What Every Man Needs to Know About Testosterone and Emotional Wellbeing
When a woman is exhibiting feelings of depression or is going through “mood swings,” she is often said to “be hormonal.” Though that phrase is generally used in an unflattering way, it is not far from the truth.
Our hormones have a lot to do with regulating moods. And it is not just women’s emotions that are controlled by hormones. Men, too, can “get hormonal” when their testosterone is low. In fact, men with low testosterone are prone to anxiety, depression, mood swings, irritability, and other emotional issues.
Almost 40% of men over the age of 40 have some degree of low testosterone. As a man’s testosterone level drops, it impacts him in many physical as well as emotional ways. It is not uncommon for men with low testosterone to experience bouts of depression, feelings of anxiety, a lack of drive or motivation, and an inability to focus.
These kinds of feelings are all related to testosterone’s connection to your levels of critical brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Testosterone is an important precursor to the brain’s critical “feel good” chemicals, such as dopamine and serotonin. As testosterone levels drop, so do your levels of these chemicals.
Mood changes and unstable emotional states can be the result. Beyond its direct impact on the level of these brain chemicals, men with low testosterone often gain weight, have sexual health issues, chronic fatigue, and disrupted sleep – all of which can lead to depression.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Mental Health
There have been several studies that indicate a link between low testosterone and increased feelings of depression and anxiety. Similarly, studies have shown that in such men, testosterone replacement therapy can reduce feelings of depression and reduce symptoms of what has become known as “irritable male syndrome.”
In 2003 the Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital found that nearly half of the men they were treating who had not responded to conventional depression treatments also had low or low testosterone levels. They decided to see if increasing testosterone in such patients could help with depressive symptoms.
They designed a study that looked at 22 depressed men with low to low-to-normal testosterone levels who did not respond to antidepressants. Using typical double-blind protocols, half of the men received testosterone therapy for eight weeks, the other half received a placebo, and all continued taking their antidepressant medications.
The lead researcher on the study said that about a third of the men who received the testosterone treatment showed “dramatic improvement in mood, anxiety, and other measures of depression.” All of the rest of the men in the testosterone group showed some improvement.
Since then, several larger studies have echoed these results, indicating that testosterone therapy certainly can and does improve mood and mental health in men with low testosterone.
How Do Doctors Treat Low Testosterone?
You deserve to enjoy an active and healthy lifestyle at any age! That includes both your physical as well as your mental health.
But unfortunately, as men age, their levels of critical hormones like testosterone drop, which harm their ability to enjoy life.
Testosterone replacement therapy is the key to treating the symptoms of andropause and getting back what time and nature take away.
Hormone Logics has been successfully treating patients with age-related hormone loss with our unique hormone replacement therapies for men and women for many years.
Medical research has shown that testosterone replacement and/or HGH replacement therapy are extremely effective ways to treat age-related hormone decline. Hormone Logics’ HRT treatments for men and women have been proven to offer individuals between the ages of 35 and 65 a greatly improved quality of life.
Our medical director is Mazyar Rouhani, MD. Dr. Rouhani has long been a medical innovator. He is a co-founder of Symptify, an online symptom checker to better educate patients about their conditions. Recently, Dr. Rouhani has focused his endeavors on improving patients’ health using IV fluid hydration.
Using his medical expertise combined with his passion for optimizing each individual’s health and vitality, Dr. Rouhani combines his knowledge and expertise to provide an integrated approach to antiaging medicine to help his patients look and feel their best.
Before I came to hormone logics, my kids called me a ‘grumpy old man.’ But it was true. I just felt angry and irritable all the time, I hated it, but I just couldn’t do anything to snap myself out of it. Then I started feeling depressed on top of that, which was just making everything worse. A friend of mine who went through something similar suggested I contact Hormone Logics and get checked for Low-T. Man, am I glad I did! I have been on testosterone therapy for a few months now, and my kids say they’ve got their ‘fun dad’ back again, and my wife couldn’t be happier!”
Pauly R., Wellington, FL
If you would like to learn a little bit more about the many life-changing benefits of testosterone therapy, please contact us today by calling (561) 640-3333.
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