Male menopause
My husband is 54 and has really changed over the last year. He is tired all the time, stressed and irritable and his libido is almost non-existent. I know he doesn’t really like his job, which does not help matters but it is as if he is going through a “male menopause.” Is there anything he can take to help?
Adaptogens are herbs that work in the body to make every system the best it can possibly be. If, for example, hormone levels are too low, these herbs will raise them; if too high, they will lower them.
These ingenious plants were frequently (and often secretly) used by Russian scientists to boost performance levels among top athletes and even astronauts and it seems astonishing to me you can get all the same benefits in a bottle on sale in your local health store.
The adaptogenic herb your husband will benefit from taking is an East European herb called Tribulus Terrestris which works to boost testosterone levels and which is also the primary agent in an aptly-named supplement called Manpower.
Adaptogens also increase sexual energy and libido and can help us better cope with stress which creeps up in three phases; the initial alarm phase which occurs in the first eight hours, the resistance phase which occurs if the stress continues for several days causing the body to adapt to it and, if this stress then carries on for weeks, even months, the final exhaustion stage where the body can no longer adapt. What adaptogens do is lessen the body’s physical reactions to the initial alarm phase and delay the transition into the exhaustion stage.
*Manpower is made by Lifetime and available from Victoria Health (0800-413 596). 60 x 250mg capsules cost £19.95; your husband should take two a day.