a recent study published in a medical journal in the uk claimed that menopause does not only affect women but men too suffer from the male menopause or andropause this finding created quite a flutter among the overthe40 men who were suddenly conscious of their own bodies and moods however health experts across the city claim that andropause is nothing like the female menopause and that crossing their forties or fifties need not ring any alarm bells in men as long as they maintain healthy lifestyles the men bt spoke to couldnt have agreed morerenowned sexologist dr prakash kothari says we do see a lot of male patients reporting similar symptoms that women experience during premenopause and menopause but its common and men often tend to go through something called the midlife crisis post their 40s but its presumptuous to call it andropause andropause affects a very small percentage of men and is purely due to some illness or ailment explaining the difference between the female and male menopause he adds that in women the estrogen production halts suddenly and abruptly after a certain age and is permanent whereas among men theres a gradual decline of testosterone and this too is a decline of less than one per cent a year but unlike women men do not lose their ability to reproduce and can do so even in their late nineties wellknown sexologist dr rajan bhosle too insists that post the 40s a man is usually stressed about his appearance change in work if nearing retirement dealing with grownup children family this may lead to depression if a person is not able to adapt to the changes around him positively this may lead to a decrease in libido or desire for sex but it has nothing to do with the testosterone its more psychological than a physical change talking about the decline in hormones a male body undergoes according to age consultant endocrinologist dr manoj chadha explains sure there is a decline in testosterone production but it is hardly anything to be worried about men who show menopausal symptoms are mostly due to to other factors and the lowering of testosterone level is just one small factor that may or may not cause the symptoms experts opine that the male menopause is more of a western concept being brought to the fore by those with vested interests in promoting the hormone therapy with testosterone which is otherwise not required at all but even as the medical community rages a debate on whether or not men really do go through a welldefined menopause some of the celeb brigade whore well in their 40s offer their takes i am still 18 says adman and theatre personality bharat dabholkar adding and if theres anything like a male menopause then i am still years away from it on a serious note he adds that menopauselike symptoms may affect men who have always lived in a routine suddenly when they retire they feel unwanted to