What is the content of male hormone health guidance?

The core is actually centered around the three dimensions of individual hormone baseline monitoring, lifestyle adjustments, and standardized medical intervention for abnormal conditions. However, it is never a one-size-fits-all standard process. It must be determined based on each person's age, physical condition, and living habits. In the past few years, I have come into contact with no less than 300 men who came to consult on hormonal problems. There are really more mistakes than correct ones.

What impressed me the most was a 28-year-old Internet programmer who stayed up until two or three o'clock every day to get off work. He always felt tired, lost his hair, and couldn't get excited when he was having sex. He read some popular science on the Internet and bought imported testosterone supplements. After two months of taking them, his face broke out and his sperm motility dropped by half during pregnancy tests. When he came for consultation, he was wondering why he had problems when others took supplements. In fact, he just took supplements without knowing his own baseline level. Many people come up and ask what supplements they should take. In fact, the first step is not supplements at all. Male hormones are never just testosterone. Prolactin, estradiol, luteinizing hormone, and cortisol all affect the overall state, and hormone fluctuations are particularly large. I stayed up all night and drank half a bottle of white wine the day before, and the test results the next day. The result may be more than 20% lower than the normal level. I generally recommend friends who suspect that they have a problem to choose two days when they don’t stay up late, drink alcohol, or exercise strenuously. Take six sex hormone tests on an empty stomach at 8 a.m. and take the average of two consecutive tests to determine whether it is really abnormal and avoid scaring yourself. I met a 32-year-old salesman before. He drank with a client until two in the morning the first day. The next day, his testosterone was only half of the normal value. He was so frightened that he went back and rested for a week before taking another test. He went straight back to the upper limit of the normal range. He was anxious for several days.

After figuring out their baseline, 90% of people actually don’t need to take drugs or supplements. By adjusting their living habits, their levels can return to a comfortable state. Don’t believe what is said on the Internet about eating oysters and lamb kidneys to stimulate testicles. It’s really useless. The zinc content is not as good as if you take two regular zinc supplements. Moreover, the purine and fat content of lamb kidneys are high. Eating too much will put a burden on metabolism. On the contrary, habits that don’t cost money are the most effective, such as sleeping for 7 hours. I used to have a fitness friend who only slept 5 hours a day in order to gain body fat. He trained harder than anyone else, and his testosterone level was not as good as that of the 40-year-old man downstairs who walks every day. Later, he was advised to adjust his sleep time to 7.5 hours a day without taking any supplements. Two months later, he took another test and found that his testosterone had increased by 28%, and his overall mental state was different. Also, don’t exercise blindly. People who run ten kilometers every day may not necessarily have higher testosterone than those who do strength training twice a week. Excessive aerobic exercise will increase cortisol and inhibit testosterone secretion. Appropriately add some strength training for the lower limbs. The testicle-stimulating effect is much more reliable than many Internet celebrity supplements. However, don’t practice until you can’t even climb stairs the next day. Excessive exercise will also increase cortisol, which is not worth the gain.

Of course, some people have been adjusting for three or four months, but their hormone levels still cannot go up, and related symptoms such as fatigue, loss of sexual desire, and low mood have not improved. At this time, they will encounter the issue of testosterone replacement therapy, which is the most controversial issue on the Internet. Some people say that routine testosterone supplementation after the age of 30 is an anti-aging artifact, while others say that supplementation will completely destroy your own testosterone secretion ability. Both sides are too absolute. In fact, if your two test results are indeed lower than the normal reference value for the same age group, and other causes such as pituitary problems and thyroid problems have been ruled out, it is absolutely fine to use alternative treatment under the guidance of a regular andrologist or endocrinologist. I once had a 42-year-old patient whose testosterone level was only one-third of the normal value. He was depressed every day and did not want to move, and the relationship between husband and wife was also affected. After following the doctor's advice, he used the gel preparation for half a year. Now the level has returned to the normal range, the symptoms have been relieved, and there are no serious side effects. But if your own hormone levels are completely normal, and you buy supplements and take testosterone injections privately in order to gain muscle quickly or so-called "return to your 20s", it will definitely do more harm than good, ranging from acne and hair loss to inhibiting your own sperm production and even increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. There is really no need to take this risk.

By the way, there are still many people who always focus on the numerical value of testosterone. In fact, there is really no need. There was a 27-year-old young man whose testosterone level was completely within the normal range. He had poor sexual desire and poor erection. After repeated tests, he found that his prolactin was high. Further examination revealed that it was a small pituitary microadenoma. After two months of symptomatic treatment, it returned to normal. So don’t judge blindly by yourself. If you have any questions, go to a doctor in a regular hospital first. It is better than anything else.