I wanted to show you how the hypothalamus affects the pituitary gland so you can appreciate why damaged to the hypothalamus is so serious to an athlete. High core body temperature and chronic training stress can damage the hypothalamus. The pink block here represents the hypothalamus. Remember, it's above the pituitary gland and is connected by that little stalk. There are two parts, actually, to the pituitary gland. The anterior pituitary is the part that releases most of the hormones, and this is what I have represented here. The posterior portion of the pituitary also releases hormones when directed to do so by the hypothalamus. And one of these hormones controls electrolyte balance in the body. And for this reason, we should be really discussing both. But for this lesson, we are just going to discuss the interior pituitary. These little yellow objects here represent the nerve input into the hypothalamus from the brain. And this is how the hypothalamus knows what is going on in the body. The type of hormone the hypothalamus produces are called releasing hormones. The hypothalamus itself does not have any direct effect on the tissues or cells. Its job is simply to tell the pituitary what to do. And you don't have to remember all the hormones that I'm about to discuss. I'm just talking about them so that you gain an appreciation of the scope of the hormone released from the pituitary. And when they're instructed by the hypothalamus, the anterior pituitary releases the following hormones. One is prolactin. Another is the thyroid stimulating hormone, or TSH. There's the adrenal cortoid tropic hormone. There's a growth hormone. There's luteinizing hormone. And there's follicle stimulating hormone. So let's come back and take a look at what these hormones do. Prolactin stimulates the mammary glands in females. The thyroid stimulating hormone stimulates the thyroid gland to release hormones that control the body's day-to-day metabolism. And the adrenocorticotropic hormone, or ACTH, stimulates the release by the adrenal gland of cortisol. Now, cortisol is also known as the stress hormone, because it is elevated whenever the body is under stress. Growth hormone is an important hormone for athletes. It has a couple of effects. It has a direct impact on cells throughout the body. And growth hormone also stimulates the liver to release insulin like growth factor, or IGF. Now IGF acts just like growth hormone, and it looks like insulin. And this is one reason why its called insulin like growth factor. Almost every cell in the body is affected by insulin like growth factor. LH and FSH work with the gonads. The testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males, and some of it is also secreted in the ovaries of females. Small amounts of testosterone are also secreted by the adrenal glands. FSH helps manage the menstrual cycle and stimulates the ovaries to produce eggs in females.