Thanks to menopause, almost everyone knows something about how age affects hormone levels – in women. But while menopause has launched a thousand hot-flash jokes, men have their own version. It's called andropause, and though it's less of a pop-culture presence, it's a medical reality that's subject to misconceptions, experts say.
Starting with equating it to menopause. In women, menopause is when menstruation stops. The ovaries stop producing eggs, and the production of estrogen declines.
It typically happens around the age of 50 but can begin earlier. In men, andropause is a decline in testosterone levels that can begin in middle age, then it's "a gradual fall," said Dr. Robert H.
Eckel, a professor of medicine emeritus in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes and the Division of Cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. "It's nothing like menopause, which occurs over a finite period of time." According to the American College of Physicians, a man's testosterone level begins to drop in his mid-30s and continues to fall at an average rate of 1.
6% a year. A study published in the journal Virulence in 2016 calculated that by age 75, a typical man will have lost about 30% of the testosterone he had at 25. Testosterone plays roles in sexual function, bone health, fat metabolism, muscle mass and strength.
Levels surge in adolescence with puberty. But advice varies on when low levels should be a cause for concern. Low testostero.
