Men traditionally do not take good care of their health, but you can help them with that. Health problems from prostate, low testosterone and osteoporosis can be hormone linked and there some simple tips that can help.

Here are some ways to make small, healthy lifestyle changes that will have a big impact on their lives.  There are five core areas that can do that:

1  Nutrition – healthy Mediterranean style diet with plenty of fish, fruit and vegetables and reduced salt, sugar and processed foods.

2  Activity – exercise on a regular basis such as golf, walking, swimming or anything enjoyable.

3  Sleep – prostate can cause night time trips to the bathroom and so disturb sleep so get that checked.

4  Mental Health – stress affects most of our bodily functions so try meditation, yoga or tai chi or any form of regular exercise will help the body de-stress.

5   Smoking/Drinking – both depress the immune system and smoking in particular has health risks.

These areas can all see small improvements as in the general advice above and these health facts may encourage  you to leave this and the related articles below each item in plain sight!

Prostate problems and cancer

Prostate problems do occur regularly with ageing and although women regularly check for signs of breast cancer, not many men do the same for prostate.

It is important to do so as many cases of prostate cancer are discovered during routine blood work that reveals an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level – a possible indicator of prostate cancer.

The role of oestrogen in prostate cancer has been noted, the rise of ‘man boobs’ which relate to higher oestrogen levels is an indicator of this.

Although no clinical trials have been done that I am aware of, there are anecdotal patient reports of improvement by supplementing with bioidentical progesterone.

These are symptoms that need checking with a doctor:

1   Frequent urges to urinate, especially at night

2. Difficulty starting urination or holding it back

3. Weak or interrupted urinary flow

4. Painful or burning urination

5. Erectile dysfunction

6. Painful ejaculation

7. Blood in urine or semen

8. Recurrent, persistent pain or stiffness in the lower back, hips or upper thighs

Libido and function

A healthy sex life has many benefits both physical and psychological and again this can be affected by oestrogen dominance and/or low testosterone levels.

Being aware of that in the diet, plus stress and health conditions such as diabetes can certainly affect desire and performance so regular health checks are a must.

As progesterone is a precursor for testosterone in the body it may be helpful to consider as a supplement but there are different application methods for men – see the end of the article for more information.

Osteoporosis

This is not diagnosed often enough in men as there is a common misconception that they don’t suffer from it.

Broken bones are often treated in isolation, but if also combined with oestrogen dominance it may lead to osteoporosis and it is sensible to get this checked with a bone scan if it has occurred more frequently or close together.

Progesterone is essential for bone building and if too much oestrogen is present this will prolong the life of old bone, making it easier to break, but also delay the building of new, strong, bone.

Oestrogen dominance

The rise of ‘man boobs’ may be amusing, but it hides a serious problem. Men are being affected by the  amount of oestrogen in the food chain and xenoestrogens in the environment.

We know that oestrogen has a role to play in cancer development so reducing any oestrogen component will be helpful – one way is to switch to organic meat but also reducing the meat intake to only 2-3 times a week can reduce the oestrogen load.

Helpful information:

In women hormone imbalance symptoms usually benefit from twice daily application with a monthly break to ensure a constant amount of hormone in the body.

However, application for men is different and best to the following sites in rotation, again with a monthly break: face, throat, back of the neck, inside thighs, inside upper and lower arms, stomach and palms of the hands.

This gives 7 sites for a different area each day and the cream only needs to be applied once daily.