Move Over Menopause! The “Manopause” Is Here!

There is, it’s been confirmed, a scientific excuse behind the male need for Netflix binges, moody man syndrome and grey days…

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Check From Home’s very own Dr. Aamer Khan, explains that as men age, they experience changes in their hormone levels, similar to women during the menopause. These changes in hormone status, particularly a decrease in testosterone levels, can lead to various symptoms such as erectile dysfunction and mood swings. This is known as the “manopause”. 

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Dr. Khan’s medical findings highlight the need for increased awareness and support for men's mental and physical health.

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“All the things that the menopause brings for women, the same sort of things come for men,” he says. “As we age, we develop a metabolic disturbance. It's one of the hallmarks of ageing. In turn, we start to develop insulin resistance and depletion of insulin production, which means we start to put belly fat on and that belly fat in our abdomen increases our cardiovascular risk. From a hormonal perspective, it breaks down, it starts to metabolise testosterone and produces estrogenic hormones. So what happens is that our testosterone levels start to go down. 

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"At the age of 30, one in four (or 25%) of all men will have a degree of testosterone deficiency".

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But not only that, they will also be experiencing erectile dysfunction as a primary sign of the male menopause starting earlier. I believe this is because of lifestyle, the poor quality highly processed foods we eat, and the relative lack of exercise. We’re sitting a lot and it really doesn't help. We need to be moving.

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“Diet is the main cause due to the impact of processed foods on the male metabolic state. The “manopause” is not solely due to testosterone and oestrogen changes. It's related to our metabolism and we're seeing metabolic syndrome X earlier and earlier in men. With women however, we can correct the metabolism and alleviate the effects of the menopause quite significantly.”

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With growing pressure on the NHS and medical care geared towards women throughout pregnancy and childbirth, men get the short end of the stick when it comes to hormone therapy. 

"Men have difficulty with mental health because of this toxic masculinity where men are expected to perform and to be quiet and to get on with it". says Dr Khan.

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“Talking about how they're feeling isn't something that men do generally. They tend to hold everything in and if something goes wrong, then it makes it a lot worse. But it's becoming a lot better now. More and more men are now opening up and speaking. 

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“Physical health and physical deterioration, metabolic deterioration will affect mental health. They're very closely interlinked.”

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Dr Khan is world renowned for helping men cope better with the “manopause” and related changes. He advocates the prescription of testosterone where needed to bring declining levels up to what they should be naturally. 

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“We run clinics and retreats and we also do the basic testing one month prior to arrival, because it's important to know who you are and what your blueprint is,” he says. “Doing a whole genome test gives us so much information from which we can start to change things. Our DNA and your predictive problems are only 20% of the outcome. 80% is what we do, our environment and how we live. So the good news is, we can change things and help to reduce those risks right now.”

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Dr Khan explains why it’s so important to him to raise awareness for mental and physical health (complete health), in men.

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“Women are well supported because the National Health Service is centred around women giving birth and supports them throughout,” he says. “Cervical screening is there for women and when they go through pregnancy, there's all that support through pregnancy. And then there's the menopause. Nobody believed the menopause existed for a long time. And when the National Health Service accepted it, there was a huge amount done for that.

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But "for men, the first time they see anybody is at the age of 50 when somebody sticks a finger up their backside and if they're already depressed that’s enough to make them even more depressed".

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“Check From Home exists to increase awareness. Men start to develop erectile problems relatively early in their lives and they don't perform as they did when they were in their twenties, but because they don't talk about it and because they perceive this as being shameful and because everybody else is talking about being a man being able to perform properly, they base a lot of their self-worth around that. And rather than seeking help, they'll keep it quiet and that feeds into their mental health. If we bring these issues out into the open and say, “Hey guys, this is what happens, this is part of the ageing process, but there is something we can do about it,” it would make it so much easier.

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“What we need is facts. We need information. We need to base things on evidence and research, and there's so much coming out. And if we can present that in a palatable form, we can improve the health, not just of the individual, but of the whole world.”

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