Page 22 - Winter2017

long bouts of chronic stress, overall resilience which again makes sense. PIH is dopamine, the get-up-and-go hormone
and immune response are compromised, and and neurotransmitter. It’s difficult to tend the baby and the home fires
senescence is accelerated. when hormones are telling us to go slay dragons or embark on major
Androgens comprise androstenedione, external efforts.
testosterone, and its various derivatives such as
DHT (dihydrotestosterone, which plays a role MELANOCYTE-STIMULATING HORMONE
in male pattern baldness). Estrogen has at least MSH stimulates the pineal gland to synthesize melanin. Melanin
three forms: estrone, estradiol and estriol. As is pigment that gives color to the skin and relates to light exposure with
noted above, each of these has particular func- respect to the sun and attunement to the diurnal and seasonal rhythms
tions both in reproduction as well as in day-to- of light and darkness.
day maintenance of the physical structure—all
the changes across the lifetime journey. PATTERNS AND CONNECTIONS
Both men and women have some of each of It’s easy for a description of the hormones to become massive and
the three major sex hormones (and their deriva- overwhelming. Amidst the long, strange, unpronounceable words and
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tives, not covered here), in gender-appropriate complex descriptions, there is actually a pattern to the hormones of the
proportions. Testosterone supports libido and endocrine axis.
is especially important for maintenance of all GH (growth hormone) enlists IGF (and other substances) to build
types of muscle tissue: skeletal, smooth (lining the physical substance.
arteries and glands) and cardiac. Increased risk TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) notifies the thyroid gland to dis-
of cardiac failure (heart attack) occurs with patch thyroxine to activate the physical substance, the cells constituting
insufficient testosterone. Statin drugs interfere the various component tissues and organs, in effect “turning it on” and
with the production of cholesterol, the key sub- in some cases “up.”
strate from which testosterone is produced. It Corticotrophs provide support to sustain the organism’s efforts,
should be no surprise that muscle pain (myalgia), specifically by ensuring appropriate balance of fluids, minerals and fuel.
weakness (myopathy), and dissolution of tissue Thus established, the organism lines up its successor, making pro-
(rhabdomyolysis—tissue turning to “jelly”) are vision for the next generation. FSH and LH prepare the seed and aid its
well-known side effects of taking statins. ripening. Prolactin provides nourishment.
Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) relates back to the top gland
LACTOTROPHINS of the entire endocrine axis, the pineal gland, furnishing a link with the
In response to GnRH from the hypothala- cosmos beyond the present corporeal and earthly existence. One could
mus, and in conjunction with relatively higher say that a living being, having established itself and its offspring on the
estrogen levels, the anterior pituitary generates earth, aligns via MSH and the pineal gland to establish a more extensive
and secretes prolactin. Prolactin (PRL) (“for connection with the cosmos.
milk” in Latin) activates mammary (breast) As MSH establishes a connection with the greater cosmos via the
tissue to promote milk production; in general pineal gland, it then winds its way through the complexities and subtle
it affects reproductive and immune tissue. By distinctions of the endocrine axis to the lowest and “earthiest” set of
itself it has a very weak effect, which makes glands, the gonads, affording humans a role as bridge between the grand
sense because there is a sequence and relation- scale of existence and the earth. In short, our endocrine system creates
ship among the above hormones. Oral con- a bridge between two worlds.
traceptives, opiates and breastfeeding also all
stimulate the release of PRL. In excess, it can MOTHER NATURE OBEYED
be a causative factor in premenstrual breast ten- There is an electromagnetic force between the earth’s surface and the
derness. Elevated levels of prolactin may cause ionosphere, the densest part of earth’s atmosphere, called the Schumann
amenorrhea—lack of menstrual cycles—ap- Resonance. The Schumann Resonance corresponds to that of alpha
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propriate when a woman is nursing a baby, but brain waves, which resonate at 7.83 Hz, and is said to correspond also
an indicator of endocrine imbalance when birth to optimal function of the endocrine axis. The Vedic chanting of Om is
and breastfeeding are not in the picture. In men, said to reinforce this frequency, and with it one’s harmonious alignment
elevated prolactin is consistent with erectile within oneself (comfortable homeostasis) as well as with the cosmos
dysfunction. PRL is inhibited by PIH (prolactin beyond and the earth beneath our feet.
inhibitory hormone, from the hypothalamus), Obeying Mother Nature entails living with the rhythms and patterns

22 Wise Traditions WINTER 2017