With age, whether male or female, the level of hormones in the body will decline to a certain extent, and women in the age of 45 to 55 years of age, the rapid decline in the level of estrogen in the body, the level of androgens (mainly testosterone) in the male body will show a natural downward trend. But this natural decline, in different people, will also reflect different states.
Studies have shown that testosterone levels in men decline by about 1 to 2 percent a year as they age, and about one-third of men over the age of 45 have lower testosterone levels than normal, while in men over the age of 50, some cause a decrease in hormone levels, leading to a series of health changes. How to face this change in hormone levels brought about by the aging of the body? How to adjust and improve in life to enhance the health and vitality of middle-aged and elderly male friends? In today's popular science article, I will introduce the things that men over 50 years old have nutritional supplements and healthy lives.
Testosterone is the main sex hormone in men, it plays an important role in the regulation of various physiological functions in men, sperm production, male libido production, muscle production and muscle strength, adolescent male voice change, bone growth and strength, the emergence of secondary sexual characteristics of adolescent men, the maturity of the male reproductive system, etc., testosterone plays an important physiological role.
For the important role of testosterone, the medical community is still further studying, I believe it may also play other important physiological roles that we do not yet know, and it can be confirmed that with the increase of age, the level of testosterone will gradually decline, and some middle-aged and elderly men, there will be a serious decrease in testosterone levels, and with this situation continues to occur, it may affect the health of men, low testosterone may cause physiological changes include:
Muscle mass as well as muscle strength decrease
Mood changes, easy to be irritable and angry, or will produce depression, depression and other emotions
Body hair fall off
Difficulty concentrating
Easy to fatigue, always appear after meals doze off
Hot flashes
Decreased libido
Sexual dysfunction
Bone density decreases, and musculoskeletal pain appears
If you are over the age of 50, and there are many of the above symptoms or health problems at the same time, you may wish to check the testosterone level, this test is usually recommended to be carried out in the early morning, if the first examination level is low, it is recommended to choose another day to re-check to confirm, if the results of the two tests, testosterone levels are significantly lower than normal, it may really be a disease problem, medically called "male delayed hypogonadism".
Instead of waiting for a clear disease problem to use drug treatment intervention, it is better to actively do a good job in daily life, try to slow down and avoid a significant decrease in testosterone levels, the risk of causing health problems, in terms of nutritional supplements, the following 4 nutrients may have a certain benefit effect on men to protect testosterone levels.
1. D-Aspartic acid.
D-Aspartic acid is a natural amino acid. A recent study found that it may increase levels of follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. Both may stimulate the body to release more testosterone. However, in another study showed that taking more than 6g of aspartic acid per day may lead to a decrease in testosterone levels, therefore, appropriate supplementation is necessary, in the daily diet, asparagus, beans, bean sprouts, sugarcane, peaches, pears, meat are rich in aspartic acid, through food supplementation is the safest and most effective way.
2. Zinc
Zinc is an essential mineral for maintaining healthy bodily functions. Scientific studies have found that zinc deficiencies in the human body are associated with low levels of testosterone, an important nutrient that may promote the production of testosterone in the testes. Therefore, in daily life, paying attention to zinc supplementation may lead to an increase in testosterone levels. Shellfish in seafood, such as oysters, as well as lean meat of beef and mutton, dark fruits such as dates, grapes, mulberries, etc., can supplement zinc to the body and are a good source of food supplements.
3. Magnesium
Magnesium is an important mineral nutrient in the human body, whether for bone health, or cardiovascular health, magnesium is a very important element, and related research proves that magnesium as a nutrient, can increase serum free testosterone and total testosterone levels, whether for sedentary people or athletes, this supplement may be effective. Whole grains, lean meats, nuts, beans are rich in magnesium, in daily life can pay attention to balanced collocation, for the body to add more magnesium.
4. Vitamin D
When the skin is exposed to sunlight, more vitamin D is synthesized, and people with little exposure to sunlight and uneven dietary intake may be deficient in vitamin D, which not only plays an important role in calcium absorption and osteogenesis, in a year-long study, men who took vitamin D supplements daily had testosterone levels 20% higher than men who did not take supplements. This suggests that a reasonable supplement of vitamin D may play an important role in protecting testosterone levels in men, but it should be noted that vitamin D supplementation can be done in an appropriate amount, and long-term overdose may bring the risk of hypercalcemia, which is more than worth the loss. Dairy products, legumes, mushrooms, eggs, deep-sea fish, etc. in the diet are all good sources of vitamin D supplementation.
Nutritional supplementation is not the only way life conditioning interventions can delay a decrease in testosterone levels. In order to fully protect testosterone levels, it is also very important to adhere to the improvement and maintenance of the following 4 healthy lifestyles.
The first is exercise. Exercise can enhance testosterone levels, and the best way is strength training exercise, such as weightlifting, high-intensity interval training, etc., are the best way to enhance and protect testosterone levels, and exercise can protect testosterone levels, for maintaining men's health and vitality, but also will bring many health benefits, worth our long-term adherence.
The second is to maintain a healthy weight. For friends with obesity problems, the risk of decreased testosterone levels is higher, and related studies have shown that increasing age by 10 years increases the risk of low testosterone by 36%, but increasing waist circumference by 4 inches (about 10 centimeters) increases the incidence of low testosterone by as much as 75%. Therefore, to protect your testosterone levels, you should first allow yourself to maintain a healthy weight.
Third, get enough sleep. The importance of sleep to your physical health is self-evident. If you continue to lack good and adequate sleep, it will interfere with the natural production of testosterone in the body, and it is also possible to further lead to weight gain, and obesity will further reduce the production of testosterone, learn to develop good sleep habits, maintain good sleep, let the body get full rest, and is also an important aspect of protecting men's testosterone levels.
Fourth, reduce stress. Stress will stimulate the production of more cortisol, this hormone will not only raise blood pressure, but also fight against the production of testosterone, when cortisol levels rise, testosterone levels are more likely to decrease, cortisol levels will also stimulate people to eat more, resulting in obesity. Therefore, bad emotions such as stress and anxiety will reduce testosterone levels in many ways, learn to manage their own stress, and actively maintain a peaceful and optimistic attitude, which is also an important aspect that helps to protect testosterone levels.
The above healthy life conditioning methods, for middle-aged and elderly male friends, to protect their own physical health, delay the decline in testosterone levels, to avoid a variety of health problems caused by the decrease in testosterone levels, are very important, want to protect their health, maintain good testosterone levels, make themselves full of health and vitality, may wish to let themselves do these points first.