Men & Body Weight

This week we’re going to look at health issues that occur more commonly in men who have problems with their weight. Some of them can be difficult to talk about. Some of them you may never have heard about. Some of them you may not have realised are linked to being overweight or obese.

Sex and Fertility

Many men assume that losing their sex drive is an inevitable part of getting older. We know that levels of testosterone, the hormone associated with sex drive, do slightly reduce with age. However the impact of this is minor. There’s a much greater reduction associated with increasing weight and increasing waist measurements. The good news is that weight loss gradually increases testosterone to normal.

Other conditions associated with excess weight such as high blood pressure and Type 2 Diabetes can cause problems with sexual function by interfering with the blood and nerve supply to the penis. This can make it more difficult to achieve an erection. Although the damage may not be reversible with weight loss there are lots of options for treatment. Losing weight and thereby improving blood pressure or diabetes control can however help prevent the situation from worsening.

Fertility as well as sexual function is also affected by body weight. Sperm quality can be reduced, and together with problems with sex-drive and sexual function this can make it more difficult for a couple to achieve pregnancy.

There are thought to be alterations in the make-up of sperm which occur in obesity and which seem to have consequences for the next generation, with an increased risk of obesity and heart disease. This is in addition to the other factors that cause obesity and run in families like genetics or our family eating and exercise habits.

Obstructive sleep apnoea

OSA is a really common sleep condition that is often under-diagnosed. It occurs in men and women but more often in men. People who carry excess fatty tissue in the neck area eg. have a large collar size are at risk. During sleep, when the muscles of the airways and neck are relaxed, the weight of the fatty tissue can intermittently block the airways.

People with OSA usually have been told they snore loudly. They may also have been told that sometimes they appear to stop breathing altogether for a few seconds. They can find that they wake up with a start overnight feeling as if they are choking. The result is a poor quality sleep, with sleepiness and loss of concentration during the day.

OSA has a major impact on quality of life. It’s also associated with a whole host of other diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Poor sleep is also linked with worsening obesity so it can end up as a vicious cycle.

OSA can be effectively managed with a special machine called a CPAP machine which keeps the airway open overnight. The symptoms also improve with weight loss.

The water-works

There is an increasingly recognised link between obesity and urinary symptoms like frequency (having to pass urine more frequently), urgency (having to rush to the toilet) and having to get up several times at night to go to the toilet. These symptoms are often assumed to be related to getting older or an enlarged prostate gland, but this may not be the case at all.

Being obese can make it more difficult to diagnose early prostate cancer as the prostate cancer blood test (PSA) is not as accurate.

If you are overweight or obese and think you may be having any of these health problems don’t just put up with it – get help! Go to your doctor, find out what resources are available locally to help you lose weight and find out if there’s any treatment that may help with your symptoms in the meantime. Take a small step in the right direction.

And remember, these conditions are common, doctors discuss these symptoms with people all the time. There’s absolutely no reason to be embarrassed.

Izzy

©AYOSC 2019