Episode: 442
The Ultimate Guide to Male Hormones & Men’s Health
with Michael Eisenberg, MD
If a man you love hasn't seemed like himself lately, this episode will help you understand why.
Stanford Urologist Dr. Michael Eisenberg joins Mel to break down testosterone, erectile dysfunction, fertility, and all the changes men will experience as they age.
You’ll learn the signs of low testosterone, when treatment will help, how factors like sleep, stress, alcohol and so many others affect testosterone levels.
They also get into what every man can do to protect his sexual health, energy, and overall wellbeing.
Your sexual health can be a check-engine light for your overall health.
Michael Eisenberg, MD
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Key takeaways
If you have low energy, low sex drive, poor mood, poor sleep, or trouble concentrating, low testosterone may be worth checking with a doctor through a simple blood test.
Your testosterone peaks between ages 20 and 30, then declines about 1% each year, while poor sleep, chronic stress, and body fat can push levels lower.
If your testosterone is already normal, taking more is unlikely to improve your performance and can bring risks like lower sperm count, hair loss, and breast growth.
If you're struggling with erectile dysfunction, remember it's extremely common, can reflect your cardiovascular health, and there are multiple treatments available.
Your erections can act like a check engine light because anything that harms blood flow, including smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, can affect them.
Guests Appearing in this Episode
Michael Eisenberg, MD
Dr. Michael Eisenberg is a Stanford urologist and professor specializing in men’s health, testosterone, erectile dysfunction, and male fertility.
- Visit Dr. Eisenberg’s Stanford Medicine profile
- Check out Dr. Eisenberg’s Stanford Health Care profile
- Connect with Dr. Eisenberg on LinkedIn
- Explore Eisenberg’s research
Resources
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- Fertility and Sterility: Reproduction as a window for health in men
- Human Reproduction: Semen quality, infertility and mortality in the USA
- Andrology: Decline in sperm count and motility in young adult men from 2003 to 2013: observations from a U.S. sperm bank
- The Journal of Urology: Frequency of the male infertility evaluation: data from the national survey of family growth
- FDA: Testosterone Information
- Endocrine Society: Statement on Testosterone Replacement Therapy
- Cleveland Clinic: TRAVERSE Study Supports Cardiovascular Safety of Testosterone Therapy When Used as Indicated
- Harvard Medical School: Testosterone therapy without evidence of deficiency may boost heart risk
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Definition & Facts for Erectile Dysfunction
- American Society for Reproductive Medicine: Diagnosis and treatment of infertility in men
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: What are some possible causes of male infertility?
- US Preventative Services: Prostate Cancer: Screening
- The Journal of Urology: Early Detection of Prostate Cancer: AUA/SUO Guideline Part I: Prostate Cancer Screening
- The New England Journal of Medicine: Cardiovascular Safety of Testosterone-Replacement Therapy
- JAMA Network Open: Prostate Safety Events During Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Men With Hypogonadism
- The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism: Longitudinal effects of aging on serum total and free testosterone levels in healthy men. Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging
- The Journal of Urology: Impotence and its medical and psychosocial correlates: results of the Massachusetts Male Aging Study
- Fertility and Sterility: Contraceptive efficacy of testosterone-induced azoospermia and oligozoospermia in normal men
- Journal of Applied Physiology: Testosterone undecanoate administration prevents declines in fat-free mass but not physical performance during simulated multi-stressor military operations
- The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology: Testosterone treatment to prevent or revert type 2 diabetes in men enrolled in a lifestyle programme (T4DM): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-year, phase 3b trial
- European Urology: Ejaculation Frequency and Risk of Prostate Cancer: Updated Results with an Additional Decade of Follow-up
- The BMJ: Sex and death: are they related? Findings from the Caerphilly cohort study
- Human Reproduction Update: Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of samples collected globally in the 20th and 21st centuries
- The Journal of Sexual Medicine: Erectile Dysfunction Predicts Cardiovascular Events as an Independent Risk Factor: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis