevens. "If you go to the bathroom and turn on the light, almost immediately your melatonin will drop," says Dr. Stevens. "For this reason, I have a red light in the bathroom, because red has less of an effect on melatonin than white or blue," he adds.
Your hormones are part of a finely tuned system. That fine tuning makes them vulnerable.
It is not harmful to wake up at night, as people think. Exposure to light during the night is harmful.
