The Thyroid Gland and
Parathyroid Glands:
The thyroid gland is
situated at the lower area of the throat, and the four smaller glands called
the parathyroid glands are situated inside the thyroid gland. The picture below
shows thyroid and parathyroid glands. Though the thyroid gland weighs only
about an ounce, its influence on our body is amazing and far-reaching.
Two hormones (called
thyroxin and triiodothyronin) produced by the thyroid gland influence the
various body organs to work effectively.
Also, the thyroid gland
and the parathyroid glands produce other hormones that regulate how much bone
is created and destroyed by the body each day. For this, the thyroid gland
produces a hormone (called calcitonin) that helps our body to use calcium and
phosphate in our blood, to create bone.
On the other hand, the
parathyroid gland produces a hormone that helps our body to take calcium and
phosphates out of bone and put them into our blood stream. It also helps the
kidneys to remove more calcium and magnesium out of urine, and put them to the
blood stream.
The parathyroid hormone
increases the speed at which minerals (calcium, magnesium and phosphates) are
absorbed from the intestine into the blood stream.
So when there are more minerals
in the blood, the thyroid gland is likely to produce more hormones (calcitonin)
in order to produce more bone. Likewise, the thyroid and parathyroid glands
work together to regulate our bone strength (bone density) too.
So, you can see that we
may have various health imbalances if we have weak thyroid or parathyroid
glands.
It must be noted here
that although the ancient yogis did not use the modern scientific terms and
methods in their time, they were well aware of the impotence of the neck and
throat area of the human body. So they created certain yoga postures for the
health of this part of the body too.
