男人的生物钟

Have you ever thought about your biological clock?

Never!

No.

Men don’t have to think about that.

Men may not think about their biological clocks, but they should.

There are some men whose biological clocks tick a lot fa, a lot faster and a lot louder than others.

(Well) Doctor Harry¹ Fish wrote the book about that clock, and what happens when the timing² is off.

A lot of people think as they get older, uh , that there is erectile dysfunction, but there’s more than just that. There’s excessive weight gain, uh , tiredness.

One of the factors determining the pace of that ticking is testosterone.

Testosterone is the major male hormone³.

It helps regulate mood, sex drive, fertility, and muscle mass. And over time, it drops at a rate of about 1% per year after age 40. Roughly 20% of men in their 60s are testosterone deficient⁴.

One of the problems that occurs as men get older is that they convert more testosterone to female hormones⁵ or estrogens.

That’s right. The structure of testosterone is remarkably⁶ similar to the structure of estrogen. With just one enzyme⁷ the body can convert this male hormone into a female hormone. And body fat speeds up the process. So a bigger belly⁸ can mean lower testosterone.

"Remember our manners."
"Thank you."

But it isn’t always that easy to spot.

My energy levels were depleted⁹.

Jeff Volk came to Doctor Schlegel with all the symptoms of a man in the midlife crisis.

I was constantly fatigued¹⁰ than in work. I wasn't as effective in my job. I was, was generally, you know, lethargic¹¹ and depressed¹².

Sure enough. Jeff didn’t need a Porsche. A blood test revealed he needed more testosterone. Jeff has been on hormone replacement¹³ for 5 years.

It's increased the quality of my life.

But testosterone is a powerful hormone with many side effects and should be taken only with a doctor's supervision¹⁴.

We haven’t followed people long enough to know for sure that testosterone replacement’s completely safe, but it certainly appears to help with your cardiovascular health, with how you feel, with your bone density¹⁵ and a number of other factors like how you think.

So what’s a guy to do to keep his testosterone levels normal, naturally?

The obvious answer is that size really doesn’t matter, that is the size of the belly. The easiest thing you can do to prevent your biological clock from ticking too fast is losing the weight around the belly.

So, Jon, what would you say to men who want some testosterone stab?

I would say don’t do it. We don’t wanna oversimplify, very important. The aging process is very very complicated, and there are lots of other things besides just low testosterone that lead to losing your own fit as you get older, like for example, sleep deprivation¹⁶. Whatever patients do, they should talk to their doctors about whether or not to get the replacement.

And to get a prescription¹⁷, they shouldn’t just do it off the Internet or medicate themselves. So, what about the side effects, Jon?

Side effects are throughout the entire body so you can actually have problems with your liver problems with your heart. So, very important, not to take this medicine on your own without a prescription.

Alright, Doctor Jon LaPook, Jon, thank you.
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erectile:technical capable of becoming erect 直立的
testosterone:a chemical substance produced in the body that causes men to develop a physical features that are typical of males 睾丸激素
estrogen:a hormone produced in a woman's ovaries that makes her develop typical female sexual features and prepare her body for having a baby 雌激素
enzyme:a natural chemcial produced by animal and plant cells that causes reactions and other processes to start 酶

1 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

2 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

3 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

4 deficient   

adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的

参考例句：

• The crops are suffering from deficient rain.庄稼因雨量不足而遭受损害。
• I always have been deficient in selfconfidence and decision.我向来缺乏自信和果断。

5 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

6 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

7 enzyme   

n.酵素，酶

参考例句：

• Above a certain temperature,the enzyme molecule will become unfolded.超过一定温度，酶分子将会展开。
• An enzyme that dissolves the fibrin of blood clots.能溶解血凝块中的纤维的酶。

8 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

9 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

10 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

11 lethargic   

adj.昏睡的，懒洋洋的

参考例句：

• He felt too miserable and lethargic to get dressed.他心情低落无精打采，完全没有心思穿衣整装。
• The hot weather made me feel lethargic.炎热的天气使我昏昏欲睡。

12 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

13 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

14 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

15 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

16 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

17 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。