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Testosterone Levels
Take Tongkat Ali to
Increase Your Testosterone Level & Libido
Testosterone Level and Libido:
Why Older Men Need to Increase Their Testosterone Level
The importance of increasing and maintaining testosterone levels in older
men
Improve Your Sex Life And
Protect Against Heart Attack
By J.
Phillip Vogel
Le Magazine, May, 2003
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2003/may2003_cover_test_03.html
Libido
Sexual
stimulation and erection begin in the brain where neuronal
testosterone-receptor sites are prompted to ignite a cascade of
biochemical events that involve testosterone-receptor sites in the nerves,
blood vessels, and muscles. Free testosterone promotes sexual
desire and then facilitates performance, sensation and the ultimate degree
of fulfillment. Without adequate levels of free testosterone, the
quality of the male sex life is adversely affected. Studies have found
that men with low testosterone routinely suffer from a decreased sex
drive, genital atrophy, and impotence. Upon re-establishing youthful
levels, subjects commonly report increased feelings of vitality, a higher
sex drive, better sexual performance and even penile enlargement and
increased genital sensitivity. Low testosterone levels achieved in men
on androgen deprivation therapy are associated with decrease in size of
the testicles and penis. These findings are reversible and men on the
off-cycle of androgen deprivation therapy who have testosterone recovery
note a return towards normal in the size of their genitalia.
Recently,
researchers in Taiwan examined the relationship between low testosterone
levels and the male libido. In that study, the serum total
testosterone levels of 53 symptomatic men older than 50 years were
measured and compared to a control group of 40 young,
asymptomatic men. The results showed that men with a diminished libido had
a significant decrease in testosterone levels (mean 268 ng/dl)
as compared with the control group (553 ng/dl). Furthermore, 89 percent of
the subjects suffering from low testosterone reported a lack of
energy; 79 percent reported erectile dysfunction; 70 percent reported a
loss of pubic hair; and 66 percent reported a decrease in sexual
endurance. From this data, the researchers concluded that low levels of
testosterone are directly related to both advanced age and
diminished sex drive.
Why do testosterone levels fall?
Aging
in males involves a torrent of hormonal, biochemical and physiological
changes that accompany the down-regulation of the brain's
ability to initiate testosterone production.
In
some men, the testes lose their ability to produce testosterone, regardless
of how much luteinizing hormone (LH) is being produced. In
such cases, the pituitary gland is signaling the testes (via LH secretion)
to produce testosterone. But since the testes have lost their functional
ability, no testosterone is forthcoming. The pituitary gland, however,
continues to secrete LH because there is not enough testosterone in the
blood to provide a feedback mechanism to shut down LH production.In other
cases, it's the pituitary gland that malfunctions and fails to
produce sufficient amounts of LH, thus preventing healthy testes from
secreting testosterone. In either case, blood tests can determine the
levels of free testosterone and estradiol to help determine the
appropriate therapeutic approach.
Other
causes of low testosterone result not from faulty feedback mechanisms, but
rather because of the aromatization (conversion) of
testosterone to estrogen. Studies have found that in many aging males, the
already diminished levels of free testosterone are further
compromised by being converted to estradiol-a high potency form of
estrogen-via the action of the aromatase. One recent report even
found that the estrogen levels of the average 54-year-old man are higher
than the average 59-year-old woman.
While estrogen is a
necessary hormone for men, at high levels it has been associated with an
increased risk of heart attack or stroke.46
Furthermore, high
serum levels of estrogen trick the brain into thinking that enough
testosterone is being produced, thereby reducing the natural production
and availability of testosterone even more. This happens because at high
levels, estrogen saturates testosterone receptors in the
hypothalamus, which subsequently stops sending hormone signals to the
pituitary gland. Another consequence of estrogen production is
stimulation of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) by estrogen. An
increase in SHBG further binds testosterone and lowers the free
testosterone level.
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