In medicine, steroids are actively used for hormone replacement therapy. Find out how bodybuilders do "perpetual courses" during the period of muscle gain. After 40 years in the male body, there are serious changes in the work of the endocrine system. This leads to inhibition of physical performance, mental performance and sexual activity. External signs of these changes are the appearance of a large amount of subcutaneous fat in the abdominal region of the body and a decrease in muscle mass.
Scientists have found that these changes are associated with a large number of diseases that begin to develop at this age. Most often, in such situations, doctors advise their patients to use drugs that normalize cholesterol balance, antidepressants, etc. But if you carry out tests for testosterone content, it becomes clear what should actually be done. The best solution in most cases is hormone replacement therapy in bodybuilding.
The functions of testosterone in the male body
Many people believe that testosterone for men is a hormone that regulates sexual performance. However, this is just one of its functions, which are equally important. The body contains a huge number of testosterone receptors. Moreover, most of them are found in the brain and heart.
Testosterone is essential for maintaining muscle mass and bone density. This hormone increases the sensitivity of tissues to oxygen, participates in the regulation of sugar concentration, cholesterol balance and maintains the efficiency of defense mechanisms.
In the course of scientific research, it was found that in a state of depression, the concentration of testosterone decreases sharply. We can safely say that the role of testosterone is greatly underestimated today. Now there is a lot of controversy about the use of AAS by athletes, but after the age of forty, a moderate amount of synthetic male hormone can be very useful without causing the negative phenomena that opponents of doping in sports talk about. At the same time, some doctors oppose hormone replacement therapy in bodybuilding due to a lack of understanding of the whole situation.
Reasons for a decrease in testosterone concentration
The synthesis of the male hormone starts in the brain. If the concentration of the hormone falls below a certain level, then the hypothalamus "sees" and signals this to the pituitary gland through the secretion of special hormones. In response to this signal, the pituitary gland begins to synthesize luteinizing hormone, which in turn acts on the testicles, thereby causing the secretion of testosterone.
Sometimes this organ loses its ability to produce testosterone. This can be found out if there is an imbalance between the level of luteinizing hormone and testosterone. Simply put, the pituitary gland sends a request to the testicles to start synthesizing the male hormone. But the testicles cannot execute this command. If this happened, then it is necessary as soon as possible to find out the cause of what is happening and eliminate it.
Testosterone and sex drive
The activation of sexual activity also originates in the brain. This is a rather complex process in which testosterone receptors, the nervous system, muscles, the circulatory system, etc. are involved. It should be remembered that only that testosterone that is in free form can activate this process.
At a low concentration of the free form of the male hormone, the quality of sexual life drops sharply and atrophy of the genitals can occur. If you restore the normal level of testosterone, then the libido is normalized. It is also necessary to remember that problems with potency can be caused not only by changes in hormonal balance.
A large number of testosterone receptors are located in the pelvic region. However, the use of synthetic testosterone may often not be beneficial in the long term. This is due to the ability of the male hormone to convert to estradiol, which binds to testosterone receptors. When this happens, it does not matter what is the concentration of the male hormone in free form at the moment. Its molecules simply cannot interact with receptors that are occupied by estrogens. Thus, it is necessary to monitor not only the concentration of the male hormone, but also estrogen.
The effect of testosterone on heart function
During the aging of the body, the heart is also subject to this process, even in the absence of diseases of this organ. We have already said that there are a large number of testosterone receptors in the heart and disturbances in its work can be caused by a low concentration of the male hormone.
Testosterone has the ability not only to regulate the rate of synthesis of protein compounds in the tissues of the heart, but also affects the performance of the coronary artery and normalizes the cholesterol balance. In the course of numerous studies, the positive effects of hormone replacement therapy in bodybuilding on the work of the heart have been proven. For example, the use of a synthetic male hormone can increase the blood supply to the heart tissues by more than 60 percent. Here are just a few reasons for the development of heart and vascular diseases caused by low testosterone levels:
- The concentration of cholesterol and triglycerides increases;
- The elasticity of the coronary artery decreases;
- Blood pressure increases;
- The production of growth hormone is reduced;
- Fat mass increases, especially in the abdominal region.
Although the positive effect of hormone replacement therapy in bodybuilding on the work of the heart and other systems of the male body has been proven in the course of numerous scientific studies, some doctors still do not pay enough attention to the role of testosterone.
Learn more about hormone replacement therapy in this video:
