Have you ever wondered how your hormones levels affect your growth and development into adulthood and beyond? How about how your bodily systems affect sleep and metabolism? This is all your endocrine system in play. Your endocrine system is responsible for regulating your growth, sexual development, mood, sleep, and numerous other biological functions that power your day to day routine. Endocrine cells in the body release hormones that bind to target cells of your body after traveling through your bloodstream. However, there are also chemicals that are structurally similar to hormones that bind to target cells. Very similar to natural hormones, these endocrine disrupting chemicals often block or minimize a cells normal response to hormones because they are chemically different. This may be harmful to the cells because of the way in which responses have a massive impact on our bodily functions. These hormone-mimickers are called endocrine disrupting chemicals. In essence, this paper will be about a study related to the chemistry behind how endocrine disrupting chemicals operate, placing it in the greater context of how this affects reproductive health and neurological functions.
