Hey, Lance here, and I’m back with part 2 in my video series on how to put together
an action plan to slow, stop or reverse aging.
I know that putting together a comprehensive action plan is complex, confusing and time-consuming.
But in this video series, I break down the process by identifying 4 primary components,
and several secondary elements, of that plan.
As I mentioned in the first video, those four components are to optimize hormone health,
lose weight, exercise and eat good food to support this plan.
If you haven’t watched that video, I’ve put links to it, as well as the rest of the
videos in the series, in the description below.
In this video, I deal with the first element of that plan…optimizing your hormone health.
I’ll be talking about the roles that hormones play in aging, how to get your levels tested
and what constitutes “normal”.
And the importance of optimizing, not normalizing, your levels.
Like I said, the first and foremost of the components is optimizing your hormone health.
The role that hormones, or rather the lack thereof, play in the aging process is huge.
If you look at the symptoms of low testesterone and compare them to the symptoms of aging…their
identical!
Reduced muscle mass and bone density, lowered libido, erectile dysfunction, hair loss, difficulty
sleeping, a decrease in energy levels and an increase in body fat.
All caused by low T.
And for far too long, it’s been taken for granted that as men age, their testosterone
levels will drop and that they’ll eventually suffer from the symptoms of low T. It’s
a given that very low testosterone levels are considered “normal” for an aging man.
There are a lot of “givens” for the aging male.
While it’s a given that he’ll have lower testosterone levels, it’s also a given that
he’ll have lower human growth hormone levels, that he’ll get fat, that he’ll lose muscle
mass.
It’s just a part of the aging process.
But I don’t believe that it has to be that way.
There are a lot of things you can do to turn back the clock, but none of them is more important
the optimizing your hormone health.
And the first thing that you need to do is to find out what your testosterone levels
are, currently.
Go to your doctor, or go to a lab, or order a blood test online, but get your testosterone levels
checked.
Then then track your test levels over time.
And because different labs use different reference ranges, you need to be consistent with the
lab that you use…so that your results are always using the same reference range.
What is a reference range?
Labs have different measurement systems, for example: nanograms per decaliter is a typical
one.
But because of the different testing methodologies that different labs use, even within a similar
measuring system, labs will have different results for what they consider “normal”.
“Normal” is usually a result that ranges from low to high measurements and the term
“reference range” is the range of “normal” measurements for a particular lab and the
measuring methodologies that they use.
So, different labs have different “reference ranges” and comparing different labs and
different “reference ranges” is like comparing apple to oranges.
So, I use a lab with a reference range of 264 to 919 ng/dL.
That means that anything below 264 ng/dL is considered by my lab to indicate a clinically
low testosterone level.
And anything above 919 ng/dL is considered to be above normal.
A recent study that I read stated the only 2.5% of all men have less than 250 ng/dL,
and only 2.5% of all men have more that 1000 ng/dL.
That means that roughly 95% of all men have testosterone levels that fall within the “normal”
range…and that only 2.5% of all men have low T.
That represents the current thinking of a lot of the medical community.
But that range was established by looking at the testosterone levels of your average
young, middle-aged and senior men.
Young men had levels that were in the high normal range (700-950), middle-aged men had
levels that were in the middle normal range (400-700), and senior men had levels that
were in the low normal range (250-400).
So the “normal” range is from 250 to 950.
That’s a huge range and it’s indicative of the problem.
That reference range for “normal” was established by looking at what a statistically
high percentage of men (of all ages) had as a T level…over the course of their lives.
And it doesn’t take into account the fact that T levels decline as men age.
It also doesn’t take into account is the effect of T on the male body…and what can
happen when testoseterone isn’t present in sufficient amounts.
And given that a lot of the effects of low T are the same as a lot of the effects of
aging…it feels like it’s a no-brainer that getting your testosterone levels back
up to where they need to be is a basic tenant of anti-aging…of turning back the clock.
And where, exactly, do they need to be?
Good question.
I’ve read studies that suggest that 600 - 800 ng/dL is optimal, others that suggest
500 - 1000 ng/dL.
Personally, I feel that the higher the better, with a minimum of 600 ng/dL…but really,
optimally I would say more like 750.
When optimizing your hormone health, human growth hormone is another hormone that needs
to be optimized.
Fortunately, many of the same practices that will raise your T levels will also raise your
HGH levels.
Also, when optimizing your hormone health, my recommendation is that you do it naturally,
rather than have hormone replacement therapy.
In the last 2 years, using only natural T-boosting methods, I have almost tripled my T levels…from
350 to 950.
OK, I think I’m going to put a pin in it right here and continue in the next video
in this series.
In that video, I’ll be dealing with the second and third components of an action plan,
weight loss and nutrition.
In the third video in this series, I’ll wrap it up by covering the final component,
exercise…as well as dealing with secondary elements by suggesting strategies for improving
these aspects of your health…as an aging man.
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And as always, thanks for watching.
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