Testosterone is an essential hormone present in both men and women. It plays a critical role in maintaining people’s mental and physical health.
What causes lower testosterone levels?
Testosterone levels drop about 1 to 3% a year starting at the age of 30 in men and age 25 in women. Your genetics and lifestyle can also cause the decline to occur at an earlier age. Any form of stress, mental or physical, will increase a person’s cortisol level. When cortisol increases, testosterone will decrease. Some examples that may cause your testosterone to drop include:
- Stress at work or at home
- Chronic medical diseases
- Any form of physical trauma such as surgery,
- Poor sleep habits
- Alcohol intake
- Illicit drug use
Symptoms of low testosterone
Low testosterone can affect both your mental and physical health. Below are some common symptoms.
Mental symptoms of low testosterone are almost identical to that of depression:
- low sex drive
- Low energy or sluggishness
- Lack of motivation
- Decreased energy levels
- memory loss, inability to focus or concentrate
- Lack of ambition or drive
- Irritability
Physical symptoms may include:
- A decline in muscle mass. It will take more effort in the gym to maintain what you have and even a greater effort to improve your results.
- Fat deposition and accumulation may start to occur in the love handles and spare tire area in men. In women, fat accumulation may occur in the hips and buttocks.
- Trouble losing weight. Testosterone helps regulate your metabolism which helps break down fat. Low levels of testosterone make losing fat a lot harder
- Medical diseases such as erectile dysfunction, diabetes, hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and increased risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease can occur if you have low testosterone for a prolonged period of time
Benefits of having optimal testosterone levels
After several weeks of being treated for low testosterone, you should start to see improvements.
- Sex drive returns
- Boost in energy
- Improve memory and concentration
- Feelings of motivation and ambition
- Sleep becomes of a higher quality and more restful
- Workouts at the gym become more efficient and recovery between exercises will improve
- Losing weight becomes easier
- Relieve anxiety
Additionally, optimized testosterone levels will also provide protection against many medical diseases mentioned before, including a 30% decrease rate risk of heart attacks.
Testing for testosterone deficiency
There are several ways to test for testosterone deficiency, including at-home saliva kits or finger prick blood tests such as those found here. Unfortunately, these are not very accurate. The best way to test your levels is through a blood test done by a laboratory. A blood test evaluation will provide the most accurate information.
Our certified physician will check both the total testosterone and free testosterone levels. The total testosterone measures the total testosterone in your body. The free testosterone is the free component of testosterone which is the biologically active form.
Addressing your testosterone levels is one piece of our health assessment. Our wellness evaluation at XSculpt includes a full health assessment that includes:
- Thyroid health
- Human growth hormone levels or HGH
- Vitamin B 12 and vitamin D levels
- Estrogen levels
- Health assessment of kidneys, blood count levels, electrolytes, and liver health.
Treatment for testosterone deficiency
There are several treatments available for low testosterone. Some examples include testosterone creams, testosterone injections, and time-release testosterone pellet therapy.
Some people may find that applying a daily cream or having weekly injections can be inconvenient. Or they may experience a yo-yo effect with topical creams or injections. Testosterone pellet therapy provides a consistent release of bio -identical testosterone over a course of several months.
Unlike creams or injections which often use synthetic hormones, bio-identical pellets do not. Your body will be more responsive to the treatment with fewer side effects.
If you think you may be experiencing negative symptoms due to low testosterone, contact our team at Chicago Aesthetics Surgery & Med Spa and Wellness 312.846.1629 or email [email protected]
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