Your hypothalamus is the maestro of your entire symphony of hormones, neurotransmitters, and immune factors.
Think of your hypothalamus as the CEO of your body.
Did you know that your Hypothalamus is the boss of your body?
What major body systems does the hypothalamus control?
- Reproduction
- Metabolism
- Detoxification
- Blood pressure and heart rate
- Circadian rhythm, sleep, and awareness
- Weight set point, food intake – hunger and satiety
- Glucose metabolism
- Fluid balance
- Temperature regulation
- Energy production
- Immune function
- Autonomic nervous system, stress response
- Emotional expression, aggression, memory, moods
- Sexual arousal
Your hypothalamus controls nearly every one of your vital body systems. Those include your immune system, your reproductive system, your appetite, weight and metabolism, and your temperature. As well as your sleep cycles, your stress response, your moods, and your memory.
It’s ok if you haven’t heard of your Hypothalamus. Even doctors don’t pay much attention to it. But when you understand how something works, you’re better able to take care of it. And believe me, your Hypothalamus needs your help if you’re going to sleep through the night. Also have boundless energy, a trim waistline, and strong immunity.
Top 3 Ways to Heal Your Hypothalamus
If you follow these three easy Hypothalamus Healing tips, then you’ll be able to balance your hormones naturally.
#1: Improve Communication
Your hypothalamus is the driver of your body. Its primary objective is to keep you alive. And it knows exactly what’s happening in your body as well as your environment through an amazing communication network. Most of your hormones are controlled through a negative feedback system.
Your thyroid hormone production is a good example. Your hypothalamus receives both thyroid hormones T4 and T3 floating in your blood. If the levels are too low, your Hypothalamus tells your pituitary gland to make more TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone). All to tell your thyroid to make more T4 and T3. It’s like a seesaw. With TSH on one side and T4 and T3 on the other.
Yet your Hypothalamus controls way more than just your thyroid. In fact, it produces a huge 256 amino acid master hormone called POMC that controls your thyroid. POMC also controls your adrenals, your glucose metabolism, your day/night cycles. What’s leftover becomes endorphins that make you feel good. And POMC is just one of the many hormones it makes to help you survive.
That’s why it’s so important to look at all your hormones since they work together. When you support one gland, like your thyroid, without supporting the boss of your body – your Hypothalamus – is like just changing one tire on your vehicle when they’re all out of alignment.
#2: Balance Dark and Light
At night your hypothalamus produces prolactin. It deepens your sleep and tells your immune system to do its job protecting you. When the sun comes up, it produces dopamine to wake your body up.
Your sleep-wake behavior, hormone secretion, cellular function, and gene expression are controlled by your hypothalamus. Exposing yourself to light at night increases your risk for certain cancers, metabolic dysfunction, and mood disorders.
Your hypothalamus controls your circadian rhythm by being in tune with the light your skin and eyes are exposed to. Just wearing an eye mask while your partner watches TV in bed will not be enough to normalize your circadian rhythm. Nor will it balance your hormones and your brain chemistry.
To help your Hypothalamus:
- Turn off all the lights in your bedroom at night including digital lights.
- Wake up with the sun and get outside early to expose yourself to natural sunlight.
- After dusk, do not get on your digital devices as the light from your computer, TV, tablet, and phone disrupts your circadian rhythm.
#3: Feed your troops
Your hypothalamus is the chief commander of all your immune cells, your hormones, your digestion, your detoxification, your energy production, and your brain chemistry. Your hypothalamus needs a healthy balanced diet to do its job well and keep you alive.
Getting adequate protein about one gram per half pound of lean body mass is important to provide your Hypothalamus with the amino acids it needs to command your troops. One-third of your diet should include healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, and seeds, fatty fish, coconut, and avocado. A wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables helps provide the phytonutrients necessary for balanced hormones, strong immunity, and healthy brain function.
Your hypothalamus is at the top of the neuromuscular control of your central nervous system.
Your hypothalamus integrates both internal body stimulus as well as external environmental information about your state of well-being. Throughout your entire lifespan, your hypothalamus orchestrates physiology to maintain homeostasis or balance.
Your hypothalamus receives sensory and emotional information from your brain.
The spinal cord directly communicates pain and temperature information to your hypothalamus. Your hypothalamus integrates all the stimulus it receives and activates patterns of action in your brain and sends signals down your spine to your muscles to produce behaviors.
Your hypothalamus does not only control hormone production by your gonads, your thyroid, your adrenals, your pancreas, your pituitary gland, and your pineal gland. It also controls your motor function and your behavior.
It regulates your neuro-immune-endocrine system. These three systems produce biochemical messengers that direct all your body functions. And your hypothalamus is the maestro of it all.
If you’re hormonally challenged, stressed, and out of balance, it’s hard to get everything you need from your diet alone. That’s why I created Genesis Gold® – rich in sea vegetation, sprouted plants, adaptogenic herbs, probiotics and a special blend of amino acids designed to optimize your Hypothalamus.
If you think your hypothalamus could use a hand, you can get started in my Hormone Reboot Training so you can discover how to support your Hypothalamus and balance all your hormones naturally. It’s free!
What does the hypothalamus do?
The hypothalamus is a small but extraordinarily powerful structure at the base of the brain that functions as the master regulator of the entire body — controlling hormones, metabolism, immunity, temperature, sleep, mood, appetite, reproduction, blood pressure, fluid balance, and the stress response simultaneously. Despite being roughly the size of a pea, it orchestrates nearly every vital body system through a continuous loop of hormonal feedback signals. The hypothalamus sends signals to the pituitary gland, which in turn directs every major endocrine gland in the body including the thyroid, adrenal glands, ovaries, testes, and pancreas. It also directly controls the autonomic nervous system — the sympathetic fight-or-flight response and the parasympathetic rest-and-digest response — making it the bridge between the brain and every organ in the body
Where is the hypothalamus located in the brain?
The hypothalamus is located at the base of the brain, just above the brainstem and directly below the thalamus — its name literally means “under the thalamus” in Greek. It sits in the center of the brain at the bottom of the diencephalon, directly above the pituitary gland to which it is connected by the pituitary stalk. Its central location reflects its central function — it receives sensory, emotional, and environmental information from throughout the nervous system and integrates that information into coordinated hormonal and behavioral responses. Despite its small size — approximately 4 grams in adults — it contains dozens of distinct nuclei, each responsible for regulating specific physiological functions including the suprachiasmatic nucleus (circadian rhythm), the arcuate nucleus (appetite and POMC production), and the paraventricular nucleus (stress response)
What hormones does the hypothalamus produce?
The hypothalamus produces a suite of releasing and inhibiting hormones that govern every major endocrine axis in the body. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) signals the pituitary to produce LH and FSH, which govern sex hormone production in the ovaries and testes. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) initiates the thyroid axis, prompting TSH production and ultimately T4 and T3 synthesis. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) initiates the stress axis, driving ACTH production and adrenal cortisol release. The hypothalamus also produces POMC — a 256-amino acid master hormone that is cleaved into multiple active compounds including ACTH (adrenal stimulation), alpha-MSH (metabolic and skin regulation), and beta-endorphin (pain modulation and mood). Growth hormone-releasing hormone, somatostatin, prolactin-regulating hormones, and antidiuretic hormone (ADH) round out a production profile that makes the hypothalamus the most hormonally productive structure in the brain relative to its size.
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