India, April 28 -- As a doctor seeing patients with hormonal disorders daily, I feel there is a need for better understanding about hormones. Without hormones, our bodies would descend into chaos: Children wouldn't grow properly, reproduction would falter, hunger and metabolism would go all over the place, and moods would swing wildly.

Endocrine glands, once called ductless glands, produce effects distant from their location by pouring hormones directly into the bloodstream. Hormones travel to all parts of our body to regulate vital functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, mood, and stress. They are crucial links that transmit messages from the gland of origin to the target organs within minutes, but their effects can last muc...