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Thu, 06/11/2015

Menopause in Men

Do man also menopause or is it just another one of those modern sensitivities nonsense? Throughout life the human body changes. From baby to child to teenager and from there to being an adult. These developments are in women and men more or less the same. It is not until the transition to older age that they start to differ and hit the sexes differently hard.

The hormonal changes that cause that one is not young anymore, does not feel the way it used to be and are responsible for certain bodily abilities and passions to subside, happen in the age between 40 to 60 and hit women harder than men. The ovaries stop the production of the female sex hormone oestrogen within a few months or years. Ultimately, they can no longer bear children.

The male sex hormone testosterone degrades much more slowly, namely by only about one percent per year. This is just as little noticed than the decline in growth and thyroid hormones which happens at the same time. But there are other things that occur and which are commonly referred to as mid-life crisis. One does no longer have as much desire for sex as before, perhaps one even has impotence problems. Feelings are unsteady, one has no desire to always follow the same rut. One looses muscles mass and grows a belly instead.

So the answer is: Yes! There are also menopause in men. Unlike menopause in women, which represents a significant incision, the male menopause is not a big deal. If a man feels bad in his menopause, that has nothing to do with testosterone levels. If there is no other cause, which must be determined by a physician, the intake of testosterone will not help – it is even harmful. It can lead to heart attack, stroke, thrombosis and even to prostate cancer.

To 'get on top' again one should acquire a relaxed attitude to ageing. If you want to be like Peter Pan and not grow up, you have a problem. But mostly other things play a role between 40 and 60, which have nothing to do with menopause. At this age as a man one has reached basically everything one can achieve – or one is frustrated because one has not reached it. Perhaps there is a hole in one's life, because the children have left home or the relationship does not longer work as one wants. Considering life expectancy, men can completely start over and have a second life: studies, family, career. Women can not.

Around 50 men are at a point in their life where they are physically and mentally still in peak performance, they theoretically have a choice to continue or to leave it all behind and start anew. But only for few people it is realistic to start over. One has to do it completely on one's own, simply because the familiar standard of living must be financed.

Nevertheless menopause should be perceived as a challenge and new opportunity. Research has found that this is exactly what men take up. They start to take care of things that are important to them and distinguish themselves with them. This makes them more productive. The question only is whether this productivity is socially recognized. Because older men have seen and experienced almost everything they do not longer have to prove themselves. So job and career are no longer necessarily so dominant. The merit system has had its day. So relevance, sustainability and one's own happiness comes in focus.

Thus, the menopause is not only a physical – for men although hardly noticeable – process, but rather a process of change as we see the world. That means new opportunities one can take on, new things to tackle, to try it with sports, to support charity, to support children and young people to find their way into life or to address new personal projects, as a private garden, healthy nutrition, to start photographing, to run a half or full marathon or learn golf. The choice is all yours! There is no reason to succumb to any thing that drags you down – whether it is called menopause or just

If you like to know more about what happens to the body when it ages, then read the article "The Quest For Immortality Leads The Way to Happy Ageing" on our blog.