INSULIN AND GLUCAGON

In this video, we are going to talk about insulin and glucagon and what you need to know about them for nursing school. So before we get started, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and click the little bell icon so you don't miss out on any other nursing school tips and tricks that I've got coming up for you now. Let's do it. Okie dokie. So you've probably heard these terms somewhere before. Insulin and glucagon. You'll hear them a lot in nursing school. So insulin is a hormone that's released by the pancreas that moves glucose into the body cells. And glucose is just a big fancy pants word for sugar. So when you eat a candy bar, there is a bunch of sugar in your blood, right? So insulin goes all around the blood and the body and grabs onto those sugar molecules and moves them into the cells. Otherwise the sugar wouldn't be able to get into the body cells. Insulin is the key that unlocks that cell. Without insulin, the sugar can't get into the cells because insulin is that key. So insulin grabs on the glucose and shuffles it into the body cells so that the cells can use it for energy. Now another fancy thing that insulin does is that it tells the liver to store glucose as well. So insulin goes and knocks on liver's door and says, hey, can you please take up some of this glucose, sir, we need to save it for later, just in case. So the liver then collects some of the extra glucose in the blood and saves and it stores this glucose as glycogen. So now he just added another G word, glycogen. And all glycogen is is stored up glucose. So now insulin's job is done. It's able to move all of that glucose into the cells or have the liver store it as glycogen. And now the cells are happy. They have all the glucose they need for energy and they're going to be able to use it as you go about your day for energy. So now it's a couple hours after you ate that candy bar and you haven't eaten anything since and you're hungry. So your cells are also running out of glucose. They're running out of energy. And here is where glucagon comes in. Glucagon is another hormone released by the pancreas. And his job is to go tell the liver to release some of his stored up glycogen. So glucagon goes knocks on liver's door and says, hey, liver, the body cells are running out of energy, they need some more glucose and this stimulates the liver to convert its stored up glycogen into GL for those cells to use. So glucagon's job is to tell the liver to break down glycogen into glucose for the cells to use as energy. Now this is all making sense to you about insulin and glucagon. Write Love in the comments below. Now let's do some critical thinking around this whole concept. Now that we know the roles of insulin and glucagon in the body, Insulin moves glucose into the cells. It's the key that unlocks those cells so that glucose can get inside the cell. And glucagon tells the liver to break down some of its stored up glycogen for glucose so the cells can use it. So let's spell out when insulin and glucagon would be released. We already hinted to it a little bit, but we'll spell it out here. Now when it comes to high blood sugar, which hormone would you expect to be released? Insulin or glucagon? If you said insulin you are absolutely right. So when the blood sugar is high in the body, meaning that there is a floating around waiting to be moved inside the cells, then insulin is going to be released to help move that glucose inside the cells to be used for energy. Now on the flip side, when the blood sugar is low, which hormone would you expect to be released? Insulin or glucagon? Glucagon. Because glucagon is going to go tell the liver to convert glycogen into glucose and increase the blood sugar level because the blood sugar level is too low. Now if this critical thinking ex exercise is helping you to understand insulin and glucagon more, write love in the comments below. I want to hear from you, make sure this is all making sense and helping you out. And that my friend is the role of insulin and glucagon in the body. Insulin's job is to move glucose into the body cells and glucagon's job is to tell the liver to break down some of that stored up glycogen into glucose for the body cells to use. Now make sure that you download the MedSurg Study Checklist which will walk you through step by step how to study Med Surgeon Nursing School. That link is down below for you to snag it. And as always, thank you so much for watching friend. Now go become the nurse that God created only you to be and I will see you right back here next time on the nursing school show, take care of.