Role Of Hormones In Weight Gain

                          Introduction And Background
The body’s general anatomy is the same as everyone else’s. The heart lies a little to the left and the apex of the heart is generally located in the fifth rib. The liver lies to the right and the stomach to the left. However, the body’s functioning and what it contains is not similar as the anatomy. Everyone has a different body and their levels of a lot of thing are different. There are hormones in the body, as we all know, and even the amount of hormones is not similar in everyone. Some people have diseases in which they can have an abnormally higher or lower amount of hormones in the body which can adversely affect, ending in either weight loss or weight gain. So yes, hormones do have a role in weight gain.

The Blame Game
At times people blame themselves when they keep on gaining weight. They think that it has something to do with how they are because even if they don’t eat a lot, they still keep on gaining. Sometimes they have the good sense to get some tests done and realize that it is a medical fault. Sometimes they do not get any tests done and psychologically it keeps depressing them. Thus, instead of playing the blame game if you or anyone else is gaining weight illogically, go see a doctor. Ninety percent of the time it is the irregularity of hormones in the body which lead to such weight gain.

How Hormones Affect Weight?
Hormones have the ability to affect weight, which by now should be pretty clear! But how exactly do hormones affect weight? Well, there are different hormones for different actions in the body and almost all of them can alter the weight somehow because they all control metabolic rates and nutritional digestion and substitution.

• The Thyroid Hormone
  This is the most commonly blamed hormone which causes weight gain in females and rightfully so. The patients who have a deficiency of thyroid hormone in their body face a lot of symptoms and troubles amongst which weight gain is also included. Males are struck by this disease too but it is mostly common in females. It comes about due to iodine deficiency which is common in parts of the world where iodized salt or other such applications are not available, especially in third world countries. Funnily enough, if the thyroid hormone is present in an excessive amount in the body, then one experiences rapid weight loss!
• The Insulin Hormone
  Insulin is a hormone in the body which most diabetic patients would be well aware of. Sometimes our cells become insulin resistant or sometimes our body stops producing insulin because the cells that do that job are all worn out. In cases like these, weight gain and weight loss can occur, depending on what type of diabetic patient you turn out to be.

Hormones Effect On Appetite
Hormones affect appetite too and we all know about that. There are certain hormones if increased in the body can also increase our appetite and make us hungry. Illusions can be created of low blood sugar levels which might enable us to increase our carbohydrate intake. For instance, the hormone cortisol can play around with our metabolism if the normal range is altered. Same is the case with growth hormone and many other hormones like it. This is why people say that under stress usually one gains weight. It is because the stress we undergo majorly alters the hormonal levels of the body, making our habits and nutrition diet very different from the usual. Or it could be that it stays the same and perhaps the hormones treat it differently inside the body. It is all basic science which would be hard for you to understand but know that normal hormone levels are pretty essential. Hence, make sure that you are eating the proper amount of food which has vitamins and minerals and as iodine is necessary to make the thyroid hormone, be sure that your intake of iodine is also sufficient. Don’t worry, you just need traces of it every day and is probably present in your bottle of multi-vitamins!

Conclusion
The conclusion that you can derive from all of this is that you need to make sure you follow a proper diet and exercise regularly to maintain proper and good levels of hormones inside your body. Sometimes it really isn’t under your control but most of the time it definitely is. There are certain hormones which need to be produced and their levels should not really exceed from the normal otherwise trouble could arise. You need to be especially careful of the thyroid hormone! Most cases are because of it. It also tends to cause laziness in people, if levels are low. This can lead to weight gain too of course.