Comment on Hormones are powerful drugs. Taken by everybody. Creating massive aggresstion, obsession and mental disturbance. What would freedom from its influences look like for a society? An individual?

PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I’m assuming you don’t mean people abusing steroids, but hormones, period (no pun intended), because you say they’re used by everybody.

So, okay. I’m a biologist and I’m not sure how to answer this question except to say that we wouldn’t exist. By “we” I pretty much mean life on earth as we know it.

Let’s start with Wikipedia:

A hormone (from the Greek participle ὁρμῶν, “setting in motion”) is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior.[1] Hormones are required for the correct development of animals, plants and fungi.

A hormone is not a drug.

A drug is any chemical substance that when consumed causes a change in an organism’s physiology, including its psychology, if applicable.[1][2][vague] Drugs are typically distinguished from food and other substances that provide nutritional support

You can take hormones as drugs, but drugs are things that are consumed. Hormones produced within your body are part of and necessary to maintaining your life from before you are a you until the day you die. They regulate your metabolism. They’re directly responsible for keeping your body alive and in sync with the environment. They’re everywhere - animals, plants, and fungi.

So, no, please don’t get rid of hormones. We’re using them.

Now, diseases and disorders caused by hormonal dysfunction are a different story. Those, hopefully, can be treated medically or with therapy. That’s a different question, though.

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