- Insulin
- Glucagon
- Leptin
- Cortisol
Correct Answer
All of them.
What You Should Know
The answer to this question raises another question: If all of these hormones manage energy in your body, which one is in charge? Do they fight for control, like jealous managers in a company? Or do they somehow cooperate?
The answer to that question lies in the concept of balance. Your body seeks to maintain healthy levels of blood sugar, fatty acids and ketones in your bloodstream as fuels for immediate use, and healthy levels of glycogen and fat as fuels in storage for when they might be needed. Somehow it needs to achieve this continuous balance in spite of all of the things you put it through during the day: eating, fasting, exercising, sitting, sleeping, and—perhaps most of all because it burns fuel like crazy—thinking.
These four hormones, and others, interact with your organs and cells and with each other in lots of different ways to maintain that balance. For example, glucagon generally increases blood sugar levels while insulin decreases them. Cortisol makes your cells less responsive to insulin. Leptin reduces your appetite, and insulin stimulates leptin.
Fortunately, you don’t have to manage all of these interactions consciously—it’s a pre-programmed, intricate, complex dance being continuously performed beneath your skin. But there are decisions you make and actions you take which can positively or negatively impact your body’s ability to keep the dance going. You can set the stage and support the dancers, or you can throw obstacles in the way and undermine them.
eSavvyHealth exists to help you understand how best to support the healthy balances that your body is designed to maintain.
