To help keep your endocrine system healthy:

Why is it important for life? The endocrine system controls growth and development during childhood, regulation of bodily functions in adulthood, and the reproductive process. The endocrine system is important for the control and regulation of all the major functions and processes of the body: Growth and development.

Levels of most hormones decrease with aging, but some hormones remain at levels typical of those in younger adults, and some even increase. Even when hormone levels do not decline, endocrine function generally declines with age because hormone receptors become less sensitive.

1. Get plenty of exercise.
2. Eat a nutritious diet.
3. Go for regular medical checkups.
4. Talk to the doctor before taking any supplements or herbal treatments.
5. Let the doctor know about any family history of endocrine problems, such as diabetes or thyroid problems.

Exercise also leads to an increase in the production and release of growth hormone, testosterone, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, cortisol and prolactin that each has local and systemic effects.

With exercise there is a greater demand from muscle tissue for blood glucose for fuel, causing blood glucose levels to drop. Glucagon levels consequently increase with exercise and insulin levels are simultaneously suppressed.

The endocrine system, made up of all the body’s different hormones, regulates all biological processes in the body from conception through adulthood and into old age, including the development of the brain and nervous system, the growth and function of the reproductive system, as well as the metabolism and blood sugar …

The most important hormone that the pancreas produces is insulin. Insulin is released by the ‘beta cells’ in the islets of Langerhans in response to food. Its role is to lower glucose levels in the bloodstream and promote the storage of glucose in fat, muscle, liver and other body tissues.