Endocrine system is crazy! Besides crazy its very interesting what our body does and how it functions. Who would have thought about all these different hormones that have large tolls on how our body fucntions, and without some of them we would not be able to survive!
A hormone is a chemical that is releases in the blood, usually coming from some sort of gland. It all starts in the grandaddy of them all the Hypothalmous gland. It has several different collections of cell bodies that each help control or regulate certain hormones: Paraventricular, Supra Optic, Pre Optic, Mammilary Bodies, and Suprachiasmatic Nuclei. These reflect the releasing of other hormones from other glands of the endocrine system.
Pineal Gland produces melatonin for us. This helps us sleep when its needed. Load up on melatonin and you'll be out like a bear thats hibernating.
Pituitary Gland or Hypophysis consists of two major glands that do lots for our body. It is made up of the Posterior Pituitary / Anterior Pituitary Gland. The Hypothalmous releases hormones to each gland differently even though they both make up the Pituitary Gland. The anterior portion receives it through a portal system involving the release or hormones into one capillary which flows to the anterior pituitary which then releases more hormones through a second capillarie into the blood stream. For the posterior pituitary gland it receives hormones from the hypothalmous nuerologically. The cell bodies stay in the hypothalmous while the axons extend down through into the posterior pituitary gland releasing hormones. This is called a Tract system.
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I found the endocrine system to be fascinating as well. It is pretty crazy how our body releases hormones to regulate so many different important bodily functions. My mother, her brother, and her father all have a problem with their thyroid gland which is an integral part of the endocrine system. They have what is called hypo-thyroidism, and because of this they are on a pretty strict regime of what is called Synthroid. My mom takes this every morning she wakes up, because if she doesn't she feels incredibly tired all the time, gains a lot of weight for no apparent reason, she feels weak, has a tolerance to the cold, and dry rough skin. Since the thyroid is the major regulator of your metabolism, I'm pretty sure it isn't a good thing when it is under-functioning!! I get my thyroid levels screened regularly because there is a significant family history in low levels of this important organ of our endocrine system!
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