Signals

We are all 'hormonal' all of the time because to be 'hormonal' is to be human. Discover the miraculous and often misunderstood signalling system that makes us who we are.

'Signals is a special book, a witty, utterly fascinating guide to who you are and how you work . . . It's compassionate, humane and grounded in the author's deep clinical experience. A true gift.' Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People

'A fascinating insight into the real-world mystery-solving of the doctors' clinic, and discoveries past and present.' Mishal Husain

Hormones animate every aspect and every moment of our lives, controlling our milestone moments as well as our day-to-day emotions and behaviour. Dr Saira Hameed is one of the UK's leading endocrinologists and in Signals she invites us into her clinic to see the lives interrupted by misfiring hormones and how fixing the problem recalibrates a life.

We sit beside Dr Hameed as she hears stories from spirit-sapping exhaustion to agonising infertility, absent libido to frenzied disorientation. We see an emaciated girl who is close to death and another battling obesity. We meet a young boy who can't stay awake and a teenage girl a whose racing heart will not be able to keep going much longer.

Signals takes us on a journey inside our bodies to reveal the spectacular endocrine life force at work. Combining compassionately told patient histories, with stories of pioneering medical breakthroughs and addressing common misconceptions and 'hormone hacks', this is a vital book for anyone who wants to understand their health and their happiness and to appreciate the wonder that to be human is to be hormonal too.