Hormone Optimization for Men: A Guide to Feeling Better

Men often write off changes in their energy, mood, strength, or sex drive as “just getting older.” But, as a nurse, I’ve learned not to ignore the role that hormones play. 

Hormones quietly sit in the background, shaping how you feel from day to day. They influence how you perform in the gym, how you show up at work, and how present you feel in your relationships. When they’re imbalanced, you notice, even if you don’t know to call it a “hormone imbalance.” You just know that you’re not firing on all cylinders.

Hormone optimization helps your body and brain feel like they’re on your side again. They help you get a closer look at what’s really going on and make targeted changes for improvement.

Here’s what you need to know.

Why Hormones Matter More Than You Think

Hormones are your body’s signalling system: chemical messengers that travel through your bloodstream and communicate with the rest of your body to trigger certain responses.

They help regulate:

• Energy and stamina
• Mood and motivation
• Muscle growth and recovery
• Metabolism and body fat
• Libido and sexual function

For men, a few hormones are especially important:

• Testosterone: This is your main sex hormone, tied to libido, erections, muscle, bone density, and “drive.”
  
• Thyroid hormones: These set your metabolic “tempo” and influence how energetic or sluggish you feel.
  
• Cortisol: This is your stress hormone, involved in sleep, recovery, and fat storage.
  
• DHEA and IGF-1: These are linked with resilience, recovery, and cellular repair.

So when these hormones drift out of range, you might notice low libido, less muscle definition, brain fog, and even fatigue.

These symptoms are easy to shrug off, especially if you notice just one. But if you notice them for a sustained period (or multiple simultaneously), it may be worth looking into hormone testing.

Here are some signs you should consider hormone optimization:

• You’re still lifting and hitting your steps, but weights feel heavier and gains are slower.
  
• You’ve developed a stubborn ring of fat around your waist that doesn’t budge, even when you tighten up your nutrition.
  
• Your sex drive is noticeably lower than it used to be, or you have more issues with erections.
  
• You feel tired or flat most days, even if your sleep window looks okay on paper.
  
• Your mood is off: more impatient, more anxious, or just not as motivated.

None of this automatically means that you need testosterone replacement, but it does mean your body is giving you useful feedback. Hormone testing is one way to find out whether your numbers match how you feel.

What Hormone Optimization Actually Is

Hormone optimization here is not “maxing out” your testosterone or trying to hack your biology. It’s something much more grounded:

• Checking where you are now with proper blood work
  
• Identifying genuine problems, like low testosterone, thyroid issues, insulin resistance, nutrient gaps
  
• Making a plan to adjust your lifestyle first, then adding medication or replacement therapy where appropriate
  
• Monitoring over time so you’re not guessing based on one test

So the goal isn’t to crank testosterone to the highest number possible — it’s to bring hormones into a healthier range and see whether that actually improves how you feel and perform.

In practice, hormone optimization is closer to sensible medical care plus lifestyle coaching than it is to biohacking.

Should You Consider Hormone Therapy?

A structured hormone program may be worth considering if:

• You’ve had persistent symptoms for months (energy, libido, recovery, mood).
  
• You’re willing to engage with testing and follow-up.
  
• You’re open to working on your sleep, nutrition, training, and stress alongside any medical therapy.

However, it’s probably not the best move if you’ve only had a few stressful weeks, you’re looking for a shortcut, or if you have severe or sudden symptoms (chest pain, severe depression, major weight loss) that require urgent medical care.

If you’re unsure, talk to your doctor to rule out obvious issues and get a basic set of labs. If you still don’t have answers and want a more in-depth look, then professional testing and therapy could be a good fit. 

How Lifeforce’s Testosterone Optimization Program Works

There are a lot of options available for hormone therapies. Today, I’m going to focus on one that’s been getting some buzz recently.

Lifeforce sits somewhere between a standard “low-T clinic” and a full longevity program. The focus here is on broad testing, structured follow-up, and clinician-led plans rather than a quick prescription.

Diagnostics

Lifeforce starts with a diagnostic session, where a licensed phlebotomist comes to your home (or you visit a partner lab) to get a blood sample that measures over 50 biomarkers, including:

• Total and free testosterone
• Estradiol (E2)
• DHEA-S
• IGF-1
• Thyroid markers (TSH, free T4)
• Fasting glucose and HbA1c
• Full lipid panel (HDL, LDL, triglycerides)
• Key liver, kidney, and inflammation markers
• Nutrients like vitamin D and B12

Each kind of test has a specific purpose: Hormones like testosterone and estradiol help explain symptoms like low libido and fatigue. Metabolic markers like glucose and HbA1c show how your current diet, body fat, and training load are affecting your long-term health and testosterone production. Nutrient levels are the low-hanging fruit; if your vitamin D or B12 levels are very low, correcting that can sometimes shift energy and mood without needing heavier interventions.

So this testing is more than a number-filled lab report; it’s a map of what’s likely driving your symptoms, what’s simply “nice to know,” and what needs to be watched closely if you start treatment.

Clinician Consultation 

Once your results are in, you’ll book a telehealth consult with a Lifeforce clinician (usually around 30 minutes).

During that visit, they’ll walk through your lab report, talk about what needs attention, and explain your symptoms.

This is where you’ll get answers to questions like:

• Is this true low testosterone?
• Is thyroid the main issue behind your fatigue?
• Are weight and blood sugar the big levers to pull first?

A Personalized Plan

After your consultation, you’ll receive a personalized plan. Depending on your situation, this might include:

• Changes to sleep routine, training structure, and nutrition
• Targeted supplements
• Testosterone replacement/stimulation therapy

If TRT is appropriate, Lifeforce offers weekly/biweekly injections, topical creams, and oral supplements for those who prefer a pill.

It’s important not to go into this with any firm expectations. Your plan will vary wildly, depending on your labs, existing health conditions, and schedule.

Regular Retesting and Adjustments

Hormones change over time, especially once you’re undergoing treatment. That’s why Lifeforce builds repeat testing into the membership, with blood draws roughly every three months.

On those follow-ups, they check:

• Testosterone and estradiol
• Blood counts (to make sure your haematocrit isn’t rising too high)
• Lipids and glucose
• Key organ and inflammation markers

They’ll also evaluate your symptoms and their progress. Are you getting stronger? Have you started losing belly fat? Has your sleep improved?

This kind of monitoring is critical in hormone therapy. After all, testosterone can raise red blood cell counts, shift cholesterol, and unmask underlying issues like sleep apnoea, so it’s not something you’d want to run on autopilot. Regular labs and check-ins are how you catch problems early and make sure your dosages are still appropriate for your health, not just your symptoms.

How Lifeforce Differs

Most testosterone therapy clinics sound similar, but Lifeforce does a few things differently:

• Broad labs first: 50+ biomarkers, not just total testosterone and a quick yes/no decision
  
• At-home convenience: Phlebotomist visits and telehealth consults, which make it easier to stick with retesting
  
• Multiple treatment formats: Injections, cream, and oral TRT, with flexibility to match your routine
  
• Ongoing monitoring: Repeat labs and check-ins rather than “see you in a year”

It’s still a paid membership, and it’s not the only option. But if you’re the kind of person who tracks your lifts, steps, or macros, something is appealing about having that same level of visibility on your hormone and metabolic health.

More Than Therapy: Where Lifestyle and Psychology Fit In

Even if you do pursue a structured program for hormone optimization, the basics still matter:

• Sleep: Chronic short sleep and untreated sleep apnea can lower testosterone and wreck recovery. If you just sleep for five hours a night, you lose 10–15% of daytime testosterone.
  
• Weight: Extra abdominal fat and low testosterone often go hand-in-hand. While hormones can impact your weight, the reverse can be true, which is why losing weight can lead to higher testosterone levels.
  
• Training and stress: Adding heavy weight training on top of a high-stress job and poor sleep is a lot for your system to manage. Sometimes “more discipline” just piles more stress on an already stressed body.

This is the bit where my psychology background and nursing overlap: the lab work matters, but it only really helps if it changes what you do with your sleep, food, training, and stress day to day. It’s also important to notice how low energy, low libido, and low motivation can feed into each other. If you feel flat, you’re less likely to train hard, eat well, or go to bed on time — which then makes the underlying problem worse.

Optimizing Your Hormones for Long-Term Health

If you’re training, eating fairly healthily, and doing your best, but you still feel off… you’re not weak. Your body is trying to tell you something. Optimizing your hormones is all about getting enough information to understand what’s out of balance, and at the same time getting enough support to do something about it.

A program like Lifeforce’s Testosterone Optimization gives you a way to see the full picture: hormones, metabolic health, and how those numbers change over time. What you decide to do with that information is up to you!