Please raise your hand if you started thinking about your thyroid at the beginning of 2025. Not me! However, as we continue to think about how we can improve our well-being, we consider our metabolism rate, heart rate, digestion, mental activity and even fertility. These are just a few things that are largely controlled or affected by how well our thyroid gland functions.
Consider an example: A woman we will call Sara was deeply grieved over the loss of her baby during her first trimester. A year later, she lost another baby. No tests revealed the cause. Some years later, Sara gained weight despite being conscious of her diet and exercise. She later developed leg cramps and increased sensitivity to cold. Finally, after an ultrasound to her thyroid and blood tests, it was revealed that she has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the probable cause of her miscarriages.
What is the thyroid?
It is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located at the front of the neck under the skin. It is a part of the endocrine system and controls many of our body’s essential functions by producing and releasing certain hormones. The thyroid’s main job is to control the speed of our metabolism (the process of transforming food we consume into energy). Our thyroid gland needs iodine, an element found in food (thus the term iodized salt) and water. If we have too much or too little iodine, it can affect the level of hormones our thyroid makes. It affects almost every organ system of our body including:


It is estimated that about 20 million people in United States alone have some type of thyroid disorder. The following are the main conditions that involve our thyroid:
What symptoms should we look out for?





Though thyroid impairment may be caused by genetic defects, infections, auto-immune disease, and medication side-effects, we understand that we do not have control over these. However, we have control over our diet and stress level. Does our food include sufficient iodine such as saltwater fish and other seafood along with use of iodized salt on our food? What activities do we include in our day or week to control our stress? As we look ahead to the days of 2025, let us focus on our well-being by managing the things we have control of. For what it’s worth, what do our doctors encourage us to do during our annual visits? Diet and exercise.