Most women already think about their hormonal health, with biological processes like the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and the menopause having a big effect on their lives.
But according to biologist Dr Matt Kaeberlein, founder and CEO of Optispan, a healthtech company dedicated to improving longevity, hormonal health is just as important for men—particularly middle-aged men. “A shockingly large number of men are dysregulated in terms of hormones when they get in their 50s,” he says.
While precise figures aren’t available, Kaeberlein says that, “on average, men experience roughly a 30-50% decline in free testosterone between ages 30 and 70.
“This degree of change is large enough to affect sexual function, metabolism, mood, cognitive performance and body composition in many men—although these changes often go unrecognized because they occur gradually and are commonly accepted as a ‘normal’ part of aging.”
Kaeberlein says that men who are thinking about their long-term health should be taking their hormones into account.
Why should middle-aged men care about their hormones?
“In the United States, especially for men, [hormone health] is not typically looked at unless the man asks for it,” says Kaeberlein.
Despite this, hormone health can play a key role in your quality of life and long-term health because of a gradual decline in testosterone.
“For both men and women, testosterone in particular is going to be important for muscle mass,” says Kaeberlein. “Muscle mass is lost with age and loss of muscle mass drives, in particular, frailty and metabolic disease.”
“A lot of people don’t realize that muscle is our primary way of buffering blood glucose, and so it’s a sink for blood glucose, and if you don’t have enough muscle, you’re at higher risk for metabolic disease and diabetes,” he continues. This is important for both men and women, but men generally lose muscle faster than women as they age.
The loss of testosterone can also have a significant impact on quality of life for middle-aged men. “Many men who are deficient in testosterone will experience a decline in energy, decline in libido, mood dysregulation and there are even mental health effects in some men,” says Kaeberlen.
How to test for testosterone deficiency
A simple blood test will provide you with information on your testosterone levels and whether you’re deficient, and this is a test Kaeberlein thinks every middle-aged person should do. “Everyone, in my view, who is in their 40s and 50s, should know what their hormonal status is,” he says.
How to naturally boost your testosterone
On the advice of medical professionals, some people supplement with testosterone using injections or patches, but Kaeberlein recommends looking at your lifestyle before considering this.
“You definitely can have an impact on testosterone through your lifestyle and my recommendation for most men would be, if you are deficient in testosterone, try [changing your] lifestyle first.”
There are two key lifestyle factors that can boost your testosterone.
1. Diet
There are no specific foods that contain testosterone, but following a healthy, balanced diet can support your body’s testosterone levels. “If you’re eating a crappy diet that’s high in simple sugars, high in processed foods, that can depress testosterone,” says Kaeberlein.
2. Weight training
“Resistance training can boost testosterone in both men and women,” says Kaeberlein. That’s because resistance training, like lifting weights, creates muscle stress, which signals the body to produce more testosterone.
Kaeberlein stresses that following a healthy diet and lifting weights have plenty of health benefits, on top of boosting testosterone, so there’s absolutely no harm in trying them. “Regardless of whether you’re testosterone-deficient, you should be eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly anyway. But if boosting your testosterone is a motivating factor to get you to do it, that’s great!”
If you’re looking for a place to start with resistance training, we have an at-home strength training routine for beginners, and a beginner gym machine workout plan to choose from.