What does male hormone health guidance include?

The current common male hormone health guidance in the industry focuses on the full cycle regulation of androgen with testosterone as the core, covering all age groups from adolescence to old age. It is by no means as simple as "testosterone supplements only for middle-aged and elderly people" as popular perception.

Not long ago, I met a 27-year-old Internet programmer who worked on a project for more than three months. First, he always felt unable to wake up. Later, his girlfriend of three years couldn’t even bring himself to ask him to climb a mountain on the weekend. So I searched for guides and bought a testosterone supplement from an internet celebrity. He took it for two months. Not only did he not get better, but his face was covered in acne and his hairline was falling out. It was about to peak, and when I went for a test, I found that his total testosterone value was actually within the normal range. It was just that long-term disordered work and rest caused high sex hormone-binding globulin, and there was no lack of active testosterone that could play a role. Indiscriminate supplementation messed up the feedback mechanism of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis. It took him two months to stop taking supplements and adjust his daily routine before he recovered.

In fact, many people have misunderstandings about hormonal health. They always think that discomfort means "deficiency". However, the first step of formal guidance is always to make an accurate assessment and not to prescribe supplements immediately. In addition to the necessary blood test indicators such as total testosterone, free testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and estradiol, you must also understand your living habits - whether you stay up past 12 o'clock for more than six months, whether you exercise for less than one hour a week, whether you like to drink milk tea and eat high-sugar desserts, and whether you take long-term medications that affect hormones. You must also rule out problems with upstream regulatory organs such as the thyroid and pituitary gland, otherwise it is easy to misdiagnose. There is also a controversy that is still being discussed in the industry: some scholars believe that as long as the hormone indicators fall within the normal reference range, drug intervention is not recommended and lifestyle adjustments are given priority. ； Other scholars believe that if there are clear related symptoms such as fatigue, depression, loss of sexual desire, etc., even if the indicator is stuck at the lower limit of the normal range, small-dose symptomatic intervention can still be considered. There is currently no unified conclusion, and the specific situation must be judged based on individual circumstances.

Most of the people who come for consultation are actually not at the level where they need medication. Adjusting their lifestyle is the most cost-effective way. I often joke to people who ask me, saying don’t always worry about imported supplements costing thousands of dollars a bottle. First, change your problem of sitting for more than 8 hours a day. Take 20 minutes to do some weight-bearing training, such as squats, push-ups, and pull-ups. The process of muscle contraction itself can stimulate the natural secretion of testosterone. If you insist on training for a month, you will return to your state much faster than taking supplements, and there will be no side effects. There is no need to make a "testosterone-specific diet" in the diet. Avoid high-sugar milk tea and cakes. Add some high-quality fat and zinc-rich foods to your daily meals, such as nuts, deep-sea fish, and occasionally eat oysters. There is really no need to take oyster supplements all the time. I met a young man before who ate seafood all the time in order to supplement hormones. In the end, the hormone did not increase much, but the uric acid first soared to more than 600, and he could not walk in pain.

If you are over 40 years old and have symptoms of delayed hypogonadism such as persistent fatigue, irritability, and decreased sexual desire, you don’t have to deal with it. The men’s department or endocrinology department of a regular hospital can do an evaluation. If supplementation is really needed, medication should be standardized under the guidance of a doctor and monitored regularly. Just test indicators such as prostate-specific antigen and hemoglobin. Don't blindly buy "impotence pills" online. Many illegal products add large doses of synthetic androgens, which may be effective in the short term. However, over time, they will inhibit your own testosterone secretion and destroy the endocrine axis, which is not worth the gain.

People always ask me if there is any one-and-done way to maintain hormones. To be honest, there is no way. Hormone levels are a barometer of your living conditions. If you stay up late every day, eat high-fat and high-sugar meals, and lie still, no matter how many supplements you take, you can't keep up. Instead, you can sleep half an hour early every day and exercise for more than ten minutes to move. This is more reliable than any expensive supplements.