What are hormones? Hormones are chemicals that coordinate different functions in your body by carrying messages through your blood to your organs, skin, muscles and other tissues. These signals tell your body what to do and when to do it.

Understanding the Context

Hormones are essential for life and your health. Hormones are required for the normal development of animals, plants and fungi. Due to the broad definition of a hormone (as a signaling molecule that exerts its effects far from its site of production), numerous kinds of molecules can be classified as hormones. Hormones are signaling molecules secreted by endocrine organs that regulate physiological processes in target cells.

Key Insights

They control growth, development, metabolism, reproduction, mood, and homeostasis. The endocrine system uses hormones to control and coordinate your body's internal metabolism (or homeostasis) energy level, reproduction, growth and development, and response to injury, stress, and environmental factors. Hormones are powerful chemical messengers that coordinate nearly every cell, organ, and function in the body. They are secreted by the endocrine glands and travel through the bloodstream, communicating vital information to tissues and organs. A hormone is an organic substance secreted by plants and animals that functions in the regulation of physiological activities and in maintaining homeostasis.

Final Thoughts

Hormones carry out their functions by evoking responses from specific organs or tissues. Hormones are chemical messengers that send a signal to one or more tissues or organs in the body. They are part of the endocrine system, and the study of this system is known as endocrinology. Hormones are chemical messengers that influence various body functions, including reproduction, metabolism, and growth via signaling mechanisms.