Change Your Brain Every Day - Men & Hormones: What Is ‘Manopause?'

Episode Date: March 19, 2018

We all know about the hormonal changes in women as they age, but we rarely discuss what happens in men as they hit their 40’s and go through what some call “manopause.” In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen describe what happens to male hormones as they age, and what you can do to drastically reduce the effects of these hormonal changes.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. And stay tuned for a special code for a discount to Amen Clinics for a full evaluation, as well as any of our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. Welcome back. Let's talk about men, baby. We're going to talk about hormones and men today. Does being over 40 make you feel like half the man you used to be? Absolutely not. I'm 63 and I'm married to you. So I feel every bit,

I'm like a little kid, right? You often say that to me. Yes. No, that's not what I say. No, yeah. feel every bit. I'm like a little kid, right? You often say that to me. Yes. No, that's not what I say. No, yeah, not little kid. I say you're adolescent. That's what I say, yes. You remind me of a teenage boy.

Well, it's because I married my fantasy girl. So what happens? So menopause, it's common. Everybody talks about it. Well, it's so obvious. It's not like we can get away with, everybody talks about it. Well, it's so obvious. It's not like we can get away with anyone not talking about it. But with men, it's a little more subtle. Right, men usually don't have hot flashes.

We call it manopause, right? Well, that's what menopause does. Puts men on pause. Puts men on pause. Did you say there's this one study that going through menopause actually reshapes a woman's brain so she's not as caring? Well, this is really interesting. So I know we're here talking about men.

So for the longest time we thought that it was men filing divorce because most divorces happen at that age. But it's not. It's women. Seventy-five percent of divorce when it's filed is filed by a woman. At that age. So usually it's around that age. But it's not. It's women. 75% of divorce when it's filed is filed by a woman. At that age. So usually it's around that age. And here's what happens. So women's brains rewire themselves three times in life. Once when she hits puberty, right? And then they dramatically rewire when she has a baby. Now I can attest to this. Like you become a totally

different person after you have a baby. You become much more protective, maternal. Right, like you had a big job, and you were going back to your big job. Oh, I was no way going to be a stay-at-home mom. Not a chance. Not a chance. I had a nanny lined up. I was the least likely of all my friends to be a stay-at-home mom. And then all of a sudden, I took one look at this baby, and I'm like, yeah, I'll sell my house.

I will do whatever it takes. There's no way I'm leaving this kid. Like, it was like, and I became so incredibly protective. Like, and most moms I know can attest to this. It's like, you will jump in front of a bus or rip someone's head off. Like I'll rip your heart out of your chest if you touch my child. It's just like one of those weird, it's weird. It's just, I can't explain it.

But that's a biological thing that happens. We are hardwired for that to happen because that's how we keep our babies on the planet, right? We keep the species going by being super protective and our brains rewire once we have a baby. And I didn't used to be like that. I didn't used to be super hyper protective like that because it was just me. I was like, whatever. So now all of a sudden you've got this creature you're taking care of. So during the... Creature is sort of a good term. Right. So while you have kids in the nest, those are your, you know, maternal years,

before you hit menopause, women's brains are wired to do whatever it takes to pretty much keep their nest intact for the most part. Okay. So they're generally, usually what we're wired to do is keep our nest intact. So we'll put up with more than what we put up with in a lot of areas of our lives because the goal is to raise a healthy family

and keep our nest intact, protect our children. So that is what we do. And so you'll find yourself biting your tongue, you're more patient, you're more tolerant, you do whatever it takes. And then something really crazy happens, and this was not discovered all that long ago, so we now sort of understand a little better.

Women going through menopause, their brains rewire again. So all of a sudden her little birds fly the nest, right? Right about the same time she's going through menopause, typically, now it's getting a little later now, but typically right around the time that she is, her kids are leaving, she's now going through menopause. Her brain starts to rewire. Her hormones are, what causes that is her hormonal shift. So that hormonal shift now, she's not estrogen dominant anymore, right? She's, her progesterone is dropping like crazy. So guess what's dominant?

Testosterone. She's more testosterone dominant. It's not that testosterone goes up. It's just that it's the more dominant hormone. So as the others drop and the testosterone is more dominant and she's not wired to protect the nest anymore because the nest is pretty much empty, she's going to say what's on her mind. And all of a sudden...

So she has less empathy. Way less empathy. But she's also not more sexual. She's not more sexual. In fact… Which is odd because as testosterone goes up… No, no, it doesn't go up. It doesn't go up. It just becomes more dominant. What was there is more outward. She's more like… So, but then what happens is it's so interesting because she's going to say what's on her mind, but she also becomes more focused on herself.

All those years of, you know, it's not about me. It's not about me. So she's been doing everything to take care of other people. And now it's about me. And then it changes. And the poor guy whose testosterone level is going down. And she's like, to hell with you. Is like, what happened? And she's like, to hell with you. Is like, what happened?

And she's like, go to hell. So, if it hasn't been good. Now, if your marriage is strong, that's an extreme. I'm painting the extreme to sort of like point out what's going on. If your marriage is strong. I'm getting worried here. Yeah, I don't think you need to worry. Because I think here's part of the answer.

Number one, you have a strong marriage going in, right? Because most people don't want this to happen. This isn't what we wake up thinking we want to have happen in our lives. Divorce is expensive. It's not fun. Right, but nobody thinks about hormones when you fell in love at one stage in life, when your hormones are all, you know, percolating and healthy. And then all of a sudden they begin to change dramatically.

And we should be. But we should be. But we should be. But we should be. Right. No question about it. So I did. Now, in my extreme situation, I had to, right? I sort of looked like a guy, thought like a guy.

I was super muscular. I didn't have a choice. But so that's a whole different story. You've told that story already. But anyways. I don't think we've told it on the podcast. I think we have, but we can tell it another time. So the bottom line is this.

Change your hormones. Change your dog. Okay. Now you're confusing them. The bottom line is you should be thinking about your hormones. We don't want families to fall apart. So by understanding them, like I get my hormones balanced. I am a fan of it.

Okay. Not everyone can. Not everyone wants to. But if you're not going to understand the things you can do that make it better, diet, exercise, right? Some natural methods. All right, so we're talking about male hormones now. Right. So they drop not as precipitously all at once, but there's this sort of long,

downhill march starting maybe at 40. Right. downhill march starting maybe at 40 right and then by the time you're 60 for many men if they're not taking care of themselves that their testosterone level so normal range is like 350 to 1100 and you know see many, many people who are under 200 and they have no energy. They can't remember things. They're depressed. They're overweight. And they go, oh, well, that's aging.

When we did our show together, Brain Fit, 50 Ways to Grow Your Brain, I asked you the question, so why do hormones drop with age? You remember the answer? Yeah, it's the planet's way to get you off of the, like to get rid of you, to make room. They're making room. And I don't know about you, but I'm not okay with that. I just had mine tested and I don't take testosterone,

but it was like 700. Now you don't want it too high. I've seen a lot of men, they're taking testosterone supplements and their levels at 15 and I'm like 1500. And I'm like, you don't want it at 1500 because your empathy goes down and your libido goes up, which is the prescription for divorce. Right. You're much more likely to cheat and be aggressive. That doesn't mean you will, but you have a higher chance of it for sure. Right. And so what are the things men can do to keep their hormones healthy?

First thing, get rid of sugar. Well, first thing is test them. Yeah, well, yeah. You got to test them on a regular basis we think you should test them every year but if it's not healthy the first thing you want to do is change your diet getting rid of sugar and simple carbs so one of the why does that because when you eat simple and sugar carbs it actually tanks your testosterone so very interesting for women it does the opposite it can it can actually exacerbate something called polycystic ovarian syndrome, which causes

testosterone to go up to an unhealthy level for women. But in men, it causes testosterone to drop. So that's why when the Paleo diet came out, it was...men loved it so much. It was one of the few diet programs that caught on bigger for men than for women because they saw their bodies change and their like libidos go up. Right. So if you get rid of sugar and there's actually one study that showed if you got a sugar burst, it dropped your testosterone by 50%.

And I remember putting in one of my shows, I'm like, oh, great. Go to the Cheesecake factory, share the cheesecake, no one is going to get dessert when they get home. Right, which is interesting because for women you give them a little bit of carbs and their serotonin and they get a little warm and fuzzy. But with men, not at all. Give them chocolate. Yeah.

So, side note, this is a tip for you staying with us at the Brain Warriors Way. Chocolate has something in it called PEA, phenylethylamines, which alert your brainstem that something fun is about to happen. Now, only give her one piece of chocolate. If you give her the whole box, she will have no need for you because all the fun will have happened. So, yes. All right. So, this is really important because people who have inflammation in their body that decreases testosterone, men who have belly fat. I mean, I don't know about you, but is anybody besides me

horrified by all the pregnant men in our society? I'm like, you know, I go to the mall and I'm like, I don't say this obviously, but I'm thinking to myself, dude, deliver the baby. The baby is not good. You know, all this belly fat. Well, it's really unhealthy for you. It takes healthy testosterone, but it takes whatever healthy testosterone you have left and turns it into unhealthy cancer-promoting forms of estrogen called estrone or E1. And that's a bad thing. And we know obesity is associated with cancer. So let's talk for a second about the psychological impact of men going through menopause, right? So man's testosterone drops, his libido drops, women are not as attracted to him, he's not

as attracted to women. That can be pretty devastating. I think men get a little freaked out by that, don't they? And that can cause some crazy behavior. Well, it depends. They actually want to do more bonding stuff because they don't have the testosterone. I've got to go to work. I've got to be driven and all of that. And she's actually a little bit less interested in that.

So that can be some... So if they have a healthy relationship, it can be okay. Well, obviously it can be okay and it often is okay. But just know everybody's hormones are changing. I guess what I'm getting at is we hear so much about midlife crisis. So he runs out, buys a red Ferrari and is looking for the 25-year-old Barbie doll. So is that because he gets a little freaked out about getting older? Yes, it's also because she is different.

I mean, nobody talks about that. Well, obviously she's different. No, not different because she's older. Different because she's less interested in him. Oh, I meant the 25-year-old was different. That's just a bad decision. Right, a really bad decision, especially if you're married to certain people. Really bad.

Well, I think my 40-year-old children would have a problem with that. They wouldn't have to worry about it. Because I probably wouldn't be alive. Yeah, no, we're very clear in my house. I get threatened usually daily. It's sort of like a multiple vitamin, right? It's good for your frontal lobes. What can I say?

And so we're going to talk about in another podcast coming up on how anxiety can prevent dementia. And cheating. We should get back on track. So how do you keep your testosterone healthy? You kill the sugar and foods that turn to sugar. Yes. And you lift weights.

Exercise, yes. Muscle. Particularly muscle. You need muscle on your body. The stronger you are as you age, the less likely you are to get Alzheimer's disease, and the more likely you're going to keep your hormones healthy. If your DHEA level is low sometimes taking that can be actually really helpful there's some medications so there's obviously

testosterone if your levels are super low and you're doing the right thing and it's still not an optimal level I think hormone replacements absolutely worth considering. There's a pregnancy medicine, Clomid, that comes from the urine of Italian nuns. Why do I know that? But Clomid has been found to help boost testosterone. Why Italian nuns? Why not Russian nuns? I'm just curious. It's the pasta, I suppose. But Clomid, if women take Clomid as a fertility drug, sometimes they'll have six or seven babies, right? It's just one of those fertility drugs, but it's actually been found to raise testosterone in men. For me, I think the first thing, if you're a brain warrior, kill the sugar and the foods that turn to sugar, bread, pasta,

potatoes, rice. Stress. You manage your stress. So start to meditate. Being married to a redhead, is that what you said? Well, I think that's a good form of stress, but that's my opinion, of course. So I think I'm good for you. Oh, no question. Because if I said anything else, you'd be bad for me. So I know they've got all of this like recorded. This is not good, but. It's awesome. Anyways, so yeah. So you need to manage your stress because stress when you increase stress hormones decreases your testosterone I'm not good and one more tip environmental toxins oh yeah so you have to start scanning your personal products read the labels look at things like phthalates and parabens and BPAs

and fragrance. All of those are called endocrine disruptors. What's an endocrine disruptor? Something that disrupts your hormones. So you never fully answered my question about men who, when you said, yes, it's a bad decision, men who go through that midlife crisis thing. So, so why do they do that is that just sort of it's not a psychological aspect of manna pause it's well what I think have been a psychiatrist forever is when you hit 45 you begin to have a lot of people die in your life right so we're going to have a lot of people die in your life. Right. So mortality. You begin to have either your mom die or your grandparents die or even a friend of yours dies of cancer and you begin to go, is this all there is?

Okay. And so you know you're going to die. So when you're teenagers, obviously you think you're never going to die. You really don't think about it much in your 20 and your thirties, you're generating in your forties. Your career is sort of settling down a little bit. And then, um, you're like, is this all there is? And as testosterone levels are going lower, you're a little bit more depressed.

Your energy's not quite as good and you're looking for a dopamine burst. And the 25-year-old will give you that, along with all sorts of other things that you may not want. And I'm not picking on 25-year-olds. I mean, you know, there are so many wonderful 25-year-olds. But that you're clearly doing things that will disrupt your own character, your own moral. Yeah, it really has a lot less to do with the person you pick than it does with your

bad decisions. Right. Right. So, okay, I was just curious. So it's really a lot deeper than just your testosterone dropping. That's what I was curious about. It's all about the man being. All right.

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