Is there such a thing as male menopause...

Is there such a thing as male menopause...


Is there really such a thing as "male menopause"? Conventional wisdom says that menopause is a "woman's condition," but as men advance into their 40s they also experience a progressive decline in hormone levels, namely testosterone. The result can be andropause, which is estimated to affect about 5 million American men.

The hormonal decline that men experience isn't nearly as abrupt as it is in women — it's more like walking down a hill than jumping off a cliff. However, waning testosterone is likely to make a guy moody, irritable and depressed.

(Upon hearing this list of symptoms, one woman joked of her husband, "Is it possible he's had menopause since he was 20?") A decrease in available testosterone also increases a man’s risk for heart disease, and makes him more prone to injury because of decreasing bone density.

Let's be clear: Andropause is not the same as a mid-life crisis, which is a psycho-social issue. And not all guys who experience aging — and the inevitable decline in testosterone that comes along with it — can be qualified as having andropause.

Andropause is a medical condition, diagnosed with a blood test by a physician that reveals testosterone levels below a certain level. If a diagnosis of andropause is warranted, treatment with testosterone replacement may be an option, depending on a man’s health history. Just as there are various hormone replacement therapies for women, there's also testosterone replacement therapy for men — and research is still ongoing into potential side effects.

However, the biggest, and most misunderstood, symptom of declining testosterone is a decrease in libido. Testosterone is truly the hormone that stokes the flames of desire. Many men confuse andropause with erectile dysfunction (ED), because they often occur around the same time. These men often turn to an ED medication, such as Viagra, to improve their erectile ability, which works for a time in most cases. However, as men get older, the gap between desire and arousal widens and many men become deeply disappointed when Viagra doesn't give them the desire to have sex. That's because Viagra doesn't boost testosterone levels.

The first issue for men, and their partners, is to accept the very concept of male menopause, talk about it as a couple, and, if they’re concerned, make an appointment with an endocrinologist to check hormone levels. But beyond medical therapies, it's also about knowing, understanding and accepting that sex evolves with the passage of life.

For guys who can embrace a deeper intimacy and open themselves up to a different experience of sex, the passage of time brings many rewards. Unfortunately, many men have a limited idea of sex, and they feel that if they're not having sex the way they were at age 20 or 30, then something must be wrong. It's too bad more men aren't open to sharing their experiences with each other, since changes in sexual function are so common. Fortunately, if women know what's going on and realize that hormonal decline can affect their partners, too, then they can take a proactive lead in starting a dialogue.

For more on this subject, consider reading Jed Diamond's "Surviving Male Menopause: A Guide for Women and Men."

Acknowledgements: Ian Kerner PH.D, author.

Renewman
http://www.sidetick.com/group.php?group_id=161&sharer=20359

The largest snake ever found - as long as a bus and 60 million years old...

Interesting news from the distant past where things seemed so much larger than today.

International scientists, including one from the University of Florida, have discovered the largest known fossil of an ancient snake in Colombia, South America.

The 60 million year old fossil whose size and weight would make present day Anacondas seem like garter snakes, is named Titanboacerrejonenenis by its discoverers, weighed 1140kg(2500lb) and measured 13 metres(42.7ft)from nose to tail - as long as a bus.

This snake's details give scientists some ideas how large animals lived in those prehistoric times and the temperatures of the earth at that time. The findings appear in the latest issue of the science journal NATURE.

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Black hole star mystery solved...

Black hole star mystery solved...



The researchers modelled how molecular clouds are sucked into black holes. Black hole theory has always intrigued me


Astronomers have shed light on how stars can form around a massive black hole, defying conventional wisdom.

Scientists have long puzzled over how stars develop in so extreme conditions.

Molecular clouds - the normal birth places of stars - would be ripped apart by the immense gravity, a team explains in Science magazine.

But the researchers say that stars can form from elliptical discs - the relics of giant gas clouds torn apart by encounters with black holes.

They made the discovery after developing computer simulations of giant gas clouds being sucked into black holes like water spiralling down a plughole.

"These simulations show that young stars can form in the neighbourhood of supermassive black holes as long as there is a reasonable supply of massive clouds of gas from further out in the galaxy," said co-author Ian Bonnell from St Andrews University, UK.

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