If you are into improving your health or understand why losing weight can sometimes be challenging, this article is for you. 

To better understand, you should learn more about hormones. 

How a better understanding of how hormones work in your body can help you improve your life

Topics to discover: 

1. What are hormones, and what do they do to your body
2. Why the effect of dopamine can make it hard to lose weight

What are hormones, and what do they do to your body

Hormones are chemical messengers produced by the endocrine glands and released into the bloodstream. 

They regulate many of the body’s functions, including growth and development, metabolism, sexual function, and mood. Hormones play a vital role in maintaining homeostasis in the body. 

Hormones are released in response too signals from the brain and other body parts. 

Hormones are essential for the body to function correctly. Many of the body’s processes would be disrupted without them, leading to various health problems. 

It is, therefore, essential to understand how hormones work and the role they play in the body to maintain good health.
 

What happens when hormones release in your body?

When a hormone is released, it travels through the bloodstream and binds to specific receptors on target cells. This binding triggers a response in the target cell, which can be anything from increasing or decreasing the production of a specific protein, to triggering a metabolic reaction.

2. Why the effect of dopamine can make it hard to lose weight

Dopamine is most notably involved in helping us feel pleasure as part of the brain's reward system. Intimacy, shopping, alcohol, nicotine, and smelling freshly baked bread in the oven can trigger dopamine release or a "dopamine rush." This feel-good neurotransmitter is also involved in reinforcement. 

 That's why we return for more once we eat freshly baked bread.  

The dark side of dopamine

However, it is the intense reward people feel when they take drugs, alcohol, nicotine, eat sugar, and even be on social media - all of these can lead to addiction. 

Because dopamine rewards the brain, we end up wanting more and more.

So when you eat sugar or carbohydrates that make your blood sugar rise fast, the brain signals that it wants more. 

And this spiral can make it hard for you to lose weight.