Hormone Replacement For Men

In healthy adults, the decline of hormones is the greatest factor determining the rate at which we age.

Although recognised by aging specialists, hormone replacement as an anti-aging treatment is slow in gaining acceptance.

One of the main reasons for this is that it takes a lifetime study to measure their benefits, and any potential adverse side effects.

Most of us feel at peak health and energy between age 20 and 30.

Using hormone replacement to return the bodys hormones to levels at age 25 commonly results in:

Feeling better within a few days
Feel as you did at 25 within a few months
Reflect in your appearance in a few years. You will not appear as you did at 20 years old, but you can certainly gain back 10-20 years.

Hormones Used To Regulate Aging

The hormones used to regulate the rate of aging include:

DHEA
Melatonin
Pregnenolone
Estrogens [estrone, estriol, and estradiol]
Testosterone
HGH [human growth hormone]

These items are all available through reputable natural supplement companies. The key isknowing how much is required. This can be determined by testing all hormone levels before supplementation, and using supplementation to provide optimal levels. Too much can be worse than not enough.

Tests should include levels for the adrenal, sex, and thyroid hormones. Finding a doctor to support ordering these tests can be difficult, however, some private testing labs will provide these for a fee. The doctors resistance is purely based on their philosophy of supporting illness, rather than preventing it.

Human Growth Hormone

Human growth hormone, or HGH is the most important hormone in terms of its impact on aging. HGH is secreted by the pituitary gland of the brain, which regulates the entire hormone system. 40% of the anterior pituitary cells make HGH.

In childhood, HGH causes the growth of long bones and this brings a person to his or her final height. Every cell in the body has HGH receptors and HGH supports human metabolism in every organ in the body.

In the brain, HGH supports production of endorphins molecules, maintaining a happy and even mood. Irritability is a common symptom of HGH deficiency. With 10% of the brain cells become non-functional each decade of life, HGH is being used as an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
Skin cells respond to HGH, resulting in a smooth appearance.

Bone cells respond to HGH by making new bone, in some cases reversing osteoporosis after two or more years.
Fat cells respond to HGH - weight gain around the middle is another characteristic of HGH deficiency. This disappears with HGH supplementation.
Muscle cells become larger and stronger, especially in the upper body, with HGH supplementation. Loss of muscle is a common aging condition.

Male Hormones and Aging

As men age past year 40, hormonal changes occur that perceptibly inhibit physical, sexual, and cognitive function. The outward appearance of a typical middle-age male shows increased abdominal fat and shrinkage of muscle mass, a hallmark effect of hormone imbalance. A loss of feeling of well-being, sometimes manifesting as depression, is a common psychological complication of hormone imbalance.

Until recently, these changes were attributed to "growing old," and men were expected to accept the fact that their body was entering into a long degenerative process that would someday result in death

Testosterone

Most men regard Testosterone merely as the powerful sex hormone. In reality, it is much more. Testosterone receptor sites are in cells throughout the body, including the brain and heart.

The body requires testosterone to:

maintain muscle mass and bone formation.
Improve oxygen uptake throughout the body
Help control blood sugar
Regulate cholesterol
Maintain immune surveillance
Maintain youthful cardiac output and neurological function
Maintain healthy bone density
Maintain muscle mass
Maintain red blood cell production
Avoid depression

Total Hormone Rejuvenation Therapy

Anti-aging clinics that offer total hormone rejuventation therapy aim to bring all your hormone levels back to the level you enjoyed in your early twenties. And with it, markedly slow the aging process.

Many of the diseases that middle- aged men begin experiencing, including depression, abdominal weight gain, prostate and heart disease are directly related to hormone imbalances that are correctable with currently available drugs and nutritional supplements. Unfortunately, these treatments are not being supported by doctors, who are required to practice according to published protocols.

In addition, few physicians know what hormone blood tests to order for men, or the experience to ‘prescribe’ hormone supplements to restore optimal levels.

Male hormone tests should include: blood levels of estrogen, testosterone, thyroid, and DHEA.

A common hormone imbalance in men is too much estrogen. Whilst Estrogen is a necessary hormone for men, a hormone imbalance may occur as testosterone levels decline, and estrogen levels remain the same. In addition testosterone is increasingly converted to estrogen. This results in a testosterone/estrogen imbalance that directly causes many age-related health problems including an increased risk of heart attack or stroke and prostatic hypertrophy.

Testosterone Supplementation

Much research and clinical experience has verified the safety and efficacy of using hormone treatments to slow aging.

The Life Extension Foundation reviewed several thousand published scientific studies to validate safety and anti- aging efficacy. They now aim to develop treatment protocols. These require diligent medical testing, and unfortunately long timelines. As the world awaits, some antiaging clinics are adopting their own treatment techniques.

Testosterone replacement therapy by itself may only compound the imbalance as even more testosterone is available to potentially be converted into even more estrogen.
Effect On Men Of Estrogen

In youth, low amounts of estrogen are used to turn off powerful cell-stimulating effects of testosterone.

As estrogen levels increase with age, testosterone cell stimulation may be locked in the "off" position, thus reducing sexual arousal and sensation and causing the common loss of libido so common in aging men.

High serum levels of estrogen trick the brain into thinking that sufficient testosterone is being produced, thereby slowing down the natural production of testosterone. The estrogen saturated hypothalamus stops sending LSH, a hormone the gonads require to produce testosterone.

Excess estrogen also increases the body's production of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which binds free testosterone in the blood and makes it unavailable to cells.

NOTE: Synthetic testosterone abuse can produce detrimental effects, and should not be confused with managed treatments to restore natural testosterone to a youthful level.

Concern that testosterone causes prostate cancer has been unfounded.

Some poorly conducted studies showed testosterone to be ineffective in the long-term treatment of aging. These studies failed to provide for testosterone conversion to estrogen, negating the benefits of the exogenously administered testosterone. Correct treatment protocol blocks this conversion.

NEXT: Male Antiaging Cosmetic Treatments

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