When you’re a teenager, you’re not a stranger to the power of hormones. Starting at 7 or 8 years of age, the body begins to produce hormones responsible for puberty changes.
Teenage hormones are the substances that induce physical growth and sexual development that will take you through your teens and into adulthood. When these substances take hold of the body, you will find that your thoughts, moods, and sexual feelings are even stronger.
Adolescence may be a time of risk. While all the changes you undergo in puberty are normal and healthy, teenagers do not always react to these changes pleasantly or healthily. Teenage hormones have an effect not only on their bodies and brains but also on their behavior.
What are teenage hormones?
Puberty is a normal aspect of the development that happens in the early teenage years. When you think about puberty, you might think of zits, body smell, and hair growth—among many other, sometimes uncomfortable body changes—but do you know what happens in your body to make these changes happen? The brain signals the body to start puberty by passing messages in the form of hormones.
Hormones are small molecules produced by the body that moves through the bloodstream to different body areas, including the brain. Hormones are necessary for transmitting signals over long distances in your body so that different organs can interact with each other. When a hormone reaches its target, it attaches itself to what is called its receptor.
It’s on or in a cell. This activates a cell response that can affect the cell’s actions and even its survival. How the cell reacts depends on the type of cell and the type of hormone.
Teenage hormones affect your body
Time to Change
Puberty usually begins between 7 and 13 years of age in girls and 9 and 15 years of age in boys. Some people start puberty a little earlier or later, though
When your body reaches a certain age, your brain releases a teenage hormone that triggers puberty changes. It is called gonadotropin-releasing hormone. When GnRH enters the pituitary gland (a pea-shaped gland that lies just below the brain),
Two more teenage hormones are released into the bloodstream:
- The luteinizing hormone (LH for short)
- the follicle-stimulated hormone (FSH for short).
Guys and girls have these two teenage hormones in their bodies.
For guys, these teenage hormones pass through the blood to send the testes a signal to start testosterone and sperm production. Testosterone is a hormone that triggers most of the changes in the body of a male during puberty. For men to reproduce, it is important to create sperm cells.
In girls, FSH and LH target ovaries that contain eggs that have been in place since birth. Hormones induce the ovaries to start producing another hormone, estrogen. Estrogen and FSH, and LH cause a girl’s body to mature and prepare her for pregnancy.
It Doesn’t Hurt . . . It’s Just a Growth Spurt
The word “spurt” is used to define a short burst of activity, which occurs in a hurry. And the spurt of growth is just that: your body is growing, and it’s happening fast!
It takes around 2 to 3 years. While the growth rate is a peak, some people grow 4 or more inches in a year.
This development during puberty would be the last time the body becomes taller. After that, you’ll be at your adult height. But your height isn’t the only thing that’s going to change.
Taking Shape
When the body grows taller, it can also change in other ways.
During puberty, girls’ ovaries get bigger, and the body releases two teenage hormones –estrogen and progesterone.
Estrogen causes your breast to expand and helps your vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes develop. It also enables you to grow taller and changes how fat is stored in your body, making your waist, hips, and buttocks more noticeable. After puberty, estrogen and progesterone control the menstrual cycle or period.
Testosterone hormone is the starting point for the development from infant to adult. It is the main sex hormone for boys, and the testes produce it. Testosterone levels increase significantly during puberty. When the levels are high enough, testosterone begins producing sperm. This causes the chest and shoulders to spread and causes the facial hair to grow.
About Face
Another thing that comes with puberty is acne. Teenage hormones cause acne. Pimples usually start at the beginning of puberty and may stay around during adolescence (the teen years). You may find pimples on your face, upper back, or upper chest. The positive thing about acne is that it usually gets better or stops at the end of adolescence.
In today’s challenging world, many families seek help to cope with the effects of emotional disturbances, impulse control disorders, or drug abuse. In some cases, a personalized teen rehabilitation program is what it takes to get a teenager’s life back on track.
Teenage hormones affect your mind
During puberty, your brain produces different hormones that help your body develop by releasing testosterone (in boys) and estrogen (in girls). Resulting changes can go beyond physical growth and include emotional and mood changes. But some researchers believe that mood swings can be more linked to changes in the adolescent brain than to hormonal spurts.
Other important hormones have also come into play in teen years. Melatonin is a hormone that helps the body regulate sleep patterns by making you feel sleepy after the sunsets. Melatonin levels in teenagers do not begin to rise until around 10:30 p.m., which may explain why many teens tend to stay up late despite their parents’ wishes. Research indicates that in teenagers, melatonin levels stay high even after they wake up, which is why adolescents can feel tired in the morning.
Our bodies also release things called “stress hormones,” such as cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that controls how well someone reacts or recovers from stressful experiences. Increased stress in puberty can lead to an increase in cortisol levels, affecting teenagers’ ability to act calmly and reasonably.
But while teen bodies are a bundle of changes, the good news is that the body will eventually adjust, and the “exciting” hormones will calm down as you move into adulthood.
The Bottom Line
If natural hormonal changes in puberty turn into something more dangerous, don’t wait to turn to the professionals’ help. If a child has delayed puberty due to the body’s inability to make the necessary hormones, a hormone replacement regimen can help. This regimen is going to try to copy the usual pubertal timing. Some children would need to be on these treatments before they reach adulthood.
