What is the thyroid gland? Perhaps we don’t understand it in general. In fact, the thyroid gland is very important to our body. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Health some time ago found that the health literacy score of our residents is low, which on the one hand indicates that residents lack more health knowledge, on the other hand, it also indicates that the health science and promotion in China is not enough. Maybe it is because scientific knowledge is boring, maybe it is because scientific knowledge does not have the same interest chain as “cell phone yellow website”, maybe it is because scientific knowledge is not on the spring dinner. However, the demand of our people to be healthy, live a long life and learn more about themselves cannot be ignored. Today, I want you to understand what is the thyroid gland? The thyroid gland is actually the largest and most superficial endocrine gland in our body. (All medical terms for glands refer to organs that have secretory functions, such as sweat glands, submandibular glands, parotid glands, etc.). The endocrine gland is the gland that secretes substances that go directly into the bloodstream. Why is it called “thyroid gland”? This question is not in the medical textbooks, so medical graduates who became doctors and later promoted to medical professors have no answer to this question. I think the naming of the gland may be related to its location. And where is it? In our beautiful neck. Location of the thyroid gland : The thyroid gland is located in the front of the neck, below the laryngeal nodes and on either side of the trachea, and consists of two lateral lobes and a narrow isthmus lobe in the middle. Under normal circumstances, it is not easy to feel the outline of the thyroid gland in the neck. Because below the laryngeal node, there are two pieces of cartilage (what people call brittle bones) fused into the ancient “shield armor”, which is medically known as “thyroid cartilage”, which is the important tissue that forms and protects our throat, and the thyroid gland is located below it on both sides of the trachea. That’s why it’s named. In addition to our face and hands, we should not forget about our beautiful neck. So here is a reminder to take care of our necks! What does the thyroid gland do for our body? The role of the thyroid gland: The function of the thyroid gland is complex, mainly to take in and store iodine, as well as synthesize and secrete thyroxine. Thyroxine promotes the metabolic processes of various cells in the body and enhances the physiological activities of many organs; it affects the development of the fetus, the growth of babies and the maturation of bones, etc.