Testosterone plays a strong role in triggering sexual desire, in both men and women. An androgen, testosterone is produced in males and females, although in much smaller amounts in women. It’s important to note here that changes in sexual function are shared by both men and women, although when it comes to midlife transitions, our culture still focuses largely on the female reproductive aspects. But lessening libido and longer arousal time aren’t strictly female, the 20-year-old man who needed only five seconds to achieve an erection matures into a 50-year-old who needs thirty seconds and eventually becomes a 70-year-old who may take six minutes or more. Shifts in testosterone levels are part of the changes, as well as shifts in DHEA, sometimes called the “hormone of youth” because it appears in high levels in people under twenty, may also be implicated.

Men too may be surprised by physical or emotional changes that almost seem to sneak up on them, and they may have their own flirtations with anti-aging or youth-enhancing products. Three men I know took the hormone DHEA, allured perhaps by its implied promise of youth and virility. For one of these men, DHEA didn’t reverse the aging process as is sometimes claimed. Instead, it led to dangerously elevated levels of testosterone and estradiol. DHEA is a precursor hormone, when it occurs naturally in the body, it turns into other hormones like testosterone and estradiol. In this man’s case, DHEA may have spiked his production of other hormones to unhealthy levels. Despite the risks, and without evaluation by a health care provider to see if their DHEA dosage and hormone levels are appropriate, two of the three men decided to keep taking it because they found the idea of staying young and virile so attractive. The male midlife transition is certainly different, less overt and much less widely discussed. As our subjective experience of female sexuality alters and expands in our forties, we should be aware that male physiological and emotional responses are also steeped in change.

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