• Question: hey why do we have hormones and why do they affect the way we behave to others and the way we see thihngs

    Asked by awesomeaggie to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Are hormones not a way for cells to send signals to one another. If your cells are signalling that there is danger for instance, you’ll behave to try to protect yourself from whatever the cause of the danger is.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hormones are just one way our body regulates itself, and are essential for all sorts of things from deciding what kind of cells to produce, encouraging growth and regulating temperature.

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Ha, Aggie, I have a feeling I know the motivation for that question!
      Ok, well as the boys are saying there are loads of hormones which do different things, there are hormones to help you combat stress, hormones to tell you when to pee, hormones to initiate fight-or-flight response, in biology you will learn about a lot of them, either GCSE or A-level (sorry I can’t tell what level you’re at, I like your profile though!).
      Now, as for “womanly” hormones, which are a pain (and trust me, don’t stop making you behave strangly to others when you’re in your 20s). These are important for allowing us to have babies, as I’m sure you know they control the menstrual cycle. Unfortunately, just like medications, these hormones have side effects. For both oestrogen and testosterone (which is the male equivalent for allowing them to make babies), there are neurological (brain-related) side effects. That’s why boys can get really aggressive and “fighty” with each other, and why we can get weepy or stressed out or snappy. Luckily for boys, I think it’s particularly bad during their teens and gets a bit better in their 20s. Not so for us.
      The only things I can say is exercise helps, but contrary to popular belief comfort eating doesn’t (chocolate actually contains some more oestrogen!), but at the end of the day we mustn’t beat ourselves up about it because it’s biology!

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