the.com/adrenal gland
A walnut-sized drama queen sitting on your kidney, screaming fight or flight.
means A small hormone-producing gland that sits atop each kidney and pumps out adrenaline, cortisol, and other hormones that govern stress response, metabolism, and blood pressure.
from Straightforward scientific Latin: 'ad-' meaning 'toward' or 'near,' plus 'renal' from 'renes,' Latin for 'kidneys.' So the name simply describes its address — the gland sitting next to the kidney — with none of the drama it actually causes once it starts working.
- location
- perched atop each kidney, not inside it
- two zones
- cortex makes steroids, medulla makes adrenaline
- output
- cortisol, adrenaline, and aldosterone, all from one gland
- overwork risk
- chronic stress keeps it firing long after danger passes