The thyroid hormone is produced by the thyroid gland, located at the front of your neck. Its role in the body includes controlling metabolism and regulating your heart health. Other known functions include maintaining healthy levels of calcium and controlling your body temperature.
Looking at the roles it plays, it’s important to note that over or underproduction can lead to an imbalance in your body. Such an imbalance can manifest in various ways and may cause the development of severe health issues.
An overproduction of the thyroid hormone is known as hyperthyroidism and can cause symptoms such as sweating, anxiety, and increased heart rate. Hypothyroidism refers to the insufficient production of this hormone, causing symptoms such as weight gain and depression.
What Is the Thyroid Hormone?
It’s a hormone that regulates your body’s metabolism as well as your growth and development. The thyroid hormone plays an important role in controlling brain development, muscle and digestive functions, bone maintenance, and heart health.
Its correct functioning is dependent on the amount of iodine present in your diet. There are cells inside the thyroid gland whose job is to extract iodine from your blood and add it to the thyroid hormone.
The signal on how much thyroid hormones to produce and release comes from the pituitary gland. It sends out this signal by producing a hormone known as the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). Its levels in your blood will vary depending on what your body needs.
Understanding the Different Roles Played by the Thyroid Hormone
Learning the functions of the thyroid hormone and its effects on your body can help shed light on why an imbalance can cause various symptoms. It also makes it easy to understand some of the health problems that arise because of over or underproduction.
- Thyroid Hormone and Body Metabolism: One of the key roles performed by the thyroid hormone is to regulate the rate at which your body uses energy (calories). Health experts call it metabolic rate, and it affects how fast you lose or gain weight. This hormone controls metabolism by regulating the rate at which you burn energy.
- Growth and Development: During the formative years, the thyroid hormone works with other hormones to stimulate bone growth and development. Its role during this period is to induce osteoclasts, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes. The thyroid hormone also assists with the formation of the myelin sheath and the development and maturation of the brain.
- Regulation of Body Temperature: The thyroid hormone also plays a critical role in controlling your body temperature, including how fast it rises or falls. It does this by affecting your ability to produce heat. Its ability to ensure that body temperature plays within normal range helps to keep certain conditions, such as hypothermia and hyperthermia, at bay.
- Heart Health: Another important function played by the thyroid hormone is the regulation of your heart rate. Your general well-being can be impacted if your heart rate becomes accelerated or when it slows down. This hormone controls the heart rate by affecting how fast or slow your heart beats. Symptoms that may manifest include slow or rapid heartbeats
Despite its vital role in the body, the thyroid gland doesn’t always function correctly. Several problems can arise when the thyroid gland overproduces or underproduces this hormone. For example, low levels of thyroid hormone will lead to a hormonal imbalance.
It’s a scenario that occurs when the thyroid gland is incapable of producing enough of this hormone. The low thyroid hormone symptoms vary, and the following are a few of them.
- Dry hair and skin
- Fatigue
- Fertility problems
- Weakness in the muscles
- Weight gain
- Slow heart rate
Doctors generally diagnose low thyroid hormone levels using imaging tests and blood tests. Fortunately, this condition is manageable with proper diagnosis and treatment.
Is It Possible to Prevent Thyroid Disorders?
In most cases, you can’t prevent thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism). For example, in countries that have a high iodine deficiency rate, hypothyroidism is likely to be prevalent. Luckily, this isn’t the case in the United States, where iodine gets added to table salt.
Low thyroid hormone can occur due to Grave’s disease, an unpreventable autoimmune disease. Additionally, taking too much thyroid hormone can cause thyroid gland issues, making it necessary to take it in the correct dosage.
It’s worth noting that there are rare cases when a thyroid gland can become overactive after eating foods that contain too much iodine. Health experts recommend limiting your intake of seaweed, fish, and table salt to prevent this from happening.
While it’s impossible to prevent thyroid dysfunction, you can keep its symptoms at bay by getting diagnosed early. Also, make sure to follow the treatment plan recommended by your physician to prevent a recurrence.
Conclusion
The thyroid hormone plays a crucial role in the body, including controlling body metabolism, growth, and development, as well as regulating body temperature and heart health. All these roles are key to your general well-being and can affect how long or how well you live.
But while the thyroid gland is significant to your well-being, it doesn’t always work optimally, leading to the development of thyroid issues. These issues typically arise when the gland either produces too much or too little of this hormone, causing the emergence of various symptoms.
Your physician can diagnose low thyroid hormone problems by performing a physical exam, a thyroid function test, or an imaging test. If nodules are noticed during any of these exams, the examiner may need to perform a biopsy to rule out cancer.
Fortunately, many thyroid issues are non-life threatening and will only require treatment when their symptoms become bothersome. Consult with your physician to know which course of treatment is right for your low thyroid hormones.
Matthew is a seasoned researcher and writer with over five years of experience creating engaging SEO content. He is passionate about exploring new ideas and sharing his knowledge through writing. Matthew has a keen eye for detail and takes pride in producing content that is not only informative but also visually appealing. He constantly expands his skill set and stays up-to-date with the latest SEO trends to ensure that his content always performs well in search rankings. Matthew can be found reading, surfing, or experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen when he’s not writing.
