The primary hormone that makes a man a man? Testosterone
Can testosterone influence everyday decisions? How about fidelity? Negotiation ability? Competitive drive? Overall health? Joint pain? Muscle maintenance? Depression? Memory? Energy? The answer is YES to all.
This is an excellent documentary from National Geographic on the many varied roles of testosterone. If you’re a guy and your knowledge of testosterone isn’t up to par this video is worth a watch even though it’s 45 minutes long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BIcaPzuMl0
Also, if you are over the age of 40 and don’t know what your testosterone levels are (including total and free) I strongly recommend you get tested. For more than 10 years I’ve been ordering tests for guys and you might be surprised at how young some guys are with low testosterone. Most guys with low testosterone don’t have a clue. They may experience lower drive or not, lower sex drive or not, less ability to add or maintain muscle or not. There’s not a “for sure” symptom that tells us someone has low testosterone.
Here’s a good quiz on WebMD to help determine if you might be suffering from low testosterone.
http://men.webmd.com/testosterone-health-check/default.htm
The only way to know for sure if you have low testosterone or not is to test it. Ask your primary care doc to test you the next time you get a checkup. He’ll likely ask “Why do you want that?” You may answer something along the lines of “Because I’m interested in total health and it’s my understanding that testosterone is an important part of male health and it may decline with age.” As long as you’re willing to pay for it out of pocket it should be your choice and not the docs to order the test. You may be able to roll the test into a covered insurance test but you’ll have to discuss that with your insurance company and physician.
I can order a blood test for you if you aren’t able to get one or simply choose not to go through your primary care doc. Just reply to this email for more info. Regardless, after the test, you’ll want to bring the results to your primary care doc for review if you’re low.
In health,
David
http://www.LeannessLifestyle.com
Leanness Lifestyle University
