Men's Hormone Health Guidance

The health of male hormones (the core is testosterone) has never been "promoted" by various Internet celebrity supplements. The core logic is to "reduce unnecessary endogenous losses + build a natural secretion support system." 90% of abnormal hormone fluctuations can be brought back on track through lifestyle adjustments, and less than 10% of pathological abnormalities require standardized medical intervention.

The 28-year-old Internet programmer who came to me for consultation a while ago is a typical example. He stayed up late for three months in a row to work on a project. He couldn't even climb the third floor without gasping for breath. He checked the "Top Ten Symptoms of Low Testosterone" in the short video comparison. He directly stocked up three bottles of testicle-stimulating tablets purchased from overseas and ate half of them. He had nosebleeds every month, so he went to the hospital for a hormone check. The total testosterone was only slightly lower than the critical value for the same age group, but the estradiol was much higher. The supplement he bought had a phytoestrogen analog secretly added to it, which did not supplement the testosterone and disrupted the endocrine system first.

Let’s get rid of unnecessary anxiety first: Testosterone is not constant to begin with. It has a natural peak between the ages of 20 and 30. After the age of 30, it slowly decreases at a rate of about 1% per year, which is a normal physiological process. Don’t use your 20-year-old status to ask your 40-year-old self, which is purely to cause trouble for yourself. There are now two sets of mainstream logics for the judgment of testosterone. Traditional clinical Western medicine pays more attention to the total testosterone value. As long as it is lower than 9.9nmol/L and accompanied by clear symptoms (such as loss of sexual desire lasting for more than six months, a significant decrease in muscle mass for no reason, long-term low mood and inability to be energetic), exogenous supplementation will be considered. ； The judgment criteria of functional medicine are more detailed, focusing on the level of "free testosterone" - that is, the part of testosterone that can actually be used by the body. Many people's total testosterone seems to be within the normal range, but the proportion of free testosterone is too low, and they will still suffer from fatigue and poor status. This is why some people always feel that their status is not right even though their hormone reports are clear.

Many people don’t know that long-term chronic stress is the number one killer of testosterone. It’s not the kind of short-term pressure to catch up on a project for a week, but the kind of burden that hangs over your head every day and can’t be relieved: the 8,000 monthly mortgage repayment, the anger you are holding in your heart when you have a conflict with your partner, and the anxiety of not taking time off for fear of being optimized. These will keep your cortisol at a high level for a long time. For example, the hormone synthesis production line in your body originally has a quota to produce testosterone, but as a result, it is used to produce stress-resistant cortisol every day, and the production of testosterone naturally cannot increase. I used to know a guy who owned a gym. I was a muscular man who had been training for ten years. In the first two years when the industry was not good, I was worried about rent and membership renewal. I still taught classes until 10pm every day. I also had to train weights when I had time. My testosterone was lower than that of non-fit office workers of the same age. Later, I simply transferred half of the shares in the studio and went fishing in the suburbs two days a week. I didn't take any supplements. After three months of review, it returned to the normal range.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the pitfalls that many fitness enthusiasts have stepped on. They always think that "training legs will stimulate testicles" or "eat less and exercise more and you will be in better shape." This is not true. Let’s not talk about training. When losing fat, many people eat like rabbits and dare not touch any oil. You must know that testosterone is a steroid hormone and the raw material for synthesis is cholesterol. If you don’t even give enough raw materials, how can the body make testosterone? I have seen several young men whose body fat percentage has dropped below 10%, and even their morning erections have disappeared. This is because they ate too little fat and cholesterol. Of course, body fat that is too high is not enough. When a man's body fat rate exceeds 25%, the aromatase in the fat will convert testosterone into estradiol. This is why many fat guys have problems with breast development and fatigue. They must have a balance at both ends.

There are many pitfalls in exercise. The more you move, the better. Long-term high-dose aerobic exercise will actually lower testosterone levels. I have a friend who runs marathons. He has run 3-4 marathons every year for two consecutive years, and his weekly running volume has been maintained at more than 50 kilometers. Last year, his testosterone was only one-third of the normal range. The doctor said it was caused by long-term aerobic excess. Later, he reduced his weekly running volume to 10 kilometers, and added 40 minutes of strength training twice a week, and returned to the normal range in half a year. The same goes for those who hit heavy weights in the gym every day and don't rest until they are exhausted. Training puts pressure on the body, and hormones are synthesized during recovery. If you don't give recovery time, the more you practice, the harder it will be.

As for the supplements and medical interventions that everyone is most concerned about, I would like to say something neutral, neither deify nor demonize them. Supplements are not useless, but they must be appropriate. For example, if you don’t get enough sun exposure and are found to be deficient in vitamin D, then supplementing with some vitamin D can indeed help you increase your testosterone level. After all, it is an essential raw material for the synthesis of testosterone. ； People who don’t like to eat red meat or seafood can also benefit from proper zinc supplementation. But for those products that claim to be "7-day cremaster" and "surge dozens of times after eating", you can just take them away. They are either added with banned androgen analogues, which will destroy your own secretion function if you eat too much, or they are pure placebos, earning you IQ tax. If it is really a pathological form of low testosterone, such as primary hypogonadism, then you should use exogenous testosterone as directed by your doctor, and don’t force it. However, you must not buy injections privately or buy substandard products and use them blindly. The gain outweighs the loss.

Finally, I want to talk about my own experience. Over the years, I have come across hundreds of people with abnormal testosterone. 90% of them are not born with problems, but are caused by stress, hunger, or stress. In many cases, you don’t have to spend thousands to buy supplements. Stay up less late at night, don’t tighten the strings too tightly every day, eat enough meat and high-quality fats, and smoke and move two or three times a week, it’s better than anything else. Don’t be anxious. Higher testosterone is not better. Within the normal range corresponding to your age group, it is enough for you to feel comfortable and in good condition. There is no need to compare the value with others, right?