Hormones take the blame for a lot of things, from mood swings to unfair athletic competitions. However, we all have hormones and we wouldn’t be able to function without them. If you want to be at your best each day, you need to have some idea of how they work and which ones are most important.
When it comes to athletics, testosterone tends to get most of the attention. It’s often considered the male hormone, but it is present in both men and women. Men tend to have more, which contributes to things like increased muscle mass that are obviously valuable when it comes to sports performance.
If you’re talking about sex hormones like testosterone, estrogen may also get a mention. Generally considered the female hormone, everyone has at least some. Among its many roles are helping your skin stay healthy and repairing injuries, as well as affecting your metabolism. Basically, most parts of your body are going to perform differently depending on the amounts of both testosterone and estrogen you have.
There are hormones in our digestive system that control when we get hungry and when we feel full. Ghrelin, leptin, cholecystokinin and secretin are just some of them. When it comes to things like losing and gaining weight, these hormones have a vital role to play.
Insulin is also a hormone associated with digestion. In particular, it regulates the sugar in our blood, the amount of which changes after we eat. Most people only think of insulin in the context of diabetes, but the fact that diabetes can be life-threatening shows you just how important insulin is to healthy functioning. Diabetics will tell you that they can’t perform well when their blood sugar isn’t working properly.
Then there are the hormones that affect your mood, like endorphins. It’s a lot easier to perform physically when your head is in the right place, and exercise can be a powerful way to release endorphins and give your mood a boost. Performance isn’t just about the physical; it’s about trying to get the physical, mental and emotional to work together.
From head to toe, your body is full of hormones sending messages to different organs and triggering different processes. All of them have a vital role to play, so understanding them and how they work for you is an important step in improving performance.
