What's worse, mainstream medical advice tells older men to accept this decline as a natural part of aging. The ranges of "normal" levels based on age are not set for men who want to be lean, virile, and energetic.
Lose your manliness, accept getting old - seems to be the thought.
Testosterone at 241 at any age is not optimal. 800 is.
The more testosterone you have, the less likely you will die from ANY cause. That's a fact. Multiple studies have shown this to be true. In one particular study of 1000 men over 7 years, the men with low testosterone were twice as likely to die from any cause than those with high testosterone.
In another study, older men this time, men with low testosterone were 28 times more likely to die than men with high testosterone. Wow! In all these studies, no matter your age or health condition, testosterone level was the biggest indicator of longer life.
Cortisol and Testosterone
Cortisol is a "stress" hormone made by the adrenal glands. It creates a "catabolic" state in your body with tissue destruction, bone loss, muscle loss, depressed immune system and even brain shrinkage. Cortisol also makes you gain belly fat which impacts estrogen levels.
Recall that growth hormone is the anti-aging hormone and cortisol is just the opposite. Cortisol reduces hormone receptor sensitivity which impacts the actions of testosterone. And cortisol decreases testosterone levels!
As important as high testosterone levels are to your health, the reality is that most of the testosterone in your bloodstream is bound to proteins. SHBG is the protein of greatest concern.
It binds to at least 98% of your testosterone leaving only 1 to 2% "free". Testosterone that is bound by SHBG cannot join with cells called androgen receptors and perform all the great anabolic functions that it's known for.
Note: SHBG has a high affinity for binding to testosterone and small changes in SHBG can have big effects on free or bioavailable testosterone.
Keeping SHBG low is critical. However, there is another hormone that can kill your free testosterone levels - estrogen. Even though estrogen is a feminizing hormone, men's bodies produce some.
Even more insidious is how estrogen is acquired from the environment. Shampoos, chemicals, water, processed foods, food packaging . . . all may contain estrogen-mimics known as xenoestrogens. The effect is the same - a rising estrogen to testosterone ratio in your body.
Your testosterone level is normally 10 times higher than your estrogen level. But this ratio gets way out of balance when testosterone is falling and estrogen is rising.
What do high estrogen levels mean? For men, it means feminine features like pecs that look like breasts (See - ManlyChest.com to learn how to get rid of manboobs for good), fat around your gut, and no sex drive
But beyond appearance, this excess estrogen has some serious consequences. It increases your risk of heart attack and stroke and BPH (benign prostatic hypertrophy or enlarged prostate) may result from increased estrogen levels.
Here's where things gets interesting. SHBG increases with excess estrogen. When testosterone is high, SHBG falls. Now testosterone is an estrogen precursor which means testosterone converts to estrogen when influenced by the enzyme aromatase. With high aromatase levels you get more estrogen and more SHBG.
The SHBG has an affinity to bind with testosterone which leaves an even greater imbalance of estrogen. The excess estrogen stimulates more SHBG from the liver.
Excess estrogen binds to the androgen receptors leaving less opportunity for free testosterone to bind to the receptors. And ultimately, the increased estrogen signals the brain to decrease testosterone production. Whew! That's one vicious cycle.
The good news is . . . you have the means to restore your testosterone / estrogen balance to a healthy, manly level. Lower your estrogen, increase testosterone naturally and safely, and boost your free testosterone . . . all without prescriptions . . . and with proven results. See the 10 Best Ways To Increase Testosterone Naturally.