What are hormonal influences?

Hormones are like messengers that help your body talk to itself and work together.

Imagine your body is a big playground, and hormones are little notes passed between kids so they know what game to play next. For example, when you’re hungry, your brain gets a note saying “Time for lunch!”, that’s a hormone working.

Hormonal influences are the effects these messages have on how your body feels and acts. Like when you get sleepy in the afternoon, it's because your body is sending a message to slow things down.

Think of hormones like food in a lunchbox. Just like different foods make you feel full or energized, different hormones make your body do different things. For example:

• A hormone called insulin helps your body store energy from the food you eat.
• Another hormone called adrenaline makes your heart beat faster when you're excited or scared.

Sometimes, if too many notes are passed at once, like getting a message to be sleepy and another to stay awake, it can feel confusing, just like when you have trouble falling asleep after eating a big dinner.