Читать книгу Brain Fitness for Women - Sondra Kornblatt - Страница 18

Hormones are chemicals released into the blood to activate or regulate bodily functions such as digestion, hunger, stress control, metabolism, growth, lactation, sex drive, circadian rhythm, and reproduction. Most hormones are secreted by specialized glands, like the thyroid gland in the throat, the pituitary gland in the brain, or the pancreas in the upper abdomen.

What's the difference between hormones and neurotransmitters? Hormones travel throughout the body via the bloodstream. Neurotransmitters, which activate and regulate such things as memory, learning, mood, behavior, sleep, pain perception, and sexual urges, travel across synapses in the neurons that make up the brain and nervous system. (Familiar neurotransmitters include serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.)

Scientists have recently realized that in addition to hormones and neurotransmitters, we have neurohormones, which are hormones secreted by or acting on the nervous system.

Hormones are specialized for a wide array of functions, any of which can affect our brains.