The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Anti-Aging

Whether you’ve just turned 30 or are waving goodbye to your 50s, when you reach a certain point in your life, you begin worrying about aging. The effects of time, environment, and stress will undoubtedly show themselves in wrinkles, lines, sagging skin, dark spots, thinning hair, and other unpleasant visual reminders. And while there are many topical products available to address those outer issues, they don’t touch the issues that you may be experiencing within. 

For women, those can include:

• Hot flashes
• Bone density loss
• Roller coaster moods
• Mental fogginess
• Memory problems
• Loss of libido
• Vaginal dryness
• Decreased energy 

Men experience changes too, including:

• Declining mental function and loss of awareness
• Fatigue and lack of energy
• Erectile dysfunction
• Low libido
• Weight gain
• Increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases

When You Just Want to Feel Like Yourself Again

While you may accept that you will never again look like you did when you were younger, it would certainly be nice to at least feel like you did back then–like your old (young) self. While underlying health conditions can contribute to these symptoms, quite often the problem is hormone imbalance. The solution? Anti-aging treatments with Hormone Therapy (HT).

What Is Hormone Therapy?

For women, HT is an anti-aging treatment administered to ease the discomfort caused by the reduction of circulating estrogen and progesterone hormones prior to, during, and after menopause. Estrogen comes in many forms, including

• Nasal spray
• Pills taken by mouth
• Skin gel
• Skin patches
• Vaginal creams
• Vaginal ring

For women taking estrogen who still have their uterus, progesterone should also be a part of HT. Progesterone is available in:

• Pills
• Skin patches
• Vaginal creams
• Vaginal suppositories

In addition, women interested in a holistic approach to anti-aging HT may find the use of bioidenticals appealing. Often called “natural hormone therapy,” bioidentical hormones act just like the hormones we produce in our bodies. One of the advantages of bioidenticals is that estrogen levels can be measured and monitored more precisely, making it easier to develop individualized treatments.

For men with unnaturally low levels of testosterone (Low T), anti-aging HT can help ease symptoms of Low T. There are several options available for administering HT, including:

• Intramuscular injections every two to three weeks
• Testosterone patches applied daily
• Topical testosterone gel applied daily

The Benefits & Risks of HT for Women

There are benefits and risks to everything in life, and HT is no exception. After undergoing anti-aging HT, many women rave about how much better they feel and how much their lives have improved. That’s because HT has been known to relieve the most debilitating symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and bone density loss. Liberation from these symptoms often equates to improved sleep, enhanced sexual intimacy, and a better quality of life.

However, if you’re considering anti-aging HT, it’s important to weigh the benefits against the risks. HT may increase your risk for:

• Blood clots
• Breast cancer
• Heart disease
• Stroke

However, studies indicate that for many women, HT is a safe way to treat menopause symptoms, provided it’s administered at the lowest possible dose for no longer than five years.

The best candidates for anti-aging HT are women whose lives are profoundly impacted by their menopausal symptoms, women struggling with a low sex drive or painful intercourse, women affected by moodiness or depression, and women who experience early menopause.

Women who experience only mild menopausal symptoms, who have a risk for osteoporosis, or who have a family history of breast cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disease, blood clots, or stroke are not good candidates for HT. These women should consider alternative treatments instead.

The Benefits & Risks of HT for Men

Men who have led active, engaged lifestyles may find themselves struggling with symptoms of aging. For them, anti-aging HT can bring back a sense of vitality and add vigor to their lives. Many men report a renewed feeling of youthfulness after receiving HT. For them, anti-aging HT addresses their symptoms of memory fog, fatigue, low energy, sexual concerns, and weight gain, while decreasing their vulnerability to heart disease, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases.

Of course, it’s important for men considering HT to think about the risks of treatment. For men, these risks include:

• High blood pressure
• Chest pain
• Blood clots
• Worsening sleep apnea
• Increased cholesterol levels
• Infertility

Additionally, men can experience some potential side-effects that include:

• Fluid retention
• Acne
• Increased urination

More severe potential side effects can include:

• Breast enlargement
• Decreased testicle size
• Sleep apnea
• Increased cholesterol levels
• Decreased sperm count that could lead to infertility
• Increased number of red blood cells resulting in muscle pain, high blood pressure, blurry vision, chest pain, and blood clots

Men who make the best candidates for anti-aging HT include those who are experiencing low libido, lethargy, weakness, lack of stamina, weight gain, anxiety, depression, and erectile dysfunction.

Men who have a history of prostate or breast cancer, and those with a family history of heart disease, high red blood cell counts, kidney disease, or liver disease should consider other options for treating their symptoms instead.

Recapture Your Youth

While anti-aging HT won’t turn the clock back, it can make the days ahead much more enjoyable. There’s no reason to confine yourself to a rocker and wait for the sands of time to run out. Not when you can recapture the feeling of youth with anti-aging hormone therapy.