Hormone Related Aging – Men and Women

All mammals experience hormone related aging.  There is a well accepted axiom in medicine that says, “Hormones do not decline because we age --- we age because hormones decline”.

Hormonal aging starts at about 26 to 28 for both men and women.    The major difference is women’s symptoms are well understood, information is past from mother to daughter and the onset is quite dramatic.

For men the opposite is true.  Until recently, hormonal aging was not well understood.  Fathers and sons may talk about sports but not hormones.  The onset is gradual such that many men accommodate to the symptoms, constantly adjusting what they perceive as normal.

In business there is a principle called the “boiled frog phenomenon”.  It goes like this -- If you put a frog in hot water it will jump out.  If you put a frog in cool water and slowly raise the temperature the frog will adjust to the change until it is boiled.  In like manner men adjust to hormonal change until they realize “I don’t like the way I feel and I don’t like it”.

Fortunately men are becoming better informed.  They are learning about hormonal aging and that it can be safely treated.