Men: Embrace Your Health

By Vanessa Billingsley, Fountain of You Wellness Writer

Yes, it’s true. When it comes to hot topics like staying young, feeling sexy, and hormone replacement therapy, women seem to be getting all of the attention. The reality is, becoming healthy and taking charge of the aging process is just as important for those of you who are men. Aging is a part of life, but you do not have to accept the myth that there is nothing you can do to stop the onset of weakness, dementia, and disease! It’s time to restore your muscular frame and strap the surfboard to the car; to throw the spring water in a pack and hit the cycling trails hard. I’m talking about eating real food, supplementing your diet with the right vitamins and minerals, working out, and finding out your hormone needs. The future of your health depends on the decisions you make right now. Once you realize the life-changing implications of anti-aging medicine, you will be able to embrace the challenges that surround you with the force and enthusiasm of youth.

First of all, let’s talk about your choice of fuel. Food that is processed until it’s unrecognizable, although convenient, is not real food. The typical American diet is laden with unhealthy fats and preservatives. There are aisles and aisles of synthetic snacks at the grocery store and streets literally lined with fast food joints. These popular foods are a terrible source of fuel for the body! It is the cause of the obesity epidemic we see today and the reason so many people are dying of heart disease and suffering with diabetes, Alzheimer’s and other inflammatory diseases. This is a tragedy when you consider how much of it is preventable! We are gorging ourselves with food our bodies were not designed to properly digest. It’s no wonder all we want to do when we get home from work is crash on the couch and watch TV. Our bodies are begging us for the fuel they were designed to burn. We have the opportunity to provide our bodies with everything (or nearly everything) they need to function at optimal levels by making wise dietary choices. What we really need is clean, whole food; high quality protein, the right carbohydrates and the right kinds of fat. Add to this a regimen of vitamins, micro and macro minerals, and essential fatty acids and you’ve mastered the first step to restoring health and vitality. These food and supplement choices will undoubtedly prove to be a source of superior energy and drive.

Now is the time to add the physical exertion it takes to build muscle, lose excess fat and get the endorphins flowing; to uncover the sexy, muscular man you’ve been hiding from the world. If you’ve been living a sedentary lifestyle, this may feel difficult at first, but the discovery of a new, deep-rooted energy will keep you going as you expand your physical abilities and uncover your limitless potential. Because exercise is an excellent stress reliever, it is a fundamental element of an anti-aging program. We live in a time-crunched, over-stimulated society where our stress response is constantly activated. Levels of testosterone, one of the most important of men’s sex hormones, are almost guaranteed to respond negatively to stress. During a single highly stressful event, testosterone levels can temporarily fall by as much as 50 percent! (1) This is only one example of why learning to cope with stress through tools like exercise is vital to your health. By following up on the body’s stress response with exercise to resemble a “fight or flight” outcome, we give ourselves a means through which excess cortisol and adrenaline can be burned off. Getting your body moving is truly key to living optimally, staying young, and restoring a heartiness for life.

Andropause, the increasingly accepted term used to describe the decline in male sex hormones, typically begins during men’s 30s and 40s. Although those who embrace health through diet and exercise are usually able to sustain healthy testosterone levels for much longer, most men eventually come to a point in their lives when testosterone levels begin to fall. The first signs of deficiency include a decline in energy levels, fatigue, loss of libido, depression, shrinking muscles, growing guts, and sometimes enlarged breasts. (2) Some men also feel a tendency to retract from life, activities, and work as confidence levels wane and energy disappears. Low testosterone affects from 2 to 4 million men, but statistics show that only about 5 percent of them receive treatment for it. (3) This is most likely due to the unfortunate fact that many health professionals label the symptoms of deficiency as an unavoidable part of aging. An anti-aging physician, however, understands that the important symptoms associated with a decline in male sex hormones are not to be ignored or treated lightly. Because health issues like erectile dysfunction and prostate cancer are rarely seen in younger men with higher testosterone levels, it has been suggested that healthy, physiologic doses of bioidentical testosterone can protect the health of some men with a deficiency. By finding out your individual hormone needs, you are taking an important step toward the fight against age-related diseases.

Men, embrace your health and take control of the aging process. As always, speak with your anti-aging physician about your options and individual needs. It is through such decisions that you will experience the driving force you’ve left behind. It is absolutely possible to regain the energy and motivation to live life to the fullest. Adventure is just around the corner.

(1) Cooper, R.K. (2005). Flip the switch; proven strategies to fuel your metabolism and burn fat 24 hours a day. United States of America: Rodale.

(2) Miller, P.L. (2005). Life extension revolution; the new science of growing older without aging. New York, NY: Bantam Dell.

(3) Roizen, M.R., & Oz, M.C. (2007). You staying young; the owner's manual for extending your warranty. New York, NY: Free Press.