The simplest ABC of metabolism

The basis of metabolism is the food we consume. It's hard to even think what would have happened if we had not received fuel in the form of food. That is, they would not receive energy for life. How does the metabolic system work in the body?

How does the metabolic system work?

When the food begins to be digested, the body divides it into very small structures: amino acids, glucose, fats. Then the food is easier to digest. With blood these minute molecules of useful substances are carried throughout the body. The organs and tissues feed on these substances, process them and get energy for work.

From proteins processed amino acids, from fat - fatty acids, and all this is converted into glucose (we call it "sugar in the blood"). Glucose interacts with oxygen and we get energy for the body cells.

If the entire system is explained as simply as possible, it turns out that metabolism is the name of a whole large process, when food is divided into particles, oxygen oxidizes and gives us energy for life.

What is glucose and how does it work?

Glucose is one of the substances that the body converts from food during its digestion. When the fructose and glucose molecules combine, another element is obtained, sucrose. This element can easily and quickly again turn into glucose.

Sugars in our blood are stored in a substance called glycogen. It, as a container for glucose, provides its storage in the muscles and liver.

Connections of glucose in the form of energy for life can be released from there when the level of sugars in the blood is significantly reduced. For example, when a person needs to jump sharply and quickly, glucose is released from the liver and muscles in the form of energy for these movements.

How to determine the level of glucose?

Glucose is a substance that is in the blood and supplies energy to the cells, primarily the brain cells.

If there is no glucose in the blood, the brain can not function normally. When glucose is not enough, doctors can diagnose hypoglycemia.

You can understand that you have a low level of glucose in your blood (or it decreases immediately after eating), here are these symptoms.

• Unpleasant sensations in the stomach
• Nausea
• Weakness
• Frequent and strong heartbeat
• Cold sweat
• Irritability
• Confused thoughts
• Memory losses

All these symptoms can mean that the brain reacts negatively to stress. The centers of the brain send a signal to the hormone norepinephrine, which has the property of increasing the level of stress in the blood even more. These are the adrenal glands.

This is the preparation of the body for evasion. Such training is a cost of ancient times, when a person ran away from a mammoth or a wild bear. Now we do not run anywhere, but a hormonal explosion is still present. First of all, the level of sugars that gives energy for running or jumping increases.

When the blood glucose level is very high

... It threatens a person with diabetes. At the level of symptoms it looks like this.

• Weakness, lethargy, especially after lunch
• The inclination to fall asleep right in the afternoon at inopportune moments
• Difficulty remembering
• Feeling of heightened concern

These symptoms are an indicator that the level of glucose and the level of serotonin hormone in the brain is significantly increased.

But you should know that both high and low level of glucose in the body provokes damage in the brain or the worst consequences in the form of death.

How can I adjust the glucose level?

We already know that for the stable operation of the brain, oxygen and glucose are needed. To monitor blood glucose levels, the body provided for special mechanisms.

In this process, insulin and glucose are also involved. The role of insulin is to lower the level of glucose by moving it to so-called fat cells. There glucose is burned and converted into energy.

The role of the glucose is to increase the level of glucose in the blood or to normalize its level, preventing the increase in the amount of glucose. This occurs when the liver cells and muscle cells are stimulated by the glycogen.

Thus, the glucose is destroyed, and glucose cells move from the liver to the blood. Then the level of sugars in the blood rises.

The action of insulin and glucogen

It is important not only that the level of glucose in the blood can decrease or increase. It is important, with what speed and frequency it happens. Jumps in glucose level provoke an increase in the level of glucagon and insulin. And then a woman can begin to recover. And then a strange thing happens.

As the weight is dialed, glucogen and insulin can no longer control glucose levels as well as before. And then it can rise and fall uncontrollably.

This can lead to low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or too high a level of glucose, which alternates with too low. As additional processes, glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus begin.

How can hormone levels affect weight gain?

We often observe a brutal appetite during the menstruation or a week before them. A special craving for women to chocolate in all its manifestations - from sweets to cakes.

This is normal: during stressful situations a person needs glucose.

What happens to the ovarian hormones, because of which we lose the ability to control ourselves in eating in the second half of the cycle and as the climacteric period approaches?

In this huge role played by glucose, or rather, the amount of it in the blood. And insulin, which determines the intensity of the intake of glucose into the blood. But it happens that the body does not take glucose. More about the role of insulin and how it affects the level of glucose in the body.

Insulin dependence

What is insulin for humans? It is a hormone that helps to strengthen tissues and activate metabolism, as well as control the accumulation of adipose tissue. He does this by controlling the level of glucose.

If insulin in the body is not enough (and he delivers blood to the cells of the body), a person will feel very bad. Insulin helps cells to accumulate energy and it also helps to store fat (a process called lipogenesis).

It turns out that the ratio of muscle tissue and fat, as well as their splitting due to insulin, changes in the body. The more insulin, the more active insulin stimulates them. So, muscle cells are now not so much burn fat. And the person gets better.

That is, with excess of insulin, excess excess weight is provided to a woman, especially if she had a predilection for completeness before.

How to recognize the excess of insulin in the body?

It becomes especially great when a woman grows older. Every year the level of insulin can increase, so be on the alert and check it.

Insulin in large quantities can be recognized by these signs.

• Menu with a lot of carbohydrates (especially sweet and flour)
• Constant and prolonged stress - this increases the level of the stress hormone cortisol, which suppresses the production of glucose and inhibits the production of insulin
• Suppression of the ovaries, because of which the level of the hormone estradiol that produces the ovaries decreases. The level of male hormone testosterone because of this increases, which contributes to the deposition of fats in the body
• Restless and disturbing sleep
• The raised level of a hormone of a thyroid gland DGEEA, thus shchitovidka poorly can carry out the role on manufacture of hormones
• Hypodinamy, or lack of physical activity

The increase in glucose level, which is difficult to control due to the lack of hormones that perform this role.

If you have noticed the visible symptoms of insulin deficiency, be sure to contact an endocrinologist for an examination. Be healthy!