Although its commonly believed that men just sail through life without the hormone hassles that women get, in fact the bloke in your life, if he’s in late middle age, may be suffering from the same shortage of hormones as a woman does in menopause.

In men, testosterone is a potent driver of their masculinity. It affects muscle development, strength, energy levels, happiness, libido; generally speaking it helps a man feel young and virile. This hormone is why blokes can lift heavier objects, run faster, and talk louder than women!

Testosterone levels peak in a man’s late teens and early 20s, and begins to decline from there. From late middle age onwards, a man may notice that he’s just not so interested in life any more. He may become grumpy, depressed, lose interest in sex, and even find that his performance at sports is declining. On a physical level he may find that he’s putting on weight easily, and his skin is thinning. This doesn’t happen to all men of course, but if the man in your life is showing these symptoms, here’s what he can do:

Hormone testing can reveal whether low levels of testosterone are the reason why he’s feeling older. His doctor can arrange a blood test, or his naturopath can arrange a saliva hormone test.

If his hormone levels are less than optimal, its important for him to assess his diet and lifestyle before reaching for supplements or bio-identical hormones to boost his testosterone level.

A diet high in alcohol, caffeine, sugar and processed foods is not going to help his energy levels, so look here first. Also, daily fitness training will help boost energy too. The difficult part of applying all this is that a man in andropause is remarkably difficult to dislodge from the couch!

Natural therapists use herbs and homoeopathic remedies to treat low hormone levels, along with the improved nutrition, fitness and stress management techniques that help everyone.

So if you believe that the man in your life is demotivated and tired because of low hormones, ask him to visit his health practitioner for a frank chat about testosterone and its effects.

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It’s a well known trend – men tend to be less diligent abouttheir health than women, and females certainly make up a larger proportion ofmost naturopaths’ clients.

Men seem to find fulfilment in being regarded as strong, goodproviders for their family.  Maybe thisis why they try to soldier on through most illnesses, and summarily end anydiscussion about their health with “I’m OK mate”.

Whatever the cultural reasons, guys, here’s one very goodreason to look after your health: Being healthy and feeling energetic canreally improve your sex life!

Now that I have your full attention, here are some majorhealth areas that men particularly need to attend to:

·        At work, men often come into contact with toxinssuch as chemicals in the workplace, and pollution. Antioxidant vitamins canhelp the body deal with these toxins effectively, taking a load off your liver.Antioxidants are freely available in brightly coloured fruits and vegetables,eaten raw. Instead of a pie & chips for your lunch today, how about a saladsandwich instead?

·        Men seem to be particularly susceptible to cholesterolproblems. Eating lots of unprocessed food with high levels of soluble fibre andomega-3 oils helps. Normal cholesterol levels promote good blood flow to somevery important parts of your body!

·        Fertility: Making healthy babies needs healthysperm. The old tale about oysters and sex going together actually has a lot oftruth in it. Sperm production uses a lot of zinc, and oysters contain a largeamount of this mineral.

·        The prostate is an important focus for malehealth. This gland is wrapped around the urethra, the tube which carries urinefrom the bladder to the penis. As some men age, the prostate tends to enlarge,perhaps because of hormonal changes that occur in late middle age. Prostatesize becomes a problem if it enlarges enough to force the bladder to becomesmaller, or even to obstruct the urethra. This can result in a decreasedstrength of urine stream, and increased frequency of urination, plus relatedproblems in this area of the body.

·        Gout can sometimes appear as a man ages. This isa disorder of uric acid metabolism. A person with gout can’t process the highlevels of uric acid, so it tends to be deposited in far-flung areas of thebody, especially the big toe. Naturopaths find that men presenting with goutoften have a very high-meat, high alcohol diet and poor liver function.

So, guys, its time to take control of your health and makean appointment with your health professional for a complete check up and adviceon the best way to get healthy. And remember, there IS a good reason to havehigher energy levels!

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