By Dylan McDonough
On October 16, my family participated in Christian Healthcare Center’s latest field trip about the Endocrine System. This amazing piece of work in your body is in charge of your hormones, growth, development and stress management. Our group journeyed first into the endocrine system with Dr. Alex Corcoran.
Dr. Alex, aka Staff Sergeant EndoChrine, explained to us about Body Boot Camp. Its motto is Psalm 139:14: “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” With a military theme, Staff Sergeant EndoChrine explained the roles of every part of this system.
General Hypothalamus is the main boss and regulates all of the endocrine system. Lieutenant Colonel Pituitary relays orders from the hypothalamus. Pituitary is 2nd in command. Major Thyroid is 3rd in command and is in charge of regulating metabolism. Captain Pineal is the time keeper. He tells you when to get up and go to sleep. 1st and 2nd Leftenant Adrenals are the Heads of Combat and the Readiness Division. Commander Pancreas is the head of the Energy Division. The Ovaries are Privates, 1st Class. They are in charge of the Recruitment Division. Corporal Testis is the Head of Training and Development.
After we learned about the basic idea of the Endocrine System, we went deeper with Counselor Lisa. She talked about stress. There are three types of stress: positive, tolerable and toxic stress. Positive stress is like watching an intense football game. It does not hurt you. Tolerable stress is like overdue homework you have to get done. It is like a weight on your shoulders. Toxic stress stays with you. For example, if your brothers and sisters do not like you. It hangs over you like a storm cloud. The way to break free from tolerable or toxic stress is to mediate on happy things. Laughing is exercise for the body. We watched a short video about what your body does when under stress. In this case, it was a cartoon of a man being chased by a grizzly bear. We learned that the Hypothalamus sends adrenaline through the body which makes you either run, fight or freeze. Jesus’ name, the Prince of Peace, means what it says. Meditate on his Word. Relax and be positive.
The next section we traveled to was about the disorders that sometimes occur throughout the Endocrine System. The most common disorder is called Hypothyroidism. It causes you to be sleepy, cold and to grow your hair and nails slower. This can also occur in an opposite way, where you are very energetic, your heart rate is increased and your eyes bulge out. Problems in your pituitary gland can cause Gigantism or Pituitary Dwarfism. We learned about all of these disorders and about what God says that even if we have a disorder, we are still a child of God.
Dr. Shannon then taught us further about the Hypothalamic Pituitary Gonadal Axis. Wow! That’s a big name! Her session was sport-themed to make it easier to understand. The Hypothalamus is like the cheerleader for the brain. It produces hormones that talk to the Pituitary Gland. This gland acts like the referee for the brain. He makes sure everyone is playing by the rules and producing the right amount of hormones. Lastly, the ovaries and testis are the football players who listen to the referee. The ovaries make eggs and the testis make the sperm. I was learning so much!
The last station we ventured to was with Dr. Woo. He taught us about the different types of diabetes. Diabetes is the inability to sort and place the sugar where it needs to be. He constructed a wall as a demonstration. It represented a fatty wall that was protected. A girl represented insulin and a boy was sugar. Sugar was trying to get in through the wall, but he needed insulin. Another boy was insulin resistance and did not let them through. We learned about Diabetes 2, Diabetes 1.5 and Diabetes 1.
Before we went to this field trip, I knew nothing about the miraculous Endocrine System and how well it runs. If you have not yet been to a field trip through Christian Healthcare Center, you must check them out.
