男人的生物钟

Have you ever thought about your biological clock?

Never!

No.

Men don’t have to think about that.

Men may not think about their biological clocks, but they should.

There are some men whose biological clocks tick a lot fa, a lot faster and a lot louder than others.

(Well) Doctor Harry 1 Fish wrote the book about that clock, and what happens when the timing 2 is off.

A lot of people think as they get older, uh , that there is erectile dysfunction, but there’s more than just that. There’s excessive weight gain, uh , tiredness.

One of the factors determining the pace of that ticking is testosterone.

Testosterone is the major male hormone 3.

It helps regulate mood, sex drive, fertility, and muscle mass. And over time, it drops at a rate of about 1% per year after age 40. Roughly 20% of men in their 60s are testosterone deficient 4.

One of the problems that occurs as men get older is that they convert more testosterone to female hormones 5 or estrogens.

That’s right. The structure of testosterone is remarkably 6 similar to the structure of estrogen. With just one enzyme 7 the body can convert this male hormone into a female hormone. And body fat speeds up the process. So a bigger belly 8 can mean lower testosterone.

"Remember our manners."
"Thank you."

But it isn’t always that easy to spot.

My energy levels were depleted 9.

Jeff Volk came to Doctor Schlegel with all the symptoms of a man in the midlife crisis.

I was constantly fatigued 10 than in work. I wasn't as effective in my job. I was, was generally, you know, lethargic 11 and depressed 12.

Sure enough. Jeff didn’t need a Porsche. A blood test revealed he needed more testosterone. Jeff has been on hormone replacement 13 for 5 years.

It's increased the quality of my life.

But testosterone is a powerful hormone with many side effects and should be taken only with a doctor's supervision 14.

We haven’t followed people long enough to know for sure that testosterone replacement’s completely safe, but it certainly appears to help with your cardiovascular health, with how you feel, with your bone density 15 and a number of other factors like how you think.

So what’s a guy to do to keep his testosterone levels normal, naturally?

The obvious answer is that size really doesn’t matter, that is the size of the belly. The easiest thing you can do to prevent your biological clock from ticking too fast is losing the weight around the belly.

So, Jon, what would you say to men who want some testosterone stab?

I would say don’t do it. We don’t wanna oversimplify, very important. The aging process is very very complicated, and there are lots of other things besides just low testosterone that lead to losing your own fit as you get older, like for example, sleep deprivation 16. Whatever patients do, they should talk to their doctors about whether or not to get the replacement.

And to get a prescription 17, they shouldn’t just do it off the Internet or medicate themselves. So, what about the side effects, Jon?

Side effects are throughout the entire body so you can actually have problems with your liver problems with your heart. So, very important, not to take this medicine on your own without a prescription.

Alright, Doctor Jon LaPook, Jon, thank you.
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erectile:technical capable of becoming erect 直立的
testosterone:a chemical substance produced in the body that causes men to develop a physical features that are typical of males 睾丸激素
estrogen:a hormone produced in a woman's ovaries that makes her develop typical female sexual features and prepare her body for having a baby 雌激素
enzyme:a natural chemcial produced by animal and plant cells that causes reactions and other processes to start 酶