Testosterone is the most important male sex hormone. After 30, testosterone level naturally decreases in males and continues to reduce by 1% yearly. Here are some tips to slow or even reverse the process. It is natural for testosterone levels to decline as a person ages. But there are steps that you can take to Increase Testosterone.
Testosterone is an essential male sex hormone. However, females have them in small amounts as well. From birth to puberty, males and females both have an almost equal amount of Testosterone. During puberty, the amount of Testosterone in boys increases by 30 times. This causes boys to get bigger muscles, a deeper voice, facial and body hair, and produce sperm. In adults, Testosterone regulates sex drive, bone mass, muscle mass, physical strength, fat distribution, red blood cell production, and sperm. Low Testosterone causes a lack of physical strength and muscle mass and increased body fat percentage. It also affects sexual function causing fewer erections, reduced libido (sex drive), and infertility.
Here are some things you can do to increase testosterone naturally
Exercise
Research in the European Journal of Applied Physiology shows active individuals have more Testosterone than those who rarely work out. Exercising regularly is a great way to improve mood. It produces happy hormones and prevents many lifestyle-related diseases. According to this study, exercise will also help increase your testosterone level without using artificial chemicals.
Resistance training like weight lifting and High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the best type of exercise to boost your Testosterone. But be careful. Overdoing these exercises to an extreme level might have the opposite effect on your testosterone level. Regularly lifting weight and HIIT helps you lose unnecessary fat, decreasing testosterone production. A study in Clinical Endocrinology shows that obese males aged 14-20 have up to 40% less testosterone than those who are not overweight.
Eat a complete meal
Eating a balanced diet sounds like general health advice, but I can assure you it is more than that. Food that you eat has a significant impact on your body as well as on hormone levels. Overeating and eating too little hurt your testosterone levels. Adverse effects on Testosterone by eating too little are evident in most athletes. A balanced diet including fats, carbohydrates, and protein is an excellent way to increase natural testosterone production. Protein helps you maintain a healthy weight, aids fat loss, and helps repair muscle tissue after a workout. Carbs take care of your energy level during resistance training and HIIT.
Similarly, healthy fats are essential to keep you healthy and produce Testosterone. The best advice I can give you is to plan for your meal and don’t eat more/less than what you initially planned for. Sometimes, our emotions decide the amount of food we eat. Eating a lot of ice cream because of sadness is one example. Although we cannot control the situation that may disturb our emotional balance, we can plan various meals ahead of time to hold our over/under-eating.
Vitamins and minerals
Among all the vitamins and minerals, the research on Testosterone shows Vitamin D and Zinc are the most promising. These vitamins and minerals can help correct the deficiency and increase testosterone levels. Zinc deficiency can cause a significant drop in Testosterone. A study showed that four weeks of zinc supplementation could help with the declining testosterone levels in men. In one study, zinc supplements increased sperm quality b 74% in fertile and subfertile males.
Zinc also boosts Testosterone in elite athletes and those deficient in zinc. Another study from 2010 with 165 participants showed vitamin D helps increase Testosterone in men. Among the participants, two groups were formed. One received a placebo while the other received Vitamin D. The testosterone level in the second group increased while there was no change in the first group. To reap such benefits from vitamin D, you should try to get regular exposure to sunlight or take around 3,000 IU of vitamin D3 supplement daily.
High-Quality Sleep
A long-term study showed that those who slept only four hours per night had borderline deficient testosterone levels. Another study found that sleeping 5 hours per night can reduce your testosterone level by up to 15%. Suffice to say, there is a direct relationship between the number of hours you sleep and the testosterone level in your body. It is so because Testosterone is produced mainly during the night. You may feel okay with fewer hours of sleep, but your hormones suggest otherwise. Researches show you should aim for around 7-8 hours of sleep per night to reap the full benefit of your long-term health, and you should see a boost in your testosterone levels.
Naturally testosterone-boosting foods and herbs.
Some foods are known to boost Testosterone more than others. Some are herbs you might not have heard of, while some are regular foods we consume. Let me start this list with the one that has proven to be the best among the bunch. It is an herb called ashwagandha.
Ashwagandha is an ancient medicinal herb that grows in some reason of India and Nepal. It is commonly used to treat loss of libido and erectile dysfunction in ayurvedic medicine. On doing scientific research, this herb increased the testosterone level of infertile men by 17%. In healthy men, this herb increased testosterone levels by 15%. Other foods that help can help you improve your Testosterone are ginger, eggs, oysters, tuna, shellfish, beef, milk, and beans. These foods help have nutrients that your body needs to produce more Testosterone. But just because these food are known to increase testosterone levels doesn’t mean you should over-eat them. That has its disadvantages.
Things you should avoid to increase Testosterone
We just spent some time talking about what you can do to improve your Testosterone naturally. Most people only think about what they can do to increase their testosterone count. Now let’s talk about some things you should avoid to make that happen.
Alcohol
According to The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol abuse affects hormones and glands in the male reproductive system. Alcohol can cause low Testosterone because of its effects on our body, like hormonal reactions and cell damage. All you need is five days of regular drinking, and you can see a drop in testosterone level. Alcohol can interfere with different parts of your body’s hormone system. Moreover, heavy drinkers have thin beards, shrunken testicles, and higher estrogen levels (a female hormone). Too much alcohol causes Testosterone to convert into estrogen, lowering your body’s testosterone levels.
Soy products
Most of the health benefits of soy products are linked to isoflavones. Isoflavones are a type of plant estrogen that acts like estrogen but with weaker effects. Soy has a high concentration of isoflavones. Although some studies suggest soy doesn’t lower Testosterone, there are some cases where breast tenderness and estrogen concentration went back to normal when a man stopped using soy. Due to the lack of research, researchers need to conduct more high-quality research showing the exact effects of soy on the body of both males and females.
