Testosterone governs almost every aspect of the everyman. When testosterone is secreted normally, you’re a normal guy, with good energy levels, a level head and a predisposition to a healthy body composition. But when the hormone is in short supply, all of that goes to the wayside.
Understanding the role testosterone plays is just the first step to optimizing your health as you age.
What is testosterone?
The short answer: it’s the endocrinological MVP and without it your whole hormonal team is screwed. And it’s not just for fertility, it’s important for energy, libido, wellbeing, muscle strength and for making bones thick and strong.
Statistically, you’re more likely to go about your life with normal testosterone levels than have either a deficiency or surplus. However, as you age, your levels will likely naturally drop. It’s common for men to start to lose testosterone steadily from the age of 40. It’s just a part of life and while some men move through this change without any need of healthcare adjustments, some find great relief and benefit from hormone therapy.
Testosterone’s Role in Fitness
Testosterone forms the foundation for how you feel at any given moment, while also providing the building blocks for how much of you there is – literally your physical density as a mammal, in bone and muscle tissue. It’s for that reason that your T levels are a key factor in strength and fitness.
Testosterone’s Role in Sex
One muscle relies more heavily on testosterone than any other, and it’s an important one. Your hormones hold your penis as if by a puppet string. While trying to understand the roles biochemistry and psychology play in virility is enough to put you to bed with a sore head, one fact stands with rigid certainty: without healthy testosterone levels, you’ll likely suffer erectile dysfunction.
Now, it’s important to note that while many of the symptoms associated with low testosterone can be due to something else – like diabetes or depression – erectile dysfunction and the loss of morning erections is a good indicator that testosterone is the reason. This is where a conversation with your doctor plays a key role to ensure proper treatment after identifying the underlying cause. Our treatment coordinators at Mantality Health can also offer insight – we can test you for low T – and work alongside your physician to develop the best treatment plan for you.
Testosterone’s Role in Health
Things get more complicated when it comes to figuring out the causes of low T and how that might affect your health. Testosterone and insulin walk hand in hand. There’s also a symbiotic relationship between the hormone and the neurotransmitters that govern your mood and sense of wellbeing. That’s why understanding whether low testosterone is causing diabetes, or diabetes is causing low testosterone, is tricky. The same goes for why depressed people may suffer hormonal damage, and people with hormonal problems may suffer depression.
There are common associations, and one leads to the other. Low testosterone can give you three times the risk of developing type-2 diabetes; if you have type-2 diabetes, you could have a much higher risk of low testosterone. Again, talk to your doctor. Just don’t wait or sit in your symptoms, suffering the effects of low T for no reason. The advancements in men’s health are profound and are waiting for you to take action to feel better today.
