Pamela Levin, R.N., T.S.T.A. , Editor

By paying attention to one simple facet of your health, you can

• increase your coronary artery blood flow;
• support production of the collagen that forms the connective tissue sac around your heart;
• stimulate the growth of your muscles and bone;
• support production of your red blood cell, therefore increasing oxygenation in all your cells;
• raise your ambition, confidence and sex drive.

To know whether this strategy is one you need to employ, check any symptoms that apply to you below:

•      Loss of ambition
•      Mild depression
•      Fatigue
•      Feeling dull, sluggish, frequently drowsy (lethargic)
•      Loss of libido (sex drive)
•      Low energy
•      Decreased motivation
•      Inc rease in fine wrinkles
•      Sagging skin especially on your face
•      Chest pain
•      Loss of muscle strength
•      Diminished muscle tone
•      Diminished serum free testosterone on saliva test
•      Pre-menopausal /postmenopausal bone loss
•      S ymptoms increase in stress

Next, check to see if any of these conditions or situations apply:   

•   you are in  the time following natural menopause or andropause,
•   you are post-surgical or chemically-induced menopause or andropause,
•   you had chemotherapy or irradiation,
•   you have premature ovarian failure,
•   you are attempting to manage premenstrual syndrome,
•   you have bone loss induced by taking cortisone drugs,
•   you're managing wasting syndromes secondary to HIV and/or malignancy,
•   you've had GNRH-analog treatment of endometriosis, or
•   you've had adjunctive therapy for rheumatoid arthritis or SLE

The more symptoms you've checked in either list above, the more likely it is that you have low testosterone levels.

How does this apply if you're female? It turns out that testosterone, contrary to popular opinion, is not a male hormone only. In addition to being produced in male bodies, it is actually also produced by female ovaries and by both male and female adrenal glands ( one third by ovaries and two thirds by adrenals).

In fact, testosterone is the hormone that triggers female sexual development during puberty and stimulates the onset of menstruation. After that, female testosterone levels naturally vary during the menstrual cycle, rising just b efore ovulation (and causing an increase in sexual desire at the same point when women are most fertile).

Whether you're male or female, your testosterone levels are likely to drop as you get older, especially if your adrenal glands aren't working well. That's because your adrenals are supposed to take over production of testosterone as your ovaries or testes involute during the midlife menopausal or andropausal shift.

Therefore low testosterone levels can be at the root of some heart problems, especially after this midlife shift. To summarize how that's possible, consider that testosterone drives production of connective tissue - and connective tissue - and that's what your heart is made from. Low testosterone causes not just a sagging face and skin, but a sagging heart in which the valves don't align properly.

And inadequate testosterone levels mean you lose heart muscle, your heart loses connective tissue, your coronary artery flow is decreased, your red blood cell production drops off, and all that causes weakness and shortness of breath.

If any or all of this is happening to you, the easiest thing to do is not what you might think. No, don't rush off to get a testosterone prescription. That's hormone replacement therapy and requires careful medical supervision assuming it's not contraindicated by other factors. Instead, support your adrenals, because if they are sufficiently supported, they will make testosterone according to the needs of your body.

And having your body make its own hormones is always the best choice. You won't have to concern yourself with medical monitoring of blood or tissue levels because your body will do that job for you, automatically. And you won't have any side effects.

So important is this topic, of learning how to support your adrenals, that it will be addressed in an entire BetterHealthBytes issue coming up.

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Tags: heart health healthy heart how to have a healthy heart risk of heart attack mild heart attack cardiovascular disease risk factors