It’s come to my attention that I’ve written a loooot of articles about women and women’s health/fitness. That’s because probably about 70% of our clients are women over 40. But we have some men, and they feel left out. Plus, men just aren’t as complicated as women, so less needs to be written. Nonetheless, today is all about the gentlemen, and male menopause (or the actual term, “andropause.” We’ll use those two interchangeably.) Though some gentlemen (and ladies) will refer to male menopause as the “midlife crisis.”
In this article we’ll cover:
- The symptoms of andropause
- The differences between andropause and menopause (and why a lot of the medical community doesn’t believe that andropause exists).
- Obstacles to proper hormonal balance
- What can be done about it
Original source: here.
Male Menopause Symptoms List
It’s interesting the role that testosterone plays. It’s often thought that it only impacts muscle mass, and maybe aggression, but the results are much more wide-reaching than that.
With low testosterone, men can experience the obvious declines in muscle mass, but besides that, other symptoms, like the ones in the list below:
- Depression (who would have thought testosterone would impact mood?)
- Poor sleep
- Gynecomastia (man boobs)
- Low energy
- Decreased libido
- Low bone mass
- Sweating
To add to the problem, estrogen tends to rise. So in that sense, male menopause is feminizing to men. Or as Ahhhhnuld Schwarzenegger would say, it is turning him into a “girly man.”
If you don’t want to be a girly man, or if you’re a wife reading this, and don’t want your husband to be a girly man, feel free to fill out this application form to see if you qualify to work with us.
Original source: here.
Differences Between Male Menopause and Female Menopause
In women, menopause is official when it’s been 1 year since a woman’s last period. There’s a big party, there are trumpets, there’s cake, lots of chocolate and wine. Maybe not.
In men, it’s not quite so official. There’s no specific, objective marker of when a man reaches male menopause. There’s no specific testosterone level that has to be hit, or anything like that. Some men start with a naturally high testosterone level, and it steadily declines as they age, and by the time that they are 55, they have the same testosterone level as another man might have had at 25-30. So the man-to-man variability in testosterone levels is very wide. And the speed of decline is also very wide.
There is also a distinction in symptoms. Namely, about 70% of women experience hot flashes during menopause. But even as low as testosterone levels go in men, male menopause hot flashes are extremely uncommon. According to Harvard Medical School, the only time that men really get hot flashes is if they’ve had specific androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer.
That’s why it’s very hard to put a specific number of the testosterone level that has to be “hit” for them to make the “male menopause” label official.
And those are the two biggest reasons why it’s often not recognized by the medical community:
- Not every man’s testosterone levels drop to a level low enough to experience symptoms
- It involves a decline – not a complete stoppage, like female menopause
These two reasons also make it very difficult to answer the question of “how long does male menopause last?” Because after all, to identify how long it lasts, you have to know when it begins and when it ends. However, unlike female menopause, there’s no definite beginning, and testosterone levels continue to decline basically until death. It’s often said that male menopause starts at age 40+, but really, it’s highly variable.
Obstacles to Proper Hormonal Balance
Obstacle #1: The Man Himself
The biggest one is the man himself – men are often do-it-yourselfers, and refuse to accept help from a professional. Too bad, because it’s costing them time, energy, and most importantly, their health.
Obstacle #2: The Magic Bullet
Another potential obstacle is the belief that there’s one single supplement out there that will fix everything. Often, men turn to “testosterone boosters”, believing in the myth of the “magic bullet.” It’s been shown over and over again that most supplements marketed as testosterone boosters are heavily overhyped. This includes things like tribulus, fenugreek, arginine, and others.
Obstacle #3: Poor Testing
To get a complete picture of what’s going on with a man’s testosterone, and why it’s low, you have to look at:
- Total testosterone
- Free testosterone
- Estradiol
- FSH
- LH
- Cortisol
- DHEA
- Liver function tests
…and others.
Because low testosterone is not simply a product of aging. To blame it on nothing more than age is the “lazy way out.” Two people may have low testosterone, but it can be caused by 7 or 8 different factors. And the different factors necessitate different approaches.
What Can Be Done About It
I’ll bet that the first thing that pops into your head is “testosterone replacement therapy.” But hold your horses. For one thing, excess body fat has an enzyme called “aromatase.” And that enzyme converts testosterone to estrogen. So if you give a man who is overweight to begin with more testosterone, a good chunk of it will be converted to estrogen. So yeah, you’ll have higher testosterone levels. But you’ll also have higher estrogen levels… and the man boobs to go along with it.
The first step is to figure out why testosterone levels are low. And it’s not a simple answer, like “aging.” It could be high estrogen, which counterbalances testosterone. But what if estrogen levels are normal, and testosterone is still low? It could be high cortisol. It could be high DHT (dihydrotestosterone), or it could be 6-8 different things. I talked about this in much greater detail in my article on how to naturally increase testosterone, so I won’t repeat that here.
But the short version is:
- Sleep better
- Lose body fat
- Make sure your liver and small intestine are working properly
- Avoid substances that lower testosterone. These are things like beer (sorry), soy-based products, peanuts, and romantic comedies. Additionally, there are certain environmental factors in personal care products (like deodorants and body wash), plastic bottles and others that may be lowering testosterone levels
But this is mostly generic advice. If you’d like a specific plan tailored to you/your husband’s body, fill out this questionnaire to see if you qualify to work with us.
