Risk factors for male osteoporosis

There are many risk factors for osteoporosis in men. Age is one; the older you are, the higher your risk goes. If you have a family history of fractures, you’re more at risk as well. Some medications–such as cancer treatments that lower testosterone levels and steroids for asthma–can boost your risk, as can having a chronic disease that impacts your intestines, stomach, lungs or kidneys.

Your lifestyle can also raise your risk of developing osteoporosis. Living a sedentary lifestyle, not getting enough calcium, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are all known risk factors for the development of this condition.

What you can do to have healthy bones

If you’ve already had falls or fractures or have many of the risk factors above, you can speak to a doctor to have a bone scan done to determine your current bone density. If you find you have low density or are diagnosed with osteoporosis after the scan, you’ll be advised to increase your vitamin D and calcium levels to help maintain your bone mass.

The National Institutes of Health recommends men get 1,000 mg of calcium a day between the ages of 19 and 70, with the dose increasing to 1,200 mg once you pass the age of 70 (https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-HealthProfessional/).

Keep in mind that your body will use calcium from food more efficiently if you eat those foods at various times over the course of the day. You can, for example, make your oatmeal for breakfast with milk instead of water, include yogurt as an afternoon snack and add some cheese to your dinner.

If you are not sure you will be able to get the recommended dose through diet alone, there are supplements available in many forms, including gummies and chews. Speak to your doctor before taking the supplements for guidance. Your doctor will advise you on the right dose based on your test results.

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That being said, for men, one important hormone is testosterone. If you don’t have enough–a condition known as low testosterone (“low T”)–you will feel it!

What causes low T?

When a man reaches around the age of 30, his testosterone levels start to decline. However, low T can also be caused by medical issues, including some forms of cancer and pituitary tumors. Being obese or having diabetes also increases the risk of developing low T.

Low T symptoms

Having low levels of testosterone can cause a lot of symptoms and even carry long-term effects. These can develop over time or suddenly become noticeable because they are interfering with daily life. They include:

•       Fatigue
•       Mood changes, including depression, irritability, mood swings, nervousness and anxiety
•       Physical changes, such as an increase in body fat and loss of muscle mass
•       Low libido and erectile dysfunction
•       Sleep issues
•       Diminished cognitive abilities

Some of these effects can make each other worse. Fatigue, for example, can impact mood and libido.

On top of the more obvious low T symptoms, there can also be long-term effects that are not as obvious but still have consequences for your health overall. Having low testosterone levels can lead to bone density loss, for example, as noted by MedScape, and men with low T are often at risk for osteoporosis (https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/846022). Since this hormone helps your body make red blood cells, low T can also result in anemia. In younger men, low T may lead to fertility issues because testosterone is necessary for sperm production.

It’s important to keep in mind that men can suffer from low T at any age since some health conditions cause or contribute to it. There’s no need to suffer in silence! If you think you may be experiencing low levels of testosterone, talk to your doctor to get to the bottom of it. They can test your hormone levels to confirm that it is causing your symptoms and provide you with options for treatment. And, if it isn’t low T, your doctor will help you discover what is going on and what can be done so you feel more like yourself again.

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This condition does not always pop up out of nowhere. There are often some signs that it is developing, including the ones listed below.

There’s no morning erection

A morning erection has nothing to do with arousal. It actually happens because when you sleep, your brain doesn’t release as much noradrenaline, the hormone responsible for preventing erections from happening constantly. An early morning erection is actually a good thing as it shows the blood vessels that let blood flow to the penis are normal. So, if you start walking up with an erection less often than you used to, it may mean those blood vessels are not working as well as they are supposed to, making it harder for blood to flow to the penis.

There are problems sleeping

A lack of sleep can lead to issues with erections, and this is especially true if you are suffering from sleep apnea. As noted by the Comprehensive Sleep Care Center, there appears to be a link between ED and sleep apnea, with one German study finding that 70 percent of men who went for sleep apnea treatments also suffered from ED (https://comprehensivesleepcare.com/2018/02/16/sleep-apnea-and-ed/). Not getting good enough sleep can cause your levels of testosterone to drop and make you feel more anxious or stressed, all of which dent libido and make getting an erection more difficult.

There’s bad news about your blood pressure or cholesterol

Your lab results from your doctor can hint that ED is on the horizon, with the two most common signs being high blood pressure or cholesterol. A high total cholesterol level is anything over 240 mg/dL, and high blood pressure is generally anything over 138/80 mm/Hg. Of course, one high blood pressure reading doesn’t necessarily mean you have hypertension, but repeated high readings do.

High blood pressure or cholesterol can damage the blood vessels in your body, making them lose elasticity. This, in turn, makes it harder for the vessels to widen so blood can flow into your penis.

If you encounter any of the signs above, it’s time to talk it out with your doctor. By determining the potential causes of your troubles, you can head ED off at the pass.

The post 3 Signs You Could Be Heading Toward Erectile Dysfunction appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

Dehydration

If you had a great workout or just spent too long in the heat without enough water, you might be dehydrated. When this happens, your urine will appear cloudy. If you don’t have any other symptoms and it clears up pretty quickly once you get your hydration levels up again, there’s likely nothing to worry about. However, if you up your water intake and still have cloudy urine, it’s time to talk to your doctor.

Kidney stones

Foul-smelling or cloudy urine can be a sign of kidney stones, along with crystallized substances in the urine. These salt and mineral deposits vary in size and normally don’t send out symptoms until they start to move out of your kidney and into the urinary tract. Other symptoms include pain in your stomach, bloody urine, severe pain in your side or back that moves with the stone, vomiting, nausea, chills, fever and the urge to urinate frequently.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including gonorrhea, cause discharge from the penis that can end up in your urine and make it cloudy. An STD can cause serious issues if it’s not promptly treated, so see your doctor if you could possibly have one.

Diabetes

As reported by Medical News Today, it’s believed around 13.8 to 17 percent of all men in the US have diabetes (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/311173), so it’s definitely something to watch out for. Diabetes can cause your urine to appear cloudy, and the presence of ketones–the byproducts of your body breaking down fats–in urine is among the first signs of this condition.

Prostate infection or enlargement

When your prostate is enlarged, it can cause you to be unable to completely empty your bladder. When the bladder doesn’t fully empty and flush out all of your urine, any microbes present can multiply and move into other parts of the urinary tract. This bladder infection, known as cystitis, can cause bloody and/or cloudy urine. It also may cause painful and frequent urination.

If something changes when you pee, don’t ignore it as it can be the sign of more than one health condition. See your doctor about the issue as soon as possible.

The post What Your Urine Can Signal About Your Health appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

The first thing to do if you experiencing a lot of urination is to cut back on your liquids, mainly coffee and teas, as caffeine is known to make you pee. However, if you still find you are going to pee quite often and it’s not connected to what you are drinking, it’s time to explore the possibility of other underlying conditions causing your problem.

Frequent urination can happen day or night, and it’s often defined as going to pee more than eight times across a 24-hour period. If it happens at night more, this is a condition known as nocturia.

If you’re dealing with frequent urination, you may also wake up many times during the night to pee. You also may notice you have the urge to pee often but when you go to the bathroom, you discover you didn’t actually have to pee.

Many things can cause frequent urination. Bladder cancer is one cause, but it is more rare than some others. Diabetes, for example, commonly causes more frequent urination because your body has to work to remove that extra glucose somehow. If you have high blood pressure and are taking a diuretic, this can make you pee more. Of course, do not stop taking a diuretic if this applies to you; speak to your doctor about your options first.

In men, many prostate conditions–including cancer, a benign enlarged prostate and an inflammation of the prostate gland–can prevent the flow of urine through your urethra. If this happens, you won’t be able to completely empty your bladder when you go, making you have to pee more often to fully empty your bladder.

You don’t have to suffer from frequent urination in silence. After all, it can have a negative impact on many areas of your life, especially if it is preventing you from getting a full night of sleep. Contact a doctor if you have to pee more than you believe is normal on a daily basis.

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Even scarier than that statistic is the fact that you could have a heart disease or be at immediate risk of developing one right now and not even know it because there are not always symptoms at first.

You don’t have to wait for this silent hunter to get you. In fact, you can take steps right now to help reduce your risk of developing heart disease. I’m sure a healthy diet and more exercise has already occurred to you, but it’s the exercise part I want to discuss with you today.

One very scary condition many men experience is heart failure, when the heart just stops pumping like it should. This leads to your body not getting enough oxygen. Things that were once easy to do, like carrying some groceries, become harder. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, and fluid build-up. Once you develop this condition, it’s usually chronic–there is no known cure.

A research study presented at an American Heart Association meeting does offer some hope, however: you can reduce your heart failure risk by increasing physical activity, even if those increases are modest and you start later in your life.

As covered by Medicine.net, researchers in this study followed the exercise habits of 11,000 people in the US, with their activity levels reviewed twice over a period of six years (https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=192009). People who reported doing either 75 minutes of vigorous activities or 150 minutes of moderate activity per week in both activity reviews were found to be 33 percent less likely to develop heart failure than people who were inactive.

People who were still active somewhat–engaging in moderate physical activity but for less than 149 minutes each week or taking part in vigorous activity but for less than 74 minutes each week–also benefited, with a 20 percent lower risk of developing the condition.

If you’re reading this thinking you never exercise, I have to say that you can still start now and receive this amazing benefit, among others. The study also found that people who were inactive but started doing some exercise still reduced their heart failure rate risk by 22 percent when they consistently engaged in the minimum recommended weekly physical activity levels of 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity.

The post The Heart Has It appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

In reality, a lot of men just aren’t going to the doctor when they should. While a Cleveland Clinic survey found that four out of five men say they try to stay in good health for their loved ones, close to 75 percent of those same respondents said they’d rather scrub a toilet or do other chores than go to a doctor for an annual checkup, as noted by Web MD (https://www.webmd.com/men/features/men-avoiding-doctor-appointments#1).

This survey has just confirmed a troubling trend in healthcare–men are just not willing to make routine doctor visits. As one survey conductor noted, while men in their 30s and 40s might feel healthy, this is the time in life when you need to start taking preventive measures so you stay healthy as you grow older. Blood pressure, cholesterol checks and other simple screening tools are essential for maintaining health as men age. Catching rising blood pressure early on, for example, may give you a chance to reverse it with diet and exercise before you’re stuck taking medication.

To get yourself into the habit of going to a doctor regularly and talking openly about whatever issues you’re having, find a doctor you feel you can trust. Generally, there’s no law saying you have to keep the same doctor forever. If you are not comfortable with yours or how their office is run–siting around in a waiting room for hours when you have an appointment is definitely a visit deterrent–it’s time to make a change. Review your medical insurance provider’s list of doctors under your plan and their procedures for changing your primary care doctor so you know what your options are and what to do when you find the right doctor.

Bring a list of issues or symptoms you are having to your annual exam, along with a list of all medicines, vitamins and supplements, whether they are prescribed or over-the-counter. When you go in prepared, you’ll have a more productive visit.

If you haven’t had your annual checkup yet or it’s been years, it’s time to stop scrubbing that toilet and make the appointment. Remember that your family and friends are depending on you, and you can prevent a minor health condition from turning into a major one by keeping on top of your annual doctor exams.

The post It’s Time To Go To Your Doctor appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

Hormone replacement therapies

If you think you may have some depleted stores of testosterone–signs include erectile dysfunction, a decreased sex drive, memory problems, depressed mood and issues concentrating–speak to your doctor about possible hormone replacement therapy. There are both synthetic and bioidentical products available, and your doctor will review your options and medical history to make recommendations and explain all that you need to know before you decide.

Add some nutrients

As a study in the Nutrition journal concluded, you need zinc for testosterone production (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8875519). Despite this and the fact that zinc supports your immune system and other body functions, many people are deficient in it. According to a nationwide survey by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), around 45 percent of adults aged 60 and up a have low levels of zinc, and 20 to 25 percent still had levels that were too low even after taking supplements (https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/).

Using zinc supplements for just six weeks has been shown to boost testosterone in men with lower levels across various studies. However, as noted by the NIH, once dietary zinc sources were restricted, there was a drop in testosterone production (https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/).

To get some zinc into your diet, aim for foods rich in the mineral, such as oysters, beef, lamb, mushrooms and fermented foods such as yogurt. Dark greens like spinach, summer squash and asparagus are also great sources of zinc.

If you feel you still need to use a supplement to get enough zinc, make sure you determine the right dose. Taking too much zinc can cause nausea and prevent the absorption of other minerals you need in your body.

You don’t have to age gracefully-it’s time to fight back! By working to increase your levels of testosterone as you age, you can help push back the hands on the clock of time a little bit longer.

The post Dealing With The Testosterone Decline appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

Another condition, gum disease, is also incredibly common. While you may think there can’t be possibly be a connection between these two conditions–I certainly did–there is some evidence there could be something going on between them.

In a study published in the International Journal of Impotence Research, researchers took a look at five studies published between the years 2009 and 2014 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27829669). In total, these studies included medical data on more than 200,000 men. The review of the data led the researchers to conclude that ED is more commonly seen in men with gum disease. In all five studies that were reviewed, ED was more than twice as common in men who were being treated for advanced gum disease than in men with no gum issues, and this was particularly true in men under the age of 40 or older than 59. It’s important to note that the researchers did control for diabetes, as this condition can affect sexual function and increase gum disease risk. In one of the studies reviewed, it was found that treating advanced gum disease improved erectile function in men with ED.

When it comes to why there appears to be a link between ED and advanced gum disease, no one is entirely sure and more research is clearly needed. Other research has suggested that the bacteria involved in gum infections could cause or worsen atherosclerosis, an arterial condition that has been associated with strokes and heart attacks, and ED has been linked to heart disease and is viewed as a warning sign of potential heart troubles now or in the future. The risks for gum disease–aging, diabetes, smoking and more–are also the same things that increase your risk for heart disease.

At the same time, there are a lot of other potential contributors to or causes of ED that have no relation to heart disease, such as depression, certain prescription medicines and sleep disorders like apnea. Even some activities, such as distance bike riding, can cause ED because of the compression of blood vessels and nerves in the area.

The jury is still out on whether ED and gum disease are connected, but it makes sense to ensure your gums are as healthy as possible for other health reasons. And if you’re suffering from ED, don’t do it in silence. This can be linked to other conditions, so speak to your doctor about what you are experiencing!

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And while I hate to be alarmist, the way human fertility is on a downward spiral in general isn’t great news for humanity as a whole. There are a lot of different things causing this trend, but some research I’m going to share with you seems to point toward a more recent love of humanity: the use of chemicals in just about everything.

Male infertility rates soaring

Between 1973 and 2013, male sperm counts declined by over 50 percent, according to an analysis published in the Human Reproduction Update journal (https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/23/6/646/4035689). In that data, researchers noticed that the largest decline appeared in samples from men in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and North America.

There are a lot of factors that can impact male fertility, but research suggests that chemicals that disrupt endocrines–the messaging system of your body that’s responsible for hormone activity–deserve a large share of the blame for the dramatic decline in male reproductive health. These chemicals are found in many areas of daily life, including herbicides, non-organic foods, plastics and personal care products.

The US currently allows more than 84,000 different chemicals to be used in food, food packaging, household items and cosmetics, and many of these were not thoroughly tested for safety – or even tested at all. In a 2005 study by the Environmental Working Group, researchers actually found that there were around 200 pollutants and industrial chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of US-born babies.

Of course, as noted above, other factors besides chemicals can impact male fertility. Nutritional deficiencies, immune system issues, obesity, stress and a sedentary lifestyle can all wreak havoc on male reproductive health.

Women are also negatively impacted by these chemicals, but male reproductive health is more affected due to how the male reproductive system develops in the womb. At the start, female and male fetuses are pretty identical. Hormones are what drive the differentiation between male and female, so when synthetic chemicals that mimic natural hormones enter the mix, they interfere with biological process that results in a male fetus.

If you’re worried about your reproductive health, speak to your doctor as soon as you can for support and help.

The post The Frightening Link Between Chemicals And Male Infertility appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

2.Get Your Sleep 
Sleep is vital to get your testosterone levels to their peak. The typical goal is between 6-8 hours per night of quality sleep. Research shows that getting enough sleep can increase testosterone levels up to 20 percent. We did a show recently on the Dr Asa Network. 

3.Eat Plenty of Healthy Fat 
Low fat eating is a myth. Its old school and it will wreak havoc on your hormones. Aim for the healthy fats including fish oil, nuts and seeds, and avocados. Oh, and don’t forget the egg yolks. I eat 6 per day. 

4.Get Your Minerals 
The two most vital for your testosterone levels re zinc and magnesium. Men are heavily deficient in both. They are your secret weapons for bringing back your levels. Magnesium comes in many forms. Make sure to look for the aspartate, threonate, or glycinate versions for empowering your health. 

5.Get Your Protein 
Study after study shows how vital protein is in us building a lean body. The reason that is important is the lower your body fat, the higher your testosterone levels will be. It all starts with protein. The goals of your protein intake should be in the range of about 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. 

Getting your hormones tested is also a great practice so you know where your numbers are. You can check with your doctor to have this done. However, if your levels are low, you might not have to run to the hormone clinic just yet. There are some great lifestyle methods to implement first.

The post Can You Naturally Increase Your Testosterone? appeared first on Dr Asa Andrew.

Dizziness 
Dizziness can come on for a variety of reasons. Going from lying down to standing can be a simple indicator of an underlying adrenal issue. However, frequent dizziness can be a symptom of something larger like heart disease, or even a stroke due to the lack of blood getting to the brain. 


So guys, if you start to experience any of these symptoms, make sure to get to your doctor immediately for empowering your health. 

I have an entire coaching system on how to learn everything you need to know about health, living a healthy lifestyle, beating most health challenges, having more energy than you have experienced, and living the life you deserve. Check out my coaching system for more details HERE.

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