Different hormones are present in the human body. One of these hormones present in a man’s body is the testosterone. This hormone is responsible for the differences man has from woman. These differences are the muscle mass, deep voice and the male hair patterns. Lowering down of testosterones is one of the primary andropause causes.
Many medical researches and studies show that when a man reaches the age of 30, the amount of testosterones starts to decrease gradually. Generally, the decrease ranges about 1 or 2 percent each year after this age. However, the decrease in testosterones may vary depending on the risk factors that contribute to andropause causes.
While testosterones are supposed to lower down gradually, the decrease may also occur drastically. One of the andropause causes that results to drastic lowering down of testosterones is hypogonadism. It may be classified as primary or secondary this cause rules out to males experiencing andropause symptoms.
Primary hypogonadism often occurs to men at younger age. This is when certain cells in testes called Leydig cells fail to secrete the normal amount of testosterone.
Secondary hypogonadism occurs when the male brain fails to transmit enough messages to the pituitary gland. This results to failure of the Leydig cells to receive messages thereby stopping it from releasing and secreting the testosterones.
Another andropause cause is the hormonal imbalance between testosterone and estrogen. This usually occurs even when a man has a normal level of testosterone. Though testosterone is a hormone for man and estrogen is a hormone for woman, there is a specific ratio for both hormones in man and woman. The usual ratio for younger men is 50:1. However, with hormonal imbalance, the ratio drops to 20:1 and as man ages; it may even be as low as 8:1. This cause may have serious effect in man’s cardio vascular condition. Higher level of estrogen in man’s system increases the risk of heart problems.
Andropause may not be given much attention unlike menopause which is a common concern for aging women. Men experiencing andropause, other than health-related complications such as heart diseases also experience inferiority complex and other mental illnesses such as depression and insecurity. Though andropause can not be stopped from occurring in man’s body, knowing and being aware of the different andropause causes will prolong its occurrence into such time that it is supposed to happen naturally and normally.