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Hormones, hormones. No matter if you are sick or emotional, people around you love to point fingers at these magical substances. But what are hormones, really? This article will touch base on the importance of these chemicals.

Before we start differentiating hormones, let's talk about what they do in general. The organization of your body resembles that of a government. Within a (stable) government, there are numerous agencies and workers that keep the whole thing running smoothly. Law enforcement, the military, and the policy makers are only a few examples. Each agency carries out a set of tasks that support the government. The concept of division of labor also applies to your body. Each organ or specific tissue in your body performs a set of task that helps support the body. For example, the lungs carry out respiration, and the kidneys are for excretion and water retention. Both the government and the body are systems made out of specialized parts. The success and stability of these systems depend on effective communication. Within a government, the job is done by mail, phone calls, standard procedures, and secretaries. Within the body, it is done by hormones.

Hormones can be thought as communicative chemicals that send signals to different parts of the body. There are many different hormones in the human body. Although most of their functions are now known, scientists are still trying to understand their biochemical pathways (how they do what they do). A good number of hormones are released by your brain. Body organs such as the kidneys, the pancreas, the adrenal glands, and even the stomach release hormones as well. Once released into the blood, hormones travel by the circulatory system to their target tissues. Although tissues all over the body may be exposed to many hormones, only the ones designed to respond will be signaled to do something. For example, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) will stimulate the ovaries or the testes, but it will not stimulate the heart. The reason is that for a hormone to generate a response in a tissue, the tissue must have appropriate receptors to that specific hormone. Because the heart lacks FSH receptors, FSH does not affect the heart no matter how much of it is in the blood. On the other hand, if the tissue does have the receptors and does respond to that specific hormone, the tissue is the hormone's target tissue. This is how your body "governs" itself. By controlling different kinds and amounts of hormones in the blood, your body can carefully manage activities of different organs and tissues.

The hormones can be grouped into three categories:

Peptide Hormones

A peptide is a molecular chain made out of amino acids. A single peptide or a group of peptides can fold and join together to make a large molecule called protein. Peptide hormones are usually consisted of only one peptide and are smaller than most proteins. Nonetheless, peptide hormones are basically protein molecules. All of the hormones released by the pituitary gland in your brain are peptide hormones. Human growth hormone (HGH) is one of them. This is why any company that sells HGH in a pill form is a scam. As for any protein, once a peptide hormone reaches the stomach, the acid and the enzymes there will break it down. It is part of the digestion process, and the HGH in the pills (if any) will receive treatment no different than that given to a chicken nugget. Everything becomes calories at the end of the day. The only difference is that fast food tastes better and is easier on your pocket.  

 Amino Acid-Derived Hormones

Another hormone group related to peptide hormones is the amino acid-derived hormones. As the name suggests, they are made from amino acids. But unlike peptide hormones, amino acid-derived hormones are not chained up with other amino acids. Instead, your body modifies their structures and turns them into hormones. Epinephrine is one of such hormones. 

Steroid Hormones

Steroids are a class of molecules with a variety of functions, and steroid hormones are hormones derived from them. These hormones are much smaller in size than peptide hormones. For this reason, they can go past cell membranes easily into the cell. Another feature of steroid hormones is that they carry out cellular changes at the DNA level. This is why misusing steroid hormones is dangerous. Because they affect DNA activities, they increase steroid abusers' chances of developing cancer.