Serum testosterone levels mostly drop when your aging testes increasingly become unable to produce enough of the hormone.
At a certain age — usually over 30 — male hormones begin to fall out of balance. The results of such imbalance? They’re not great. In fact, they can be downright awful: “Grumpy man syndrome,” or “male menopause,” increased risks for heart disease, diminished libido, fatigue, and more. Life, as you’ve known it radically, changes, physically, emotionally, and sexually. You no longer feel like the man you once were, and it takes a tremendous toll on you.
It’s critical that you monitor your hormone health once you enter your thirties. Understanding where your hormone levels lie will help determine if, or when, you should begin hormone replacement therapy or HRT for men.
What is Hormone Replacement Therapy?
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for men is the therapeutic provision of synthetic hormones to replace those that are no longer produced naturally within the body. In most cases, by effectively returning hormone levels to normal, HRT can successfully combat the effects that are onset by male hypogonadism, also known as low testosterone.
What is Testosterone?
Before we can get into low testosterone, it’s important to define testosterone itself. Testosterone is the primary male hormone produced mainly from the testes, or testicles. The hormone drastically increases as males enter puberty and peaks by early adulthood. It’s responsible for a multitude of major bodily functions, including:
- Boosting the male libido, more commonly referred to as “sex drive”
- Producing sperm
- Maintaining a healthy bone density
- Building muscle bulk and strength
- Generating and maintaining a healthy red blood cell count
- Distributing fat
- Promoting the growth of body and facial hair
What Happens to Testosterone As You Age?
In short, it dips. Men over 30 lose between 1 to 1.5 percent of their natural supply of testosterone every year. It’s a slow and natural decline, though a decline nonetheless.
So, how does declining testosterone play into aging? Serum testosterone levels mostly drop when your aging testes increasingly become unable to produce enough of the hormone. Your body and brain gradually start to exhibit the effects — energy wanes, pounds begin to add on around the midsection, your mind and mood fluctuate more, and your appetite for sex diminishes.
How Is Your Life Affected by Hormone Imbalance?
If your hormone levels rapidly exceed their natural decline, you could be experiencing what’s known by too many men under several names: Andropause, aka male hypogonadism, aka low testosterone, or “low T.”
More than one out of four men age 30 or older suffer from low testosterone. And it’s a growing concern — a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reported that today’s average 30-year-old man has approximately 17 percent less testosterone than a 30-year-old male at the start of the 21st century. A number of variables are attributable, but the end result remains consistent.
What Are Symptoms of Low T?
More research is needed to fully grasp the long-term impact that hormones have on health, though what has been studied to this point is alarming. First, there are the more commonly known effects, even though you or your loved ones may not notice them right away:
- Feelings of sadness, moodiness, irritability
- Difficulty enjoying life in general
- An increasing lack of energy and enthusiasm
- Weight gain and fat redistribution, most notably around the midsection and/or breast tissue
- Loss of muscle, stamina, and strength
- Decreased desire for sex or intimacy
- Diminished sperm volume
- “Brain fog,” or an inability to focus and think clearly
- Waning performance at work
- Some hair loss, or less growth in body and facial hair
- Trouble sleeping, feeling constantly tired
- Reduced ability in playing sports, exercising
- Increasing withdrawal from family, hobbies, going out, and so on
Low T has also been associated with numerous, sometimes severe health issues, including increased risks of:
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke
- Respiratory disease
- Osteoporosis, or the thinning of bone density, makes you more prone to injury
- Depression
- Erectile dysfunction (ED)
What’s Irritable Male Syndrome?
When hormones become unbalanced, men usually don’t realize it until they’ve exhibited a few or several of the above symptoms for some time. What may get noticed, though, either by yourself or those closest to you, is that you’ve developed a short fuse. Before, where you perhaps took things in stride, you’re now prone to rapid frustration and snapping at people.
This condition is known as irritable male syndrome — what many jokingly describe as “grumpy man syndrome” — though the clinical term is andropause or male menopause. The truth is, even though the associated physical and emotional issues may not appear as prevalent or substantial as their feminine counterpart, andropause is a very real problem for guys. And it’s one that many men try to suppress for fear of ridicule or embarrassment. It’s very common, so they needn’t feel that way.
Men with andropause turn irritable because of a deficiency in their androgen levels, which are critical to their sexual and reproductive functionality. Chief among those androgens is testosterone, so when that falls below normal levels, the irritability can easily rise.
Testosterone deficiency is typically treated through hormone replacement, while androgen replacement therapy (ART) may also utilize aromatase inhibitors, chrysin, pregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), zinc, selenium, and other supplements. Measuring these hormone levels is the way to determine if HRT is a viable option.
When those levels become clinically deficient, it’s time to consider hormone replacement.
How Do You Measure Your Hormone Levels?
So, how do you find out where your hormone levels are and where they should be? Here’s where Hone can help. Hone offers an at-home hormone test kit in which you can easily collect a sample and mail it to a Hone-affiliated lab. The labs, which are accredited by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and, where applicable, by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), will measure your levels of total and free testosterone, estradiol, luteinizing hormone (LH), and prostate-specific antigen (PSA).
How Do You Know if HRT is Right for You?
Once the lab has tested your sample, the results are sent both to you and to a physician that’s been vetted by Hone and has experience with HRT, with whom you’ll schedule a telemedicine consultation. (The consultation is included with the order of your at-home test kit.) The doctor will go over the measurements of your hormone levels, discuss how you’re currently feeling and determine whether or not you’d benefit from HRT. If HRT is recommended, you’ll undergo additional bloodwork, either by mail or at a local laboratory to where you’re referred. If those results confirm your hormone levels are unbalanced or clinically deficient, you can proceed with hormone replacement.
At What Age Does HRT Start for Men?
There’s no set age on when exactly men should begin hormone replacement. However, the general consensus is to start when you begin exhibiting symptoms and see that they’re significantly impacting your daily life. Though men’s hormones start to naturally decline after 30, it can be a few months, or a few years, before the adverse effects of hypogonadism really begin to manifest.
What’s the Difference Between HRT and TRT?
Finding an answer for this question can understandably be frustrating for men, based on how many websites and books use the two terms very interchangeably. There is a simple but important difference, however. With hormone replacement therapy, the goal is to optimize and rebalance several hormone levels in your body, including testosterone as well as the thyroid and growth hormone. Testosterone replacement therapy focuses on optimizing solely your testosterone levels. It’s important for you and your doctor to make such a distinction and clearly communicate from the onset so that you can avoid potential confusion later.
While we’re on the subject, what’s the difference between HRT and natural male hormone replacement therapy? The answer to that question is a little more involved. HRT provides synthesized hormones to restore balance within your body, while natural male HRT consists of hormones that are derived from plants or animals, and aren’t synthesized inside a laboratory.
Natural male HRT is available in two forms: Traditional natural HRT and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, or BHRT. Through traditional natural male HRT, one consumes supplements or plants with compounds to replenish and maintain balanced hormone levels. Examples include selenium, shilajit, ashwagandha, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, ginger, and chrysin, among others.
The bioidentical hormones used in BHRT are actually synthetic, though they’re prepared from plant sources that share the same molecular structure (or very similar) as human hormones. There’s FDA-approved BHRT in the form of estradiol and progesterone, and compounded BHRT (cBHRT), in which the treatment can be customized to individual needs. Compounded bioidentical hormones are not FDA-approved as they don’t go through the same rigorous testing and production procedures.
Is Natural Male HRT Better Than Traditional HRT?
Not enough research has been done to state with certainty that one form is better or safer than the other. Some have claimed that there may be potential adverse cardiovascular effects through bioidentical hormones, though a 2015 meta-analysis published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported there was no direct correlation.
What Are the Benefits of HRT for Men?
The benefits provided by hormone replacement with testosterone are plentiful, thankfully. Before anyone asks, “Does HRT build muscle?” the answer is a resounding yes, it can. It can also do a lot more, including:
- Improve cognitive function, including your focus and memory
- Increase and maintain your bone density
- Heighten or revive your sex drive, aka libido
- Improve erectile function for males with mild ED onset by low testosterone
- Build strength and energy as well as muscle bulk
- Boost your mood and confidence
If you’ve got any additional questions, be sure to get in touch with our experts and get your replies for free.