Testosterone is a sex hormone that your body makes. Normally, men produce more of it than women do. Some men may have low amounts of testosterone. This is known as hypogonadism. Your hormone level decreases as you get older. Certain medicines and health conditions may affect it as well, including:

• Cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy
• Testicular cancer
• Injury to your testicles
• Hypothyroidism (low thyroid levels)
• Problems with your nervous system
• Obesity
• Diabetes

Path to improved health

Low testosterone can affect your physical and mental behavior. Talk to your doctor if you have symptoms, such as:

• Low sex drive
• Low sperm count
• Infertility
• Erectile dysfunction
• Changes in mood
• Depression
• Muscle or bone loss
• Decreased strength
• Weight gain
• Hair loss
• Trouble sleeping
• Trouble focusing

These can also be caused by other health issues. Your doctor will likely perform a physical exam and review your lifestyle to determine the problem. In addition, they may run a blood test to check your levels. Men usually have between 300 and 1,000 nanograms (ng) of testosterone per deciliter (dL). If your test results show a low level, you may need to increase the hormone. This can be done naturally.

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is most common. This involves using man-made hormones. There are several forms that your doctor can prescribe. They include gel, a patch, or an injection. TRT is not an option for men who have certain health issues, including prostate or breast cancer. TRT also may not help men who have low testosterone due to advanced age.

TRT often is done in combination with other lifestyle changes. These changes promote overall good health. If you are obese, you should lose weight. You can do this by eating better and getting more exercise. Aim to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. Try to control your stress levels. This allows your body to focus its energy on testosterone production.

Men low in testosterone should eat foods with zinc and vitamin D. These can help balance your hormones and produce more testosterone. Adult men should get about 11 milligrams of zinc per day. Zinc is in meat, poultry, seafood, and shellfish. Beans, nuts, and whole grains are also good sources. These foods, plus dairy, also contain vitamin D. Adult men should get about 600 international units (IUs) of vitamin D per day. You also should eat less sugar and saturated fat.

Things to consider

Your doctor may want to perform other tests to find the cause of low testosterone. This will help them decide if you need other treatment, as well.

There are benefits and risks to TRT. The goal of therapy is to get rid of symptoms of low testosterone. The treatment has been known to improve men’s sexual drive and mood. However, studies show that it may increase your risk of plaque buildup and heart disease. Talk to your doctor more about specific concerns. Make sure they know if you are at risk of any other health conditions.

Questions to ask your doctor

• Will I always have low testosterone?
• How long does TRT last?
• Should I take a supplement to increase my testosterone?

Resources

Endocrine Society: Hypogonadism in Men

National Institutes of Health, MedlinePlus: Could You Have Low Testosterone?

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Men, are you paying attention to your health? Compared to your female counterparts, you’re more likely to smoke and drink, make unhealthy choices, and put off regular medical checkups and care. But you need to pay just as close attention to your lifestyle as women do.

One of the most important aspects of your lifestyle is what you put on your plate. Good nutrition is critical for good health. According to MyPlate.gov, eating well not only gives your body the nutrients it needs. It also helps keep weight under control and reduces your risk of chronic disease, including:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Stroke
• Metabolic syndrome
• Colon, kidney, liver and gallbladder cancers
• Osteoarthritis

Are you overweight?

Doctors use several measurements to determine whether or not your weight is in a healthy range. One is called the body mass index (BMI). Plug your height and weight into an online BMI calculator.

• If your BMI is less than 18.5, it falls within the underweight range.
• If your BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, it falls within the normal, healthy weight range.
• If your BMI is 25.0 to 29.9, it falls within the overweight range.
• If you BMI is 30.0 or higher, it falls within the obese range.

You can also use waist and hip measurements to calculate body fat. To correctly measure waist circumference:

• Stand and place a tape measure around your middle, just above your hipbones.
• Make sure the tape is horizontal around your waist.
• Keep the tape is snug around your waist, but don’t compress the skin.
• Breathe out and take the measurement.

If your waist circumference is more than 40 inches, you could be at a higher risk for developing the health conditions mentioned above.

The easiest way to eat healthy is to follow MyPlate’s three simple steps:

• Meet nutritional needs primarily from foods and beverages.
• Choose a variety of options from each food group.
• Pay attention to portion size.

Path to improved health

You may think what you eat doesn’t matter that much. Or that whatever is lacking in your diet, you can make up with vitamin and mineral supplements. But a growing body of scientific evidence shows that nutrients work best in combination. That means it’s not one food or nutrient that prevents disease and results in a healthier life. It’s the interaction among different foods, and the cumulative effect the foods have on your body that helps.

In other words, one single nutrient isn’t the key to good health. It’s your overall eating pattern that matters.

So, what do you need to eat in order to stay healthy?

First, estimate how many calories you should eat each day. The number will vary, depending on your age, weight, activity level, and whether you’re trying to gain, maintain, or lose weight. Your doctor can help you determine this number. MyPlate has several ways to make this easy, including the Start Simple with MyPlate app, MyPlate on Alexa, and MyPlate Print Materials. These and other mobile apps have calorie intake and metabolism estimators. These can help determine your calorie requirements.

Now that you know how much you should eat, what should you be eating to fill that calorie need? Your daily diet should include:

• A variety of all vegetable subgroups. Those include dark, green (spinach, lettuce), red and orange (peppers), legumes (beans, peas), starchy (corn), and others. Eat your vegetables fresh, frozen, canned, or dried. Choose low-salt varieties when buying frozen and canned.
• Fruits, at least half of which are whole fruits. These include fresh, canned, frozen, and dried. Fruit juices are okay, but they lack fiber, so your body quickly converts them to sugar. Drinking too many can also add calories. Choose 100% fruit juice without added sugars.
• Whole grains. This includes grains by themselves, like rice, oatmeal, and popcorn. It also includes foods that contain grains like breads and cereals. At least half of your grains should come from whole grains. Limit the amount of refined grains and products made with refined grains. Foods like cookies, cakes and certain snack foods have been processed to remove the bran and germ. This also removes dietary fiber, iron, and other nutrients.
• Fat-free and low-fat dairy products. These include milk, yogurt, cheese, and fortified soy beverages. Don’t include other “milks” made from plants (like almond, rice, or coconut milk) in this group.
• Protein foods. You should eat a variety in nutrient-dense forms. Incorporate foods from both animal and plant sources. These include seafood, meats, poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds, and soy products. Legumes (beans and peas) go in this group as well as in the vegetables group.
• Health oils. They should have a high percentage of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. They also should be liquid at room temperature. These include avocado, canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, and sunflower oils. Oils are also naturally present in nuts, seeds, seafood, olives, and avocados.

Things to consider

Your daily diet should limit:

• Added sugars, including syrups and other caloric sweeteners. These include brown sugar, corn sweetener, dextrose, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, and honey. They should make up less than 10% of your calories per day. An added note: Replacing added sugars with high-intensity sweeteners (like saccharin or aspartame may reduce your calorie intake in the short run. However, data hasn’t proven that using these fake sugars helps in overall weight management.
• Saturated fats. Strong scientific data shows that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated, especially polyunsaturated fats, is associated with reduced blood levels of total cholesterol and of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL cholesterol). It’s also associated with a reduced risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease-related deaths. Foods high in saturated fats include red meat, poultry with skin, and dairy products such as cream, butter, and cheese. Saturated fats should make up no more than 10% of your calories per day.
• Trans fats. These are artificial fats created by a process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. They’re found in margarines, certain snacks foods (like frozen pizza and microwave popcorn), and prepared desserts. A number of studies have shown an association between increased intake of trans fats and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, trans fats should be limited to as few as possible. You should consume less than 2,300 mg per day. If you have high blood pressure, you might benefit from lowering your intake to 1,500 mg per day. Americans are currently averaging more than 3,400 mg per day.
• If you drink, do it in moderation. That means up to two drinks a day for men up to age 64 and one drink a day for men older than that. One drink would be 12 fluid ounces of regular beer, 5 fluid ounces of wine, or 1.5 fluid ounces of standard 80-proof liquor. The risk of various types of cancer, such as liver cancer, appears increase with the amount of alcohol you drink and the length of time you’ve been drinking.

Questions to ask your doctor

• What’s a healthy weight for me?
• Should I cut back on salt?
• Should I be taking any dietary supplements?
• How will losing weight help my condition?
• How much weight do I need to lose before I see a benefit?
• Are there any foods I should avoid because of my condition?
• Are there any foods I can add to my diet to help my condition?

Resources

National Institutes of Health: Calories Needed Each Day

U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPlate: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025

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Grief is a person’s normal, healthy response to a loss. It describes the emotions you feel when you lose someone or something important to you. People grieve for many different reasons, including:

• Death of a loved one, including pets
• Divorce or changes in a relationship, including friendships
• Changes in your health or the health of a loved one
• Losing a job or changes in financial security
• Changes in your way of life, such as during retirement or when moving to a new place

The loss that triggers grief isn’t always physical. You can experience grief if you or a loved one are diagnosed with a major disease or face a serious illness. You may grieve plans you had made, or the ways life will change.

Grief is different for everyone. It can include many emotional and physical symptoms, including:

• Feelings: Anger, anxiety, blame, confusion, denial, depression, fear, guilt, irritability, loneliness, numbness, relief, sadness, shock, or yearning
• Thoughts: Confusion, difficulty concentrating, disbelief, hallucinations, or preoccupation with what was lost
• Physical sensations: Dizziness, fast heartbeat, fatigue, headaches, hyperventilating, nausea or upset stomach, shortness of breath, tightness or heaviness in the throat or chest, or weight loss or gain
• Behaviors: Crying spells, excessive activity, irritability or aggression, loss of energy, loss of interest in enjoyable activities, restlessness, or trouble falling or staying asleep

Grief is sometimes described as a process of 5 stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

These reactions to loss are normal. However, not everyone who is grieving experiences all of them, and not everyone experiences them in the same order. It is common to cycle back through some of these reactions, stages, and symptoms more than once.

Path to improved well being

There is no “right” way to grieve. Everyone is different. Give yourself time to experience your loss in your own way. At the same time, remember to take care of yourself:

• Feel your loss. Allow yourself to cry, to feel numb, to be angry, or to feel however you’re feeling. It hurts, but it’s natural and normal.
• Attend to your physical needs. Get enough sleep, eat a well-balanced diet, and exercise regularly.
• Express your feelings. Talk about how you’re feeling with others. Or find a creative way to let your feelings out. This could include art, music, or writing in a journal.
• Maintain a routine. Get back into your normal routine as soon as you can. Try to keep up with your daily tasks so you don’t get overwhelmed.
• Avoid drinking alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant that can affect your mood, so it could make you feel even more sad.
• Avoid making major decisions. It takes time to adjust to a loss and get back to a normal state of mind. Making an impulsive decision as you’re grieving could add more stress at an already difficult time. Try to wait a year before making a big change, like moving or changing jobs.
• Give yourself a break. Take breaks from grieving by participating in activities you enjoy. It’s okay to not feel sad all the time. It’s good for you to laugh.
• Ask for help if you need it. You don’t have to struggle. Seek out friends, family, clergy, a counselor or therapist, or support groups. If your symptoms aren’t getting better or you feel like you need extra help, talk to your family doctor.

There is no set timetable for grief. You may start to feel better in 6 to 8 weeks, but the whole process can last from months to years. You may start to feel better in small ways. It will start to get a little easier to get up in the morning, or maybe you’ll have more energy. This is the time when you’ll begin to reorganize your life around your loss or without your loved one. During this time, it may feel like you go through a series of ups and downs. You may feel better one day, but worse the next. This is normal.

Over time, you’ll begin to find interest in other people and activities again. If you’ve lost a loved one, it’s normal to feel guilty or disloyal to them during this time. It’s also normal to relive some of your feelings of grief on birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, or other special occasions.

Things to consider

While it’s normal to feel sad after a loss, the feelings associated with grief should be temporary. Sometimes the feelings last longer, or you may have trouble dealing with your emotions. When this happens, grief can turn into depression. The symptoms of grief and depression are similar. Signs that you could be depressed include:

• Not feeling any better as time passes
• Having ongoing difficulty with eating or sleeping
• Feelings disrupting your daily life
• Relying on drugs or alcohol to cope
• Thinking about hurting yourself or others

If you feel like you’re having trouble dealing with your emotions, ask for help. Your family doctor can help you treat your depression so you can start to feel better. He or she can also help you figure out what other kind of support you need. This could include a support group, individual therapy, or medicine.

Questions to ask your doctor

• Is what I’m experiencing normal?
• Could I be depressed?
• Should I go to a counselor or therapist?
• How long will it be until I feel better?
• Would medicine help me feel better?

Resources

American Society of Clinical Oncology: Understanding Grief and Loss

U.S. National Library of Medicine, Medline Plus: Grief

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