‘It’s not him, it’s his hormones.’
Every woman has been belittled at some point in her life for being overly ‘hormonal,’ whether that’s by a doctor or in a particularly toxic relationship.
So, it took me back to see this very same insult instead being levelled at men, as part of a slew of adverts I saw popping up on the Tube.
Encouraging men to check their hormones, the posters are from Voy, a company that offers weight loss treatments like Mounjaro, Wegovy, Saxenda, and Orlos, as well as testosterone and menopause treatments.
At first, it might seem insensitive to suggest that men’s hormone levels also fluctuate — or that they have it as bad as women. To say the tag line made my eyes roll is an understatement.
But this isn’t just a tongue-in-cheek, headline-grabbing advertising campaign: there’s truth behind it. Men should be more on top of their hormones. It’s just a shame we’re recycling old insults to get the job done.
A spokesperson for Voy tells Metro that the campaign is about tackling stigma, insisting it’s not intended to rage bait, or downplay the hormonal injustices that many women continue to face.
They state: ‘Men are often taught to brush off hormonal symptoms or feel embarrassed by them, which stops people from getting support.
‘These ads are deliberately plain-spoken to make the issue feel normal, recognisable and worth talking about.’
Do men’s hormones fluctuate?
As Dr Jeff Foster, men’s medical director at Voy, explains, men’s hormones fluctuate on a daily basis, rather than a monthly or yearly cycle.
He tells Metro: ‘We naturally produce most of our testosterone in the early hours of the morning (between 5am and 8am), and then it gradually declines over the rest of the day.
‘Small things you do, like exercise, might increase it a little, but generally it is a daily repeatable peak and then drop as the day drags on.’
Across their lifetime, men will also see a gradual decline in testosterone, particularly from the age of 30 onwards (by between 1 and 2% each year). And, even if they’re super healthy, this will still inevitably drop.
‘Other things will affect this, like lifestyle factors, or even mild medical problems such as blood pressure, asthma or diabetes,’ Dr Jeff adds.
They’re also massively affected by multiple external factors such as sleep quality, diet, exercise, medical problems, age, which means that actually it is a really sensitive hormone which can fluctuate wildly.’
There’s also the term ‘male menopause,’ (also known as the ‘andropause’) which, as Dr Jeff explains, was coined to try to help people outside of the medical field understand the changes in male hormones with age.
However, as he notes, while there’s strong evidence that testosterone levels decline with age, unlike the menopause, not every single man is affected. And not everyone needs to be on replacement therapy, as the key to treating low testosterone is identifying a cause, as it can be improved with lifestyle tweaks, such as sleeping better or working to reduce stress.
Dr Jeff says: ‘The male Massachusetts ageing study suggested that about 12% of men over 40 have the condition, about 40% of type two diabetic men have the condition, and we think overall about 25% of all men will have biochemical low levels of testosterone.’
‘The symptoms of low testosterone in men are also very similar to menopause in women and are characterised by loss of libido and or erectile dysfunction, loss in muscle mass, increase in body fat, brain fog, irritability, changes in memory and mood, and an increase in various other health problems such as osteoporosis and heart disease.’
Why is testosterone so significant in the first place?
He says: ‘There is good evidence that low testosterone in men is associated with an increase in multiple medical conditions, including increased risk of osteoporosis and fractures, an increased risk of metabolic disease and type two diabetes, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety, cognition and memory problems, changes in body shape and societal and relationship issues.
‘In fact, evidence suggests that low testosterone is associated with an increase in overall mortality. Effectively, if you have a testosterone deficiency, you are just more likely to die sooner.’
Women and hormonal imbalances: Systemic injustice
Two things can be true at once.
Yes, there needs to be more education around the hormonal changes that men experience.
We also need to be mindful that every women is affected by the menopause, an often life-changing stage that can’t solely be treated by lifestyle tweaks.
A 2018 study shows that 80% of women live with some form of hormonal imbalance, many of whom don’t realise; 70% are completely unaware that they’re living with PCOS, which can signify hormonal irregularities.
Menopause also signifies a huge upheaval in women’s hormonal regulation, and some women aren’t always given the life-improving care they deserve.
According to one 2024 report, women from Black, Asian and low socioeconomic backgrounds are statistically much less likely to be prescribed treatment than their more affluent, white counterparts.
Across 1.85 million female patients, 5.2% of Black women have been prescribed HRT (hormone replacement therapy), compared to 6.2% of Asian women and 23.3% of white women.
Do men’s hormone levels fluctuate as intensely?
No, men’s hormone levels don’t fluctuate as intensely as women’s do. But, as Ollie Matthews, a nutritionist specialising in male hormonal health, shares, it’s for this reason that it can go unnoticed.
‘Men don’t experience menopause in the same way, and there’s no sudden shutdown in hormones, but the concept is real and very much a problem in today’s society,’ he tells Metro.
‘Other hormones will also shift, it isn’t just testosterone, I always look into thyroid, cortisol, insulin and glucose management in my clinic.
‘Suicides are at a very high level right now, and some studies say the highest for nearly 30 years. Men in their 40s are the most at-risk demographic, andropause is one of the biggest factors in this.’
As Ollie adds, men need to understand that testosterone does matter.
He concludes: ‘Fatigue, low sex drive, low moods, waking through the night, they’re a lot to deal with. Being given anti-depressants or being told they need to “practice wellbeing” is quite frankly irresponsible.
‘We need to be able to take responsibility for our own health, and our own lifestyle makes a big impact on our hormones, not just testosterone.’
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