Let me tell you something that blew my mind recently. At 52, after decades of obsessing over health and fitness, working with top doctors, trainers, and nutritionists, I just learned there’s a name for what I’ve been experiencing: Andropause. Yeah, you read that right. Male menopause is a real thing, and somehow nobody’s talking about it.
Here’s what’s crazy – I’m the guy who digs deep into health research. I’m the one friends come to for advice about getting fit and staying sharp. Yet here I was, dealing with symptoms I couldn’t quite pin down, thinking maybe I was just losing my edge. The fatigue that coffee couldn’t fix. The workouts that stopped delivering the same results. The mental fog that rolled in despite my meditation practice. The mood swings that had my wife and dogs looking at me sideways.
And you know what’s even crazier? Not one of my healthcare providers – not my GP, not my endocrinologist, not even my forward-thinking functional medicine doc, not the PA that does my bloodwork every 90 days – ever mentioned the word “andropause.” Not once. They’d check testosterone levels, sure, but always in isolation, never as part of a bigger conversation about this major life transition that apparently starts hitting us as early as our 30s.
Let that sink in. While every woman on the planet knows about menopause – hell, it’s discussed everywhere from morning shows to magazine covers – we men are going through our own hormonal revolution in silence. Starting at 30, we lose about 1% of our testosterone annually. Some guys barely notice; others feel like they’re swimming upstream through molasses. I was definitely in the latter camp by my mid 40’s, and I bet many of you are too, even if you haven’t connected the dots yet.
Here’s what it looked like for me: Workouts that used to leave me energized started wearing me down. Recovery times doubled. The six-pack I maintained for decades started playing hide and seek, despite keeping the same diet. My drive – both in and out of the bedroom – wasn’t what it used to be. And the mental game? Some days it felt like my brain was operating on dial-up in a 5G world.
The kicker is, I was doing everything “right.” Clean eating, regular exercise, stress management, no alcohol, quality sleep (or trying to, anyway). But something was off, and nobody – not one of the health professionals I regularly work with – put it all together. Instead, each symptom got treated separately: “Try this supplement for energy. Maybe adjust your workout routine. How about some meditation for stress?”
Why isn’t this common knowledge? Why aren’t doctors screening for this? Why isn’t every men’s health podcast talking about andropause like women’s health platforms discuss menopause? We’re out here thinking we’re losing our mojo, feeling isolated and confused, when actually we’re going through a natural transition that affects literally every man on the planet.
Look, I get it. We men aren’t great at talking about health stuff, especially anything that might suggest we’re losing our edge. But this silence is costing us. While women have support groups, dedicated medical specialists, and endless resources for navigating their hormonal transition, we’re left piecing together the puzzle on our own.
It’s time to change that narrative. If you’re in your 40s or 50s (hell, even your 30s) and something feels off – the energy isn’t there, the gains are harder to come by, the mental clarity isn’t what it used to be – you’re not imagining things. You’re not just “getting old.” You’re going through andropause, and it’s as real as any other major health transition.
We need to start talking about this. With our doctors, our trainers, our partners, and especially with each other. Because here’s the truth: understanding what’s happening to our bodies is the first step to maintaining our edge as we age. And we deserve the same level of support and resources that women get for navigating their hormonal transitions.
So here I am, putting it all out there. Andropause is real, I’m in it, and I’m done pretending everything’s business as usual. Who’s with me?
