• Question: why do we have hormones?

    Asked by whstephanie to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 5 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Hormones are really important for our bodies. They are basically chemical messengers and they are responsible for things like how much we eat, how we feel, how we reproduce.

      I tend to think of it like this: nerves send messages really fast so they control the short term effects

      hormones work on a slower scale so they are responsible for long term effects

      That’s not strictly speaking true because some nerves are necessary for hormone release, but it is a rough approximation

Comments