What you need to know about andropause: The male menopause
“Turn and face the strange ch-ch-ch-changes,” as David Bowie famously sang.
There’s good advice hidden in that lyric. When we’re confronted with the strange changes our bodies make at mid-life, it’s best to face them head on.
As we now know, age-related hormonal changes aren’t confined to one gender — they’re a human concern and a natural part of aging.
And for men, just as with women, mid-life changes prompt a number of challenging health issues. But the good news is, men can face and meet them head on with an effective natural approach.
Fighting back against the downward spiral
Among the hormonal changes men undergo as they age, a natural drop in testosterone has the greatest effect on your health. The most obvious effects are well known:
- Depression
- Diminished sex drive
- Erectile dysfunction
- Irritability
- Muscle loss
- Reduced vigor
- Weight gain
And yes, some men even experience hot flashes. And oftentimes, these issues merge to set off a secondary storm of health problems that can put men’s lives in danger.
For instance, reduced vigor and irritability can make you less motivated to exercise. Meanwhile, depression often prompts unhealthy eating habits — especially higher consumption of sugar and simple carbohydrates.
And amid this downward spiral, there’s a cruel irony: Weight gain and lack of exercise prompts an even greater drop in testosterone.
Ultimately, all this adds up, increasing your body’s tendency to gain more weight and lose muscle mass. And from there, these problems can escalate to deadly conditions, including:
- Cancer
- Dementia
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- Metabolic syndrome
- Stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
However, you can avoid the items on that frightening list. Turn off the TV, get up off the couch, and fight back with daily exercise and healthy eating.
A menu based around the Mediterranean diet is a great place to start. Eating fresh, whole foods (vegetables, fruits, and grains) with healthy oils and quality protein helps boost testosterone levels.
And once you have your diet and daily exercise on track, you can add two herbal supplements that work wonders for a majority of men.
Putting andropause into reverse
Dr. Marc Micozzi believes that instead of fixating on hormone replacement with testosterone creams or patches, we should promote our body’s potential to “create the right, natural levels of hormones at every age.”
In his Insider’s Ultimate Guide to Outsmarting “Old Age,” he says, “This approach involves protecting and supporting the special cells of the testes that make testosterone. And a recent study sheds more light on a natural and safe way to accomplish that goal.”
When researchers combined an herb called aspal (also known as African rooibos or red bush), with dandelion extract, they found that the two botanicals dramatically improved andropause symptoms.
Dr. Micozzi isn’t surprised by this. He’s been researching and recommending aspal for years.
He says, “Aspal has an unparalleled ability to hydrate muscles and tissues at the cellular level. That’s absolutely critical to addressing age-related changes. But over the years of first-hand observation and research, I have become convinced that aspal has many other healing properties — from helping blood sugar get into muscles to controlling diabetes.”
In addition to impressive lab work and animal studies, the researchers tested the botanical combination on 30 healthy men over 40. Dr. Micozzi says the results were “stunning.” After just one month of taking the 400 mg daily supplement of aspal/dandelion, andropause symptoms in the study participants dropped by 20 percent.
“This simple and safe combination has demonstrated effects on testicular cells, cell longevity, and testosterone production in individual cells, animal models, and human clinical trials. What’s more, it protects against oxidative stress, increases cellular longevity, promotes healthy aging, bolsters quality of life, and improves longevity in men.”
Dr. Micozzi recommends a daily dose of 400 mg of aspal (as a rooibos tea extract) and 500 mg of dandelion extract (one that contains the root, leaf, and flower).
You’ll learn about many more invaluable tips for navigating andropause and menopause in Dr. Micozzi’s Insider’s Ultimate Guide to Outsmarting “Old Age,” Click here to discover more or to enroll today.