HYPOTHALAMUS

Of all the things to have health concerns about, nighttime lighting? Well, at least it affords us a good opportunity to reflect on how amazing our endocrine systems are. (Wait, come back!) When light enters your eye, it hits your retina, which relays signals directly to the core of the brain, the hypothalamus. The size of an almond, the hypothalamus has more importance per volume than any other piece of your body. Yes, that includes the sex organs. Because you would have no sex drive or ability to reproduce without the hypothalamus. Your sex organs wouldn’t even exist without the direction of the hypothalamus to release testosterone and estrogen in particular ratios. This almond is the interface between the electricity of the nervous system and the hormones of the endocrine system. It takes sensory information from every part of the body and translates it into the body’s responses to that information in order to stay alive.