It is normally believed that the growth hormone is required only by children as it is children who need proper hormonal secretions so that they can grow tall and develop a good bone structure. But this is a myth as it has been discovered that the growth hormone is needed throughout life to live healthy and maintain the fitness of the body.
The growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland which is located in the centre of the brain right behind the eyes. The pituitary gland produces many kinds of hormone and the growth hormone is just one of them.
The secretion of the growth hormone into the body is controlled by that part of the brain that is known as hypothalamus. Throughout life the amount of growth hormone that is secreted in the body keeps on changing. The maximum amount of growth hormone is secreted in childhood and during adolescence when many types of changes takes place in the body and the growth hormone is required to support the process of growth. It slowly decreases as the person grows older but does not stop completely.
The adult growth hormone is required in the body throughout life as it helps in maintaining healthy bones, tissues and muscles. In other words the growth hormone controls the density of the bones, the accurate mass of the muscle and the distribution of fat throughout the body. This helps the body to maintain the proper shape and remain fit and healthy. If the growth hormone decreases in the body the main effect can be seen on the muscles and the bones as the bones become weak and the muscles lose the mass and fat accumulates around the stomach.
It is very difficult to detect the deficiency of growth hormone in the adults as the adults have already attained the visible physical growth that is required. Many times the deformities that take place in the body are attributed to some other cause and very few people understand that it is due to the deficiency of adult growth hormone in the body. Due to uneven distribution of fat the cholesterol level in the blood increases which causes many problems like blocking the arteries due to which proper blood flow in the body is affected.
The main reason for growth hormone deficiency in adults is some kind of damage caused to the pituitary gland or due to some effect on the pituitary gland by an extra growth called the tumour which affects the secretion of the glands and also affects the growth hormone and leads to the deficiency of the growth hormones in the body. The growth hormone also stimulates the cell production in the body which helps in the growth of the muscle tissues so any kind of deficiency in the growth hormone adversely affects the growth of the muscle tissues.