Episode 20 of the Living Life Well Show: Men's Health and Hormones
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth. Welcome back to this episode of the living life. Well show today. I'm excited to bring you. A topic near and dear to my heart, a men's health and hormones. And so we're a couple of weeks ago we talked about women's health.
So guys, now it's your turn. So when we're talking about men's health, it is very encompassing. As you might imagine, and, and us guys myself included. Aren't always the best at really keeping track of our health. Right? A lot of us are out [00:01:00] there kind of going and doing leaving the cave, killing stuff, dragging it back home. Kind of a mentality and don't really look at our ourselves and our health and how well we're doing.
We're kind of looking to see, okay, does my family have what they need? Do. Am I able to provide the roof over the head and, and
Am I able to, to really help. My family thrive. And so we look externally. At that, and we tend to look at our accomplishments and, and when we look through that lens many times we let our health slide. That longterm sliding can result in ultimately hormone dysregulation and, and lots of physical issues and symptoms that come about with that and with chronic disease.
And so that's kind of what I want to talk about today on this episode. And so. What are the hormones involved when we're [00:02:00] talking about men's health? Well, of course, testosterone testosterone is the, the thing that we know the most about associated most with male physique and hair and. All, all those types of, of things, muscle structure. Ability to go out and get things done physically. We also think about testosterone with regards to performance in the bedroom as well.
And so testosterone makes up a large essence of male hormones, but so does progesterone and estrogen. We actually do have progesterone and estrogen that are within us as well. And so when those get out of balance, As well, it can cause symptoms either too high or too low. We can get symptoms associated. With excess estrogen primarily but. I am seeing this more and more.
And the reason is because our treatment and our [00:03:00] approach is singular in nature. We tend to only think about testosterone, testosterone, being the end, all be all. And don't really look at anything else. So when you go to a low T clinic, or sometimes if you go to a primary care physician who is looking at your testosterone, they may not check your estrogen or progesterone levels as you start adding testosterone in, you're also going to potentially increase your estrogen levels as well.
And you can get to a point to where you're converting more and more testosterone to estrogen. And now you're losing those beneficial effects of the testosterone. And now you're becoming a quote more, almost estrogen dominant and can have more mood swings and issues. Associated with, with estrogen. As opposed to the benefit of energy and [00:04:00] vitality strength. And stamina that are associated with testosterone in men.
So. You want to be very careful and so. When you are suspecting that you have a hormone imbalance, you really want to take that overall approach and look at everything that could be causing that hormone imbalance. Cause. Typically, what I see is that it's not just an hormone imbalance. There are several other things that are going on that are causing this hormone imbalance.
And so just going after the hormone, imbalance is going to help a little, maybe for a period of time, but ultimately you're going to flame out. And this is what I see when, when men come to me from these low T clinics and, and this thing, they, they talk about. How. Hey, I went in initially, man, it was great.
Three months. It was fabulous. I went back, got my second pellet. [00:05:00] And by the end of the first month, that energy, that vitality. That I had. Experience with the previous was now waning. And so they wouldn't do another one. And so the last two months just really, weren't very good. And so they up the dose they upped the dose again.
They checked you know, my, my hemoglobin and hematocrit were okay. So it wasn't producing too much red blood cells. So they elected to go ahead and, and increase that testosterone again. So that testosterone gets increased. Ah, Hey, they're feeling a little bit better. Not quite the level that they did when they first. Got the testosterone. But they they're feeling better than on the second pellet. And so now they're, they're kind of going along.
They go back they get a blood draw again, maybe again, looking at that CBC to. Make sure there's not excess red blood cells being produced. And this time there is, and so they say, well, you know, we can stay at the same [00:06:00] dose or we need to go down. But if we stay at the same dose, you're going to have to go and give blood every month. So the guy says, okay, well I'm feeling better.
Okay. Let's go in and give blood. And so this happens. So this is a common scenario that I see. The other scenario that I see is that again, they get that initial improvement in that first treatment. But estrogen really isn't checked. And what they find is that they, they, again, they have that, that episode to where that second. Pellet isn't nearly as effective. And so then they go to the third pellet that pellets increased. Now they're converting more testosterone to estrogen. And that is creating more mood swings, more belly fat, and contributing to all the big five that I see. From men today that are causing this imbalance. So what are the conditions [00:07:00] that are really causing this dysregulation of hormones and or contributing to erectile dysfunction?
And so really what those are, are five things, sleep apnea. Obesity. Inactivity. Hypertension and diabetes. So for a lot of us guys, we have sedentary jobs. We have jobs that you're sitting at a desk or sitting for long periods of the day. And so in this group of individuals that in activity is leading to the other four.
And so inactivity can be a big, big root cause of sexual dysfunction as well as. As obesity. And then leading into sleep apnea, leading into hypertension, leading into diabetes. And so. We really want to be active, but that's not to say that that people that are active don't deal with this. [00:08:00] So you think of somebody that does that's a contractor that does a lot of manual labor for a living.
We still see diabetes, we still see obesity. We still see sleep apnea and hypertension with this. And so. That again goes along to diet. Diet is going to play a big role in this. And so diet is going to be huge. So those are really the five conditions that I see, but they're all really related to two conditions, inactivity, and diet.
And so if we can really kind of correct those things, we are going to see benefits because when. Our testosterone gets off when our estrogen levels. Get higher when there is imbalance over all of our endocrine profile, we're going to result in other issues, we're going to result with gut issues.
We're going to [00:09:00] have less muscle mass. We're not going to be able to do physical things. When we need to do them, how we want to. Care for our families and those things longterm. And so we really need to be paying attention to our health. So if I have low testosterone, what can I do?
Well, number one, you need to realize that the testosterone level of a 70 year old is not going to be the same as a 30 year old and vice versa. The 30 year old shouldn't have the same levels as a, as a 70. 70 year old. So the way we're designed is that God created a, so that testosterone level does decrease. It does decrease some, you want a minimum level of about 400, we know that then. That is enough testosterone to support our cardiovascular system. And get those benefits that you get from testosterone.
Now, if you are a younger. [00:10:00] Man, and you're, you know, twenties, thirties. You're going to have levels 700 to 900 somewhere in that range. And so we really want to want to look at that, at that levels. And make it appropriate replacement for the age that you are, if we are replacing testosterone.
And so that again is going to be very important and that's not always where those. Low T clinics land. They land. At that higher end of the range that, that, you know, eight, 900 range sometimes even a little bit over that. So. When we get too high, then we one run the risk of having a blood clots, a heart attack stroke. Even can get hypertension related to this.
So you really want to make sure that your ranges are appropriate for your stage of life, as opposed to just looking at a singular range that is [00:11:00] based on quote what feels good. So. We really want to look at how we can minimize, decreasing our testosterone or things that we can do naturally to increase it.
So, number one is be physical. Okay. Does this mean that you have to lift weights? No, but you do need to be active. Number one is be active. If in that activity, you can incorporate some type of resistance and or impact training. That's going to be great. So playing basketball, jumping is going to be great. Getting out there lifting weights is going to be great.
If you like iron man or Spartan races. Great. Do that. But I'm not suggesting you have to do any of that. Simply getting up every day, walking, being physically active may be enough for you in your stage of life. And so if you're an older man, then yeah, that's all you need to do is get up and walk and do this [00:12:00] every day. Push yourself a little bit. Be able to take care of your family. So that's going to be very important.
The second thing. Sleep. Many of us men really aren't good with sleep. Our wives have told us for years. Oh gosh. Or snoring. It's horrible. You need to get this looked at. Well, this is a big issue. And why is this an issue? Because this causes increased cortisol. Increased cortisol causes inflammation, inflammation over time is going to continue to affect the adrenal glands.
The adrenal glands produce something called DHEA. That is a precursor to testosterone and activation of testosterone. And that stress on the adrenal glands because of lack of sleep is going to cause those DHEA levels to go down significantly. When those DHEA levels go down, the testosterone can come down with it. [00:13:00] So really making sure that you're getting good sleep is going to be extremely important. In allowing your body to produce the testosterone that it would normally, because you're going to be able to produce those precursors at the levels that you should be producing for your age to give you that testosterone level that you need.
So. So getting good sleep is going to be paramount. So for many of you that may mean you need to get a sleep study done. Now sleep studies are much different. You don't necessarily have to go to a sleep lab. You can have this done at home and have a device that monitors you. You can get an app on your phone that tells you how much you are, aren't snoring and how much you are, or aren't getting good restful sleep.
These are easy to do a smartphones nowadays and apple watches and aura rings and all these different devices [00:14:00] that we have to be able to measure that. So, so really getting good sleep is, is going to be important. And then you really want to get the good in. So what is the good you want to make sure that you're getting really good proteins? Plenty of vegetables, plenty of fruits.
You want to avoid those processed foods. Avoid those sugars. Primarily. And then for vitamins, you want to make sure that you're getting plenty of good vitamin D and vitamin B. Those are all going to be important to supporting your overall health. Your, your hormones your HPA access, the whole endocrine system.
And that's going to be really important. And these next two are a little different. These next two, I think are kind of interesting. So. Have you guys have always heard of the famous football coach or maybe the, the big time CEO or somebody that's that's a Titan [00:15:00] of their, of their industry, so to speak. They've worked forever. And then they retire and two years later, they're dead. Well, what is going on there?
Well, these people have lost their purpose. They've tied their entire purpose to what they do, not who God made them to be. They live. Only for the success and accolades of their accomplishments. They don't live with a long-term vision. And mind of eternity. And so when we look and focus on a purpose, that's limited to this temporal world, this, this world that, that is only here for a while, but eternity is' forever. We will we'll we'll lose our purpose. And w when we think that our purpose is completely [00:16:00] tied to what we do. We're not able to live it once we retire.
Right. So that sense of purpose gets completely lost. On us and it gets completely out of balance. And when men retire, we're going to see. Decreasing levels of, of testosterone. We're going to see decreasing levels of. Of all your hormones and in general, when someone has a loss of purpose, Or they lose hope. It's a pretty quick slide down that slope. Into chronic disease and, and potentially even death.
And so I encourage you to really get in and know. Who God made you to be. What is his plan for you on this planet? And this last one is a little unique, never [00:17:00] retire. Never retire. If you know your purpose and your purpose is not just your profession. If you know your purpose, you can live your purpose all your days. And this is what I mean by never retire. Always be doing something.
Even when we look in the Bible, we look at the Levites. They had a prescribed 20 years. Between ages 30 and 50, that they were going at it hard. At about 25, they had about five years of training when they were working, doing certain aspects. Between 30 and 50, they were doing they, they were in the primary role.
They were in the role at which they had the most responsibility. After 50, they just didn't stop being a Levite. They continued being a Levite, but their roles changed. The same thing I believe we see in Luke 12, where [00:18:00] Jesus is telling the parable of the rich fool, the guy who stores up all his, his possessions for himself. And just builds bigger barns. That I think is what we see somewhat with retirement today, we see that. I'm just supposed to go and take it easy.
I can just go and do everything for myself and don't ever really do much for anybody else. And I'm not suggesting that you don't retire from your job, that, that that's not what I'm suggesting. What I am suggesting is, is that you need to have that eternity in mind and not just focus on the last 20, 25 years of your life. Being quote easy. While the Levites didn't have as much responsibility anymore, they were still there.
They were still mentoring. They were still talking to those 25 year olds [00:19:00] that, that were then going to be moving into that 30 to 50 year old category with those increased responsibilities. They were still there too. Help support those 30 to 50 year olds that we're really kind of probably seeing the same challenges that they saw over their 20 years of service. To help and support them.
And so. When, you know your purpose, you are going to be able to live it all your days. Is it going to look different? Absolutely. For those of us that are our husbands and fathers or aspire to be that someday. That, that job never, never quits. Right. And so that is a job that you want to take seriously and to continue to live every single day. So.
If you are physical. Get good sleep. Get the good in, know your purpose and live it and never retire. You are going to [00:20:00] help continue to support those testosterone levels. You're going to continue to help. Support. Your body's natural ability. To continue to perform and do what you need to for yourself and for your family. So what if you're doing all this and you have low testosterone, so you really, you need some more testing.
You could have some chronic infections. You could have underlying auto immune issues. There could be other possibilities going on that. That could be causing this. And so you'll need a deep dive. And so looking at your gut health, looking at. These things are going to be very important, really digging in to that HPA access and understanding how your hormones are relating, how they are talking together are going to be important.
So. I hope that this has been an encouragement. I hope it's been enlightening. [00:21:00] Thanks and God bless
That's it for this episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific concerns.
