Boost Your Brain and Your Sex Life
By Jonathon Wright, M.D.
Many men have the idea that testosterone is mostly for sexual function. But its most important job is maintaining cognitive function. The sex part is important but who cares about sex if you can’t remember who you’re with or what you’re doing with her?
Unfortunately, thanks to this misunderstanding, word hasn’t gotten around that , just like estrogen replacement for women, bio-identical testosterone replacement for men is extremely important for significantly reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline.
A few highlights:
- Higher serum estrogen levels in women in their 60s are directly correlated with lower incidence of Alzheimer’s in those same women decades later. And the reverse is true too that lower estrogens equal higher incidence of Alzheimer’s in later years.
- The 15-year Princeton men’s study determined that men who had higher serum free testosterone in 1983 had less risk of Alzheimer’s disease in 1998. Once again, the reverse was also true: lower serum free testosterone corresponded with higher risk of Alzheimer’s.
- Researchers observing neurons found substantially less accumulation of beta-amyloid, neuro-fibrillary tangle, tau protein, and other “neuronal garbage” associated with Alzheimer’s when those neurons were exposed to “physiologic quantities” of either estrogen or testosterone -(depending on whether the neuron was from a woman or a man).
- In numerous controlled experiments, elderly men without Alzheimer’s disease do better on tests of cognitive function when given testosterone than men given placebo.
- Testosterone for men and estrogen (that’s real, bio-identical estrogen - not horse estrogen) for women is very protective for the entire cardiovascular system, including the blood supple to the brain.. (Remember that cognitive decline due to repeated small strokes?)
The bottom line is, if you want to “keep your marbles” for as long as you live, consider bio-identical hormone replacement when it’s appropriate for you. Just make sure to be working with a physician who is skilled and knowledgeable in all aspects of this therapy. If you’re not sure if your doctor is, one way to find out is to ask the physician’s office whether they do routine monitoring of therapy with the 24-hour urine steroid determination.
This test is the very best way to check not only the levels of the bio-identical hormones being replaced but also their metabolization (the natural transformation of the starting hormones into pro- and anti-carcinogenic metabolites). Blood and/or saliva testing just doesn’t cut it when it comes to bio-identical HRT.
Small Dose, Big Protection
I’ve written about lithium’s brain-protecting benefits before. No matter what neurotoxin your brain is exposed to, lithium protects against it. Not only that, but lithium actually promotes the growth of new brain cells, even in individuals past age 50. So far, not other nutrient has been bound to do that.
Yes, high-dose proscription lithium can be toxic, but low quantities like the ones used for boosting cognitive function and protecting brain cells (20 milligrams daily and under) are not associated with toxicity. In over 30 years, I’ve only encountered two or three individuals who reported a possible reaction to low-dose lithium. These people thought that it might have given them a slight tremor (which went away when the lithium was discontinued).
But on the flip side of that same coin, I’ve also encountered dozens of individuals who reported improvement in benign tremors with the use of low dose lithium.
Even thought risk of toxicity from low dose lithium is very small, I always recommend working with a physician skilled and knowledgeable in nutritional and natural medicine if you decide to supplement with lithium. And to be on the extra-cautious side, I always recommend using supplemental essential fatty acids when using even low-quantity lithium supplements. Essential fatty acids are the primary treatment for toxicity caused by high-dose prescription lithium, so using them in conjunction with low-dose treatment helps avoid that possibility altogether.
Spicing Up Your Brain-Boosting Regime
There are many, many more supplemental items that can help you maintain cognitive function and one more excellent one is curcumin. (Another is ginkgo, which has been used for the brain for thousands of years and, like lithium, has been found to be neuroprotective).
Although no one is entirely sure how it works, the research on curcumin’s ability to protect against Alzheimer’s (as well as its many other beneficial effects) has been more than a little exciting. Areas of the world in which the spice turmeric (which has a high concentration of curcumin) is routinely used have very little, if any, Alzheimer’s compared with areas that don’t.
Perhaps the best aspect of curcumin is that you don’t need to take yet another pill to get its brain-boosting benefits. Just use turmeric in your cooking, perhaps an average of ¼ to ½ teaspoon daily. For those who can’t stand the taste of turmeric, it is available in capsules, too. If you’re using it for long-term cognitive maintenance, consider taking two 200-milligram capsules a day.)
We all know that none of us will live forever, but there’s no reason not living as long as our “genetic programs” will allow, and keep all of our faculties while we’re here. If you can do all of the things outlined above, or at least come close, you’ll have a much better chance of living as long as your oldest known relative, getting to know your great-grandchildren, and hearing, seeing, enjoying, and remembering those years of life so much better!
