Are Your Hormones Moaning? Do Men Get Off Lightly?
I meet a lot of people who are on a roller coaster with their changing body and mind as they transition towards, through and beyond the ‘M’ word. Yes you guessed correctly menopause. Do men seem to get off lightly?
Did your mothers talk to you about menopause. Well mine never really did, it was pretty much brushed over . To be honest I never asked to much as it was a subject that seemed secretive and in some way a bit cloak and dagger and to be fair I am sure she did not want to relay the gory details of it all. In fact, I was completely unaware of what to expect until I began researching it more .
You may have read my article on the Seven Dwarves of Menopause: Itchy, Bitchy, Sleepy, Sweaty, Bloated, Forgetful, and All Dried Up! Sounds unpleasant; however, women aren’t the only ones affected by hormone imbalances. That’s right. Men experience unbalanced hormone levels, too! Funny though I never heard my Dad talk about it, nor any other males in my life, until my son suffered from a hormonal imbalance in his teens and that is when my research really began.
Hormones
can make a huge impact on the weight and health of both men and women — though the balances needed to maintain optimal weight and health for each gender vary wildly. For women, it’s a lack of estrogen (often brought on by the changes associated with menopause) that can contribute to weight gain, particularly around the abdomen. For men, conversely, excess estrogen and a shortage of testosterone can cause those love handles (and more) to form around the stomach.
Now I am getting technical here, it’s the nurse inside me just can’t help it. To be able to determine whether testosterone and estrogen are out of balance, men and women should both have blood tests to measure their levels of estradiol, a type of oestrogen, and testosterone.
A woman’s optimal oestrogen range is 90 to 250 pg/mL, while a man’s estrogen levels should stay within 20 to 30 pg/mL. For testosterone, women should be in the range of 1.0 to 2.2 pg/mL, while men should maintain testosterone in the 20 to 25 pg/mL range.
If a woman’s levels of oestrogen are too low, she may be prescribed bioidentical estrogen to restore it to a more youthful level. Women may also need to receive progesterone supplements to help balance out the estrogen — the progesterone level should be between 2.0 and 6.0 pg/mL. For men, levels of estrogen that are too high (or levels of testosterone that are too low) may be balanced out by testosterone supplementation.
We’re getting older, sorry folks it’s true that’s something we all have in common, however, that doesn’t mean we need to sit around and watch our bodies deteriorate. It isn’t inevitable. Right NOW Choose to extend your youthful energy and good health by restoring your hormones! It can be life transforming, you do not have to accept this as your fate, you can get up and fight. With the right support and advise you ooze vitality and sexuality more than ever before. People I meet who have taken control and sought the help tell me they feel more vibrant and sexier than ever. (That’s good news for you and me as I want to ensure my body and mind are ready now for this period in my life and it is not a huge shock when it happens).
Choose to embrace this time over being over 40. Once you do, you’ll see exactly what I mean. You have a unique, beautiful, and irreplaceable life, and you should enjoy every incredible second of it. An amazing body that serves you well, look after it and in turn it will look after you. I encourage everyone 40 plus to look into having a hormone test. When the time comes, look for a qualified doctor who specialises in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) and has a good track record for helping and caring for women in this transitional stage of their life.
Have a wonderful life you deserve it and only you can ensure that happens
Much Love
Debs xx
