British Columbia’s health-care system is primarily designed to diagnose and treat illness after symptoms arise. But what if health care also meant being proactive?
“People are becoming more conscious of how they can maintain and improve their health,” says Ramin Behzadi, co-founder and chief strategy officer for UPGUYS Health.
With so many life stressors, influencers, businesses and new technologies that didn’t exist two decades ago, people are searching for new ways to optimize their health. In other words, says Behzadi, “How can they live not just longer but also with a better quality of life?”
Longevity and health optimization continue to dominate health and wellness conversations, consistently appearing in the Global Wellness Summit’s annual trend reports.
Indeed, there is no shortage of supplements, lifestyle regimens or wearable tech devices to track almost any biomarker.
But beyond that, there’s a broader shift in medical circles: health care is evolving toward a more proactive model centred on prevention, health optimization and healthy aging. Thanks to new technology and accessible laboratory diagnostics (blood work, hormone testing, genetic tests), it’s easier than ever for people to measure their biomarkers and receive proactive treatment based on clinical results with physician oversight.
And patients are turning to one of a growing number of companies in British Columbia to receive expert-informed, evidence-based care.
Behzadi’s digital health platform is doing exactly that by helping men optimize their health through testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).
UPGUYS connects patients with practitioners and pharmacists to prescribe the right type of (Health Canada-approved) TRT, injectable, topical or oral, to address their concerns. Practitioners monitor the patient’s health and advise on the proper treatment with evidence-based care on an ongoing basis.
“Testosterone is one of the fundamental hormones in a man’s body. And naturally, as men age, that hormone production starts to decrease,” explains Behzadi. “That has a very direct effect on several things, like muscle loss, fatigue, loss of motivation, lower libido and unwanted weight gain in parts of the body.”
Behzadi notes that as broader conversations shift—on both men’s health and more proactive approaches to health care—the number of men using TRT to improve their quality of life is increasing, and not just recreationally for bodybuilding.
To date, UPGUYS has served more than 170,000 patients across Canada. By 2030, the men’s health and wellness market is estimated to reach $5 billion in Canada and roughly US$2.88 trillion globally.
“We’re seeing that a lot of men are becoming aware: there is this symptom, it can be treated, and it worked for someone I know, so let me try it, too,” says Behzadi.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is just one—often misunderstood—treatment bridging the gap between wellness and continuity of care. Health care, Behzadi emphasizes, is no longer simply about treating illness. It’s also about helping people stay healthier for longer to live their best life.
“At the end of the day, even if all these biomarker measurements read, ‘you have an optimized health and body,’ but you do not feel okay, that’s not the point,” he says. “You have to feel joy. You have to enjoy your life.”
He continues: “In the next few years, people will start to make sense of what health optimization looks like for them, what they want to measure and how they can confirm that it has worked. We’re getting there. We’re at the very beginning of the whole thing.”
Learn more about UPGUYS at UPGUYS.com.
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