WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
This week we are covering another hormone that is released in the brain during sleep. There is a lot of information out there on what this important hormone accomplishes to ensure we don’t wet the bed! An excellent article from Tuft & Needle on how this hormone supports you during sleep.
DEFINITION:
Anti-diuretic hormone acts to maintain blood pressure, blood volume and tissue water content by controlling the amount of water and hence the concentration of urine excreted by the kidney.Anti-diuretic hormone is made by special nerve cells found in an area at the base of the brain known as the hypothalamus. The nerve cells transport the hormone down their nerve fibres (axons) to the posterior pituitary gland where the hormone is released into the bloodstream. Anti-diuretic hormone helps to control blood pressure by acting on the kidneys and the blood vessels. Its most important role is to conserve the fluid volume of your body by reducing the amount of water passed out in the urine. It does this by allowing water in the urine to be taken back into the body in a specific area of the kidney. Thus, more water returns to the bloodstream, urine concentration rises and water loss is reduced. Higher concentrations of anti-diuretic hormone cause blood vessels to constrict (become narrower) and this increases blood pressure. A deficiency of body fluid (dehydration) can only be finally restored by increasing water intake.
