Men between the age of 40 and 55 years experience discomfort and body changes as a result of a hormonal process similar to menopause, called andropause.

In men body changes are likely to occur slowly enough but may include

• general lack of energy
• memory problems and depression
• diminution of sexual prowess
• decreased muscle mass
• drift to pack on pounds

The long-term influences of andropause affect all men eventually, as its permanently progress can contribute to osteoporosis (bone loss), dementia, frailty, falls, heart and circulatory problems.

What causes andropause?

Andropause is caused by a fall in the testosterone level of men as they get older. In women, menopause is relatively abrupt, and it occurs at a standard age. But in men this process occurs gradually, takes place over decades, and isn’t complete over many years resulting in hypogonadism (low testosterone).

Despite the fact that there is no obvious starting sign, the mutations in mood, health and sexual functioning have been well documented and are closely linked to the lower hormone levels that occur naturally with advancing age.

For men in this condition is very common to experiment mood swings, low energy levels, lowered sex drive, tiredness and a feeling that he just isn’t as physically able as he once was. But the bad news is the drop in testosterone levels may also mean that the man is at increased risk for getting serious health problems like heart disease and bone weakness.

Preventive aspects and treatment

Preventive aspects of andropause would include exercise, nutrition, weight management and in some cases hormonal replacement for men.

To fight against that decline in circulating testosterone, many American men are turning to hormone therapy. But testosterone is not only about sexuality for men as hormones regulate many functions including bone, brain, heart and circulation.

Experts are urging caution. They say there is no reliable data on the benefits and risks of hormonal treating this age-related decline. Associated risks of long-term use of a powerful hormone such as testosterone are equally unclear. There are to major areas of controversy

1. whether providing testosterone therapy to older men will boost their risk of prostate disease, including cancer, and
2. whether it will increase or decrease their risk for heart disease.

There’s no evidence right now in either direction.

What is obesity?

Many people think obesity means that a person is overweight, but that’s not exactly true.
An overweight person has a surplus amount of weight that includes muscle, bone, fat, and water.
An obese person has a surplus of body fat. We all have and need fat tissue in our bodies. When there is too much body fat, the result is obesity.

Most health professionals concur that a man is obese if he has over 25 percent body fat, and a woman is obese if she has over 30 percent. Women physiologically have more body fat than men, so that why there’s a difference in percentage.

Obesity is not a sign of a person being out of control. It is a serious medical disease that affects over a quarter of adults in the United States, and about 14% of children and adolescents. It is the second leading cause of preventable death after smoking.

How is obesity measured?

Normally, the fat should be equally distributed on the body, on the stomach or on the hips and thighs. Doctors agree that an excellent method to measure overweight and obesity is the Body Mass Index (BMI). It is calculated as your weight (in kg) divided by your height (in metres) squared.

If you want to know your Body Mass Index use the form below. Please press the Refresh button first.
Instructions Put Weight in Kilos, eg: 72   Put Height in Meters, eg: 1.82

Now let’s have the interpretation.

1. if you your BMI is up to 18.5, you’re under average, you’re skinny
2. if you have a BMI between 18.5 and 25, you may consider yourself of average weight
3. if you have a BMI between 25 and 30, you are overweight
4. if you have a BMI between 30 and 40, you are obese
5. if your BMI is over 40, then you’re superobese

How common is obesity?

The occurrence of obesity has increased by five fold since the Second World War.
It affects approximately 60 million people in the United States. With more and more pre-packaged food and less and less activity, the rates for obesity are escaling despite of billions dollars spent on health care.

Because obesity and stomach obesity are rapidly increasing all over the world, especially in young people, many experts now estimate that western world is closely at risk of developing an obesity epidemic in the next generation or even sooner.

How can obesity affect your health?

Many physical problems are related to obese condition, like difficulties in breathing, personal hygiene, pain in the knees and back and skin problems. People suffering from obesity more frequently have

• high blood pressure
• diseases related to hardening of the arteries
• blood clots in the heart and the brain
• non-insulin dependent diabetes
• gallstones
• some types of cancer
• difficulties in mobility
• increased risk of mortality.

Premature ejculation is a sexual disorder having nothing to do with erectile dysfunction (impotence).

2. Some time premature ejaculation may occur before intercourse, during the foreplay or even before.

According to statistics, one in five men experience difficulty with early or uncontrolled ejaculation at some point in their life. It is something normal for man’s first sexual experience. When premature ejaculation happens so frequently that it interferes with the sexual pleasure of a man or his partner, it becomes a medical problem.

Causes of premature ejaculation disorder

Many doctors say premature ejaculation in mainly a psychological problem.
There are a number of potential causes such as stress, anxiety, depression and other factors that affect mental and emotional health and can lead to this condition.

A special category of anxiety is related to first sexual experience. The anxiety of that first sexual experience can be too intense due of presure to perform – and the desire to “get it right” can result in premature ejaculation.

Last studies have relevated that this disease can have and physical causes, such as low levels of serotonin in man’s brain.

According to American Urological Association, erectile dysfunction treated by Viagra and similars affects an estimated 10 to 12 percent of all men, usually in the older age group. By contrast, premature ejaculation affects between 27 percent and 34 percent of males of all age groups.

Despite of fact premature ejaculation the most common male sexual disorder, it remains widely un-diagnosed and un-treated. The reason is most physicians do not investigate for this disease and some men find very difficult to tell they have a sexual impediment.

When a man has erectile dysfunction (ED), that means he cannot achieve or maintain a firm erection for a satisfactory intercourse. ED also is called “impotence.”

Just this word “impotence” is enough to strike terror into the heart of every man who is familiar with what it means.

The real truth is:

• About one in every ten men has some degree of impotence
• After age of 35, every man experienced at least for one time the impossibility to achieve a firm erection or to maintain it.

ED is a condition that many couples cope with as a barrier in their personal love relationship. Not only it is difficult for love making but as soon as the word impotence applies to us we lose all concepts of ourselves as men or as having any form of sexuality.

Sometimes, impotence is just a temporary condition. This situation is very common in younger men especially when they are either anxious, or have had too much to drink. But when this happens time after time and becomes a regular difficulty (chronic impotence) it’s time to do something about it.

If you’re having erection problems, bear these points in mind:

• the most common cause of temporary impotence is anxiety.
• impotence can be helped by medication, sex counselling, mechanical aids, or - very occasionally - surgical treatment.
• impotence may be a symptom of an underlying condition requiring treatment; the most common of these is diabetes.

Vasectomy is a simple contraception method surgery designed to make men sterile, or unable to father a child.

It involves blocking the tubes through which sperm pass into the semen.
Sperm are produced in a man’s testis and stored in the epididymis, an adjacent structure. During sexual climax, the sperm move from the epididymis through a tube called the vas deferens and mix with other components of semen to form the ejaculate.

All vasectomy techniques involve surgery cutting or otherwise blocking, both the left and right vas deferens. By consequence, the man’s ejaculate will no longer contain sperm, he will become sterile and will not be able to make a woman pregnant.

This operation is used as a means of contraception method in many parts of the world.
Vasectomy, like any operation, will not guarantee that you will not get a women pregnant. The only 100% way to avoid this is abstinence, but the success rate of thys surgery operation is very high, well over 99%.

A man can resume sexual activity within a few days after the operation, but precautions should be taken against pregnancy until a test shows that sperm is out from his semen. Generally, this test is performed after the patient has had 10-20 post-vasectomy ejaculations.

Related to men health, we must add that vasectomy does not affect production or release of testosterone, the male hormone responsible for a man’s sex drive, or other masculine traits, like beard, deep voice, etc. The operation also has no effect on sexuality. Erections, climaxes, and the amount of ejaculate remain the same.

No woman can differentiate in bed a man with vasectomy, unless the man himself decides to tell her.

Advantages and disadvantages of vasectomy

The main advantage of vasectomy - the permanent incapacity to eliminate sperm due of surgery - is also its main disadvantage. The procedure itself is simple, much simpler than making female sterile, but reversal it is difficult, expensive, and often unsuccessful.

Researchers are studying new methods of blocking the vas that may produce less tissue damage and scarring and might thus permit more successful reversal. But these methods are still experimental, and their effectiveness has not yet been confirmed.

Before having vasectomy, the man can store his semen in a sperm bank to preserve the possibility of producing a pregnancy at some future date. However, doing this is costly, and the sperm in stored semen do not always remain viable (able to cause pregnancy).

Although it is extremely effective for preventing pregnancy, vasectomy is only a contraception surgery method and does not offer protection against AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases. Consequently, it is important from health reasons that vasectomized men continue to use condoms, preferably latex, which offer considerable protection against the spread of disease, in any sexual encounter that carries the risk of contracting or transmitting infection.

Vasectomy reversal

According to statistics, five to ten percent of men who annually undergo this sterile surgery, will choose to have vasectomy reversal at some time. Vasectomy reversal is done using an operating microscope and requires up to 4 hours of operating time, wherein the men tubes are reconnected, in order to allow sperm to pass through once again.

Long time ago, the results of vasectomy reversal were relatively poor. In our days, with the help of better techniques developed excellent results can be obtained in vasectomy reversal, with a high chance of obtaining pregnancy. Success rates of reversal vary depending on the surgeon skills.

What is

Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin (prepuce) of the penis.
It is usually performed on the first or second day after birth. It becomes more complicated and riskier in infants older than 2 months and in boys and men. The procedure takes only about 5 to 10 minutes.

At the end of last century, male circumcision was the most commonly performed surgical operation in the United States. Data for 1996 reveal that no less than 60% of all US male infants were circumcised. In contrast, the rest of the industrialised world has much lower rates of this surgery. In Britain, for instance, it is performed only for religious reasons or to correct defined medical conditions.

Benefits and risks

Most of the time circumcision in infant boys is usually performed for cultural or religious reasons.
In addition, people believe that this operation provides some medical advantages.
But studies about the benefits of circumcision have provided conflicting results.
As a positive effects are revealed the followings

• uncircumcised boys under the age of five are 20 times more likely than circumcised boys to suffer infections of the urinary tract.
• circumcised men are less likely to suffer phimosis.
• they are less likely to suffer from cancer of the penis or inflammation of the penis.
• many studies indicate that circumcised men have fewer sexually transmitted diseases.

On the other hand, many opinions showed that the medical advantages are considered to be slight, because conditions such as phimosis and cancer of the penis are rare even in men who have not been circumcised. Overall, the minor benefits of circumcision seem to be contrabalanced by the minor risks so this operation is neither essential nor detrimental to a boy’s health.

Like any surgical procedure, circumcision has some risks.
However, the rate of problems after circumcision is low, the most common problems in the circumcised area are bleeding, infection and irritation.

Precautions

This operation can be performed in virtually anyone without a serious illness or unusual deformity.
Here they are some situation when this surgery should not be performed

• in infants with certain deformities of the penis that may require a portion of the foreskin for repair.
• in infants with a large hydrocoele or hernia may suffer important complications.
• premature infants or infants with serious infections are also poor candidates for circumcision.
• circumcision should not be performed on infants with hemophilia or other bleeding disorders or on infants whose mothers were taking anticoagulant