Glandular Fitness

 

The human heart is often seen as the engine running this beautiful and complicated mechanism called the BODY. When our heart is beating, our physical being persists. Once it stops working, we are no longer alive. Our nervous system, including our brain, controls most actions in our body by transmitting signals to and from different parts of it via special cells called neurons. We have a general understanding of this, but our bodies are even more complex than that. When training a football team, you can never win a game if you will train each player individually, without the presence of other teammates on the field. They work as a team, they have to learn how to cooperate, react to each other, and help each other.

The same applies for the human body we need to treat our body as a whole, considering all the connections and effects our organs and body parts have on each other. There are organs called glands in our bodies that control nearly every process, even things like sweating or muscle growth, which you might not expect to be influenced by them. We have two types of glands in our bodies endocrine and exocrine. Exocrine glands secrete their product(s) via the surface of the body like sweat and saliva), endocrine glands produce and store hormones that are further distributed throughout the body via the bloodstream. The endocrine glands include the hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, kidney, adrenals, and both male and female reproductive glands.

It is very important to keep our body healthy as a whole, but our glands often demand extra treatment, especially when damaged or otherwise neglected. When our body is in a state of chronic stress, our adrenals might get fatigued without us even realizing it. The adrenals are two small glands located just above the kidneys that produce important hormones, but they are most known for cortisol (considered the stress hormone), androgens (DHEA and testosterone), adrenaline, and dopamine. Exhausted and overworked adrenals very often go hand in hand with thyroid problems like Graves or Hashimoto’s Disease. The thyroid gland serves several essential roles in our bodies. It stimulates the body’s oxygen and energy consumption, regulates the metabolism of every cell in our body, influences growth, brain development and even body temperature regulation. A malfunctioning thyroid can result in tremendous fatigue, stubborn weight gain (or loss), brain fog, poor memory, and more. It is crucial to keep our thyroid gland as healthy as possible. The pituitary gland, also known as hypophysis, is a small gland about the size of a pea that can be found at the base of our brain. This tiny but powerful organ is responsible for producing growth hormone, prolactin, endorphin, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), oxytocin, and many other essential chemical messengers.

It is obvious that keeping all of our glands in shape is very important for our overall health. To feel our best, we need to treat them as a whole, but also learn about the individual needs of each gland, how to identify the warning signs, and find an efficient, natural solution. We already talked about the thyroid in a separate post, and we also talk a lot about metabolic typing, a nutritional approach based on our biological individuality. It is good to remind ourselves that our body has different needs than the body of our spouse, friend, or parent. These differences are not only based on age, sex, or fitness level; these differences are also closely tied to our glands. This is because hormones produced by them control and affect nearly every process in our body, including sleep, body temperature management, and weight loss.

The food we eat affects how we feel, both mentally and physically. But the same food can have different effects on different people, depending on their glandular dominance. The four glands in our body that have the biggest impact on our health are the thyroid, pituitary, adrenals, and ovaries (these of course only apply to women). One of these glands is usually more dominant than others and that is what makes two people react differently to the same type of food. We usually tend to crave exactly the foods that are not appropriate for us, and our dominant gland is stimulated by these foods. Overstimulation can lead to gland damage, and we know by now that losing a key player means losing the game. Take care of your whole team. Read more details about glandular types to determine your team captain along with a proper way to train for the win!

Author: Nina Vachkova