Natural-Hormones.net

Understanding hormones

What Role Does Testosterone Have during Menopause?


Testosterone is vital to maintaining female functions.Even though women produce one-seventh of the testosterone that men do, the hormone is vital to maintaining several female functions. Testosterone is produced in the ovaries and the adrenal glands, and it is helps to regulate mood, menstruation, and sexual health. During menopause, however, the body’s production of testosterone and other hormones drops drastically. In the case of testosterone, it can drop to around half of its premenopausal level, causing women to experience an array of unpleasant symptoms.

Keep reading below to learn more about four ways erratic testosterone levels affect menopause.

How Low Testosterone Affects Libido during Menopause

Testosterone is commonly identified as the hormone responsible for male arousal, but it also plays an important role in female libido. Studies suggest that women with low testosterone levels caused by menopause may experience decreased sexual desire, lower levels of arousal, and a lack of enjoyment of intercourse. In addition, orgasms may become infrequent. Maintaining healthy levels of testosterone and other hormones is critical to your sexual health.

Keeping a Level Head: Testosterone and Menopausal Mood Swings

Testosterone plays an important role in regulating mood.When hormones become out of sync, extreme fluctuations in mood can occur during menopause and result in a mood swing meltdown. Famously nicknamed the “personality hormone”, testosterone plays an important role in regulating mood and emotions.

Erratic testosterone levels – as well as imbalanced estrogen and progesterone levels – may lead to menopausal mood swings. Testosterone imbalance is commonly linked to emotions of anger or hostility, which may be an early sign of depression.

The Menopause Fifteen: Low Testosterone and Weight Gain

Weight gain is a common menopausal symptom, affecting about 90% of women. It is known that obesity is linked to low estrogen levels in middle-age women, but low testosterone levels may be partly to blame for converting muscle into fat and producing a subsequent change in body shape.

Testosterone and Calcium: Preventing Osteoporosis

Menopausal women are constantly reminded of calcium’s importance in fighting the onset of osteoporosis. Maintaining healthy testosterone levels also helps to prevent bone fractures and breaks, since this hormone plays a role in regulating bone growth and strengthening bone density.

Recommendation

Women suffering from menopausal symptoms caused by fluctuating testosterone levels may seek treatment to restore normal hormone balance and to protect their health. There are three types of treatment for hormonal imbalance: diet and lifestyle changes, alternative medicine, and medication. Click here for more information about testosterone and hormone imbalance treatments during menopause.

Reviewed on Tuesday, August 13th, 2013

Dr. Love, Susan, and Karen Lindsey. Dr. Susan Love’s Menopause and Hormone Book. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
•North American Menopause Society (2005). The role of testosterone therapy in postmenopausal women
•Shifren JL (2004). The role of androgens in female sexual dysfunction. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 79(Suppl): S19-S24.

Top