Andopause – Is It The Pause That Refreshes?
Almost everyone knows that middle aged women are
afflicted by menopause caused by an all too rapid,
abrupt decrease of their hormonal production.
And, while men can snicker about this, making
patronizing, sexist attempts at humor, the last laugh
is on us men.Why?
Men are not immune from the ravages of declining
hormone production. Between ages 40 to 55, andropause,
menopause’s brother affliction, comes calling on men.
Male hormones go crazy, but much more slowly
than women and in different ways.
While men have no menstrual flow that ceases or shows
up sporadically off schedule at the most inconvenient times,
andropause brings severe, yet slow, subtle, long term
degenerative problems to men.
For men, and for women, many times these hormonal
declines are not diagnosed correctly and treated
aggressively.
Rather, these symptoms are laughed off incorrectly with
inaccurate put downs about getting old.
Hormonal declines, especially testosterone, in men
can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease,
osteoporosis, diabetes, lost muscle mass, fatigue,
weight gain (mostly fat), depression, sleep
disturbances, declines in mental clarity, erectile
dysfunction and a loss of interest in sexuality generally.
And it doesn’t stop there. Symptoms of declining
testosterone include increased urge to urinate, thin skin,
poor concentration, memory lapses, physical strength and
prostate enlargement.
Oh, such fun !!
Testosterone is what makes somebody a man. Too
little testosterone, a man can become a hormonally
deficient it instead of a man.
Why do men put up with this problem, refuse to stare it
down, and demand that doctors treat it aggressively,
rather than failing to treat patients, laughing hormonal
problems off with comments like, “You’re getting old.
What do you expect at your age?”
What’s really the problem?
The good life in the USA: junk food consumption,
sedentary living (little or no exercise), and too many
doctors afraid to test patients for hormonal declines
and restore people to healthy hormonal balance, yet
all too willing to overprescribe Big Pharma’s products.
Some physicians wrongly believe that administering
hormones to patients is too dangerous. With proper
testing and with a customized hormonal prescription,
that’s not true.
For instance, some doctors fret that testosterone may
cause or accelerate prostate cancer. This is unproven.
Even if it were true, since prostate cancer develops
slowly over years, why worry?
Al Sears, M.D. says that beginning at age 40, men’s
testosterone levels decrease 10% per decade.
Correcting one’s testosterone levels is an important
thing for a man to do. But there are several other
improvements that any man should make to optimize
his health.
For example, in most cases, aerobic exercise using
sporadic sprints, rather than exercising at the same
speed the entire time, can improve breathing capacity
significantly.
Americans have a fixation on heart disease and
cancer, two of our biggest killers, but give little or no
thought to decline in our lung capacity.
Gentlemen, get off the couch. No whining about your
aches, pains and your collection of prescription
drugs. This is no time to let your hormones dry up
and to become a geezer.
Turn off the TV. Buy and eat organic foods. Work out
vigorously at least five days per week. Take retirement
out of your vocabulary. Put your mind and body to work.
Partner with a physician who can help you get your
hormones in balance, the way they were when you were
age 30.
If you’re 40 to 80, thinking and feeling old now and it
will soon be time to expire, check out what the Bible says.
In the Book of Genesis, God reduced maximum lifespan down
to 120. So, by God’s longevity maximum, you have many more
years available. Don’t waste them being needlessly sick, real or
imagined.
And if you’re below 40, it’s time to start taking care of your health,
if you aren’t doing so already.
If you take positive action now, you can have a long life as a
robust human being, not someone depressed, discouraged and not
healthy at all.
The Aborigines are long living and live to the fullest, even in their
80’s and 90’s. They run, climb trees, wrestle with each other. If
they can do it, we can do it by living right.
Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, “I’m not retired. I’m refired.
I’m not gonna ease up, let up, shut up or give up until I’m taken up.
The main reason I have no interest in retirement is because I don’t
think of what I do as work.”
Zig’s now age 80 and still is making speeches around the country.
Clearly, you can see that andropause is not the pause that refreshes.
Originally, Coca-Cola claimed to be the “pause that refreshes.”
However, neither andropause nor Coke are refreshing.
They are to be avoided if you desire good health for many years to
come.
Andopause – Is It The Pause That Refreshes? by John Alquist
