What are the early warning indicators of male hormone health risks

The current common clinical assessment core is serum total testosterone and free testosterone. The normal range of total testosterone in healthy adult men is usually 10~35nmol/L. If it is less than 12nmol/L, it enters the health warning range. If the free testosterone, which directly exerts physiological effects, is less than 225pmol/L, even if the total testosterone value is normal, we must be alert to the risk of hormonal deficiency.

A while ago, I accompanied a 32-year-old fitness coach I know well to have his annual physical. He usually has obvious muscle lines and has not stopped strength training. The results showed that the total testosterone was only 11.2nmol/L. He said that he had been preparing for competitions every day for the past two months. He had to control carbon dioxide and stay up late to take evening classes. His training status had dropped particularly badly. He had lost almost 20 pounds in bench press weight and still suffered from insomnia. I thought it was simply overtraining, but only after receiving the report did I know that the hormones had turned on the yellow light.

However, this early warning line is not a globally unified hard standard. Some European endocrinology research teams have proposed that the baseline testosterone levels of East Asian men are generally 5% to 8% lower than those of European and American Caucasians. Lowering the early warning line to 10nmol/L is more reasonable and can reduce unnecessary over-intervention; many clinicians still do not It is advocated that if the total testosterone is in the range of 12 to 14 nmol/L during the physical examination, but has been prone to fatigue, difficult to control abdominal obesity, loss of sexual desire, and inexplicable low mood for more than 3 months, it will also be classified as a hormonal risk group. You will not think that everything is fine just by looking at "no abnormalities" on the test sheet.

Actually, this is similar to judging the status of the car. You don't have to wait for the fault light to come on to indicate there is a problem. If you feel that there is insufficient power when driving normally and cannot step on the accelerator, even if the parameters are still in the so-called normal range, you should adjust it in time. Nowadays, the reference limit for testosterone in many routine physical examinations is set to 8 nmol/L. When it is lower than this value, obvious functional decline has often occurred. It is best to start adjusting your work and rest when you touch the warning line, stay up less meaningless late nights, and do moderate strength training. Don’t wait until there is a real problem and then rely on supplements to save it.

By the way, don’t panic if the value is low once you check it. Testosterone secretion fluctuates greatly. Drinking alcohol the day before, staying up all night, or even walking too fast to draw blood in the morning without breakfast may cause the value to drop temporarily. It is best to check 2 to 3 times in a row at 8 to 10 a.m. when you are fasting and stable, so that the results are accurate. It is not advisable to supplement testosterone in private. On the contrary, it will inhibit your own secretion function, which is not worth the loss.