The world may not be a fair place but nature doesn’t discriminate. It gives its fruits, its light, it’s wrath and problems equally to all. So when it comes to women having menopause, men aren’t far behind. They have Andropause; although it isn’t as troublesome as menopause it does have its own set of issues.
In a nutshell, andropause is the gradual decline of testosterone levels in men which leads to following symptoms: lower libido, mood swings, fatigue, osteoporosis, and weight gain. So overall a variance in the way they have been living life so far. There have been instances where the issue is termed as a mid-life crisis and simply ignored. But burying your head in the sand doesn’t make the problem go away, but if there are bigger issues to deal with one prioritize. The bigger issue for men is the chances of getting prostate cancer in later stages of life and this also is linked to men’s favourite testosterone.
Hence we decided to take a closer look at both of them and see what the correlation is:
Age: Well this link is obvious and can’t be denied. Andropause starts around 50 years of age and the risk of running prostate cancer also increases after 50. Moreover, according to a study, it was observed that around 80% of prostate cancer cases were in males 65 years or older.
Testosterone: Well this here is a tricky invisible thread joining the two. Invisible because even though testosterone helps prostate function, but when treating prostate cancer a hormonal therapy derived to reduce the testosterone levels are prescribed. Owing to this reason a higher level of testosterone is blamed for infuriating not creating this disease. In that sense, andropause should be anti-prostate cancer. But here comes the tricky part, for the treatment of andropause a hormonal therapy aiming to supply or increase testosterone levels in the body is recommended and hence takes the blame for increasing chances of prostate cancer. But the jury is still out for the final verdict.
Obesity: In general, being obese is a cul-de-sac whose opening leads to many health problems including prostate cancer. After andropause men are prone to weight gain. We are not sure of the exact reason behind it. It may be because of the fatigue or the mood disorders that they do not work out like they should and hence gain weight. Or you may think lower libido effects the way they work and leads them to obesity path raising the stakes in prostate cancer.
With this, we would like to reiterate the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. If you want to enjoy your retirement then only retire from work and stress. Continue to eat healthily and exercise well, avoid smoking and sedentary lifestyle. Doing so will help you reduce the risk of both andropause and prostate cancer. So take care and stay young (at heart).