be able to make 100 times more energy. This is why when someone is hypothyroid they often feel like their “battery is dead" and it takes them every ounce of strength just to make it through the day. 2. Help with weight loss and main- taining weight: The thyroid hormone is also the primary hormone that our bodies use to help keep our metabolism running at full steam. The same process that is in- volved in energy production is also in- volved in metabolism. The mitochondria not only produce the ATP that our cells and the rest of our bodies use as energy, but they also are needed for our bodies to take the calories that we eat and turn them into heat. This process is called thermo- genesis and is ultimately dependent on thyroid hormone. With low levels of ther- mogenesis the Basal Metabolic Rate will slow down and make it much more diffi- cult to lose weight and to keep it off.
3. Temperature regulation: Similarly in its function to help with weight loss, thyroid hormones also help our bodies stay warm. I can tell someone may have thyroid dysfunction in the first seconds after meet- ing them when I shake his or her hand. Most of the time their hands are freezing. Thyroid hormone helps keep us warm by, again, working at the level of the mito- chondria. Thyroid hormone turns on what we call uncoupling proteins that increase the process of turning our calories con- sumed into heat. This heat production is what helps us keep our core body tem- perature stable. Not only does thyroid hormone improve our core temperature but it also helps to circulate our blood which improves the warmth to our ex- tremities. So in other words, thyroid hor- mone turns on the furnace but also turns on the fan to circulate the warm air throughout the rest of the house.
These are 3 of the biggest functions of
the thyroid hormone, but of course, this really only scratches the surface because it affects every single cell in our body. Other important functions include, main- taining healthy hair, improving skin mois- ture, improving eye health, helping with tinnitus, improving mood and depression, improving cognition and perhaps prevent- ing dementia, improving heart pumping and rhythm, reducing leg swelling, im- proving digestion, speeding up digestion, improving sex drive, and clearing out toxins.
Natural Triad Magazine JUNE 2013 35
Hopefully by the end of this series you will realize how important thyroid hor- mone is for our overall health. Stay tuned because next month and I am going to be discussing thyroid regulation and the things that can affect thyroid function.
Be Well, Dr. Wiggy
Dr. Weston "Wiggy" Saunders is an Integrative and Func- tional Medicine Physician at Robinhood Integrative Health in Winston-Salem. Please call 336-768-3335 for an ap- pointment. Facebook:
facebook.com/DrWiggy. See ad on page 13. Please send your questions to
AskDrWiggy@NaturalTriad.com
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