Maintaining a healthy and balanced testosterone level is crucial to your health. It can help men with muscle building, fat reduction, better moods, and more. However, this hormone is not as easy to produce as it once was. Exposure to toxins such as pesticides on food and environmental factors such as stress can all contribute to low testosterone levels in the body. In this article, we will discuss some of the best ways that you can increase your natural production of testosterone without any side effects or risks!
Testosterone is a hormone that plays an essential role in the human body. It affects sexual desire, bone density, muscle mass, and fat distribution. Testosterone levels usually peak during adolescence and early adulthood, but this natural production declines with age. Here are 11 ways to increase testosterone naturally.
In the event you’re wondering, “free testosterone” does not imply that you’ll get testosterone replacement therapy at no cost. (Be wary of anyone offering anything like that, especially online).
In reality, everyone has free testosterone in their blood. If your testosterone levels are tested, your doctor may wish to check both your total testosterone levels and your free testosterone levels. They’re both significant. We’ll go through what free testosterone is and why it’s important in this post.
What happens when a Man’s testosterone level is low?
-Low testosterone levels in men can cause a variety of problems such as fatigue, poor moods, and lack of sex drive. Sometimes it is hard to know if you have low T because there are no distinct symptoms that present themselves all the time. For this reason, many people go undiagnosed for years!
-Decreased sex drive – even though you might not be thinking about it right now, your testosterone is responsible for helping to regulate and stimulate sexual desire. If this hormone is too low, then sometimes men just don’t feel like they want or need sex as much!
How to increase testosterone
Eat a healthy diet rich in zinc, vitamin D3, and omega-3 fatty acids such as fish oil.
- Zinc is needed for testosterone production. Oysters are the richest source of zinc but also liver, crab, and lobster contain high levels too. Other sources include pumpkin seeds, cashews, and spinach.
- Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to low T in men (study). Try eating more salmon or tuna fish or take a vitamin D supplement.
- Omega-III fatty acids are suitable for the heart and arterial system, but they also play a role in maintaining testosterone levels (study). Try eating more salmon or sardine fish to get this essential nutrient into your diet;
- Exercise is a great way to naturally increase testosterone. Men who work out on a regular basis actually have higher levels of this hormone when compared to sedentary men. You can try some intense exercise such as weight lifting or sprinting, both of which are known for giving off stress hormones that will help trigger the release in your body’s natural testosterone. Lose weight as estrogen is stored in body fat so that excess belly fat can lower your testosterone levels (study).
- Get more sleep; not only does it help you feel good and function properly, but research suggests that a regular lack of sleep may decrease testosterone levels in men by as much as 15 percent. The optimal number is seven to eight hours a night.
- Resistance training can help boost T levels as well, so lift weights or do body-weight exercises at home.
- Reduce stress. When cortisol is released to deal with stressful situations, it affects the testosterone production in your adrenal glands (study). Yoga and meditation are great ways of reducing stress naturally.
- Eat pumpkin seeds, a study published in the Journal of Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology found that men who ate three ounces of pumpkin seeds every day for 12 weeks experienced an increase in testosterone levels;
- Supplement zinc, vitamin D, and magnesium (study). Also, consider supplementing with ashwagandha root extract as it may increase testosterone.
- Add spices such as turmeric to your meals: a study found that curcuminoids present in turmeric boosts T by increasing luteinizing hormones responsible for the production of sex hormones.
This will help boost your testosterone levels.
There are also some things you should avoid for increasing testosterone levels
Being overweight (obesity) and lack of sleep (less than six hours per night) can reduce testosterone production in the body. Alcohol, marijuana, antidepressants, and other medications that contain estrogens, progestin, and/or DHT blockers can also reduce testosterone levels.
- Avoid soy products, sugar, and processed foods as they can affect your hormone levels (study).
- Avoid alcohol, drugs, and smoking: they also lower testosterone levels. Also, avoid caffeine and alcohol! These are both known to lower your levels of this critical hormone in the body, so you want to try staying away from these as much as possible if you hope to increase yours naturally! If you must have either before working out or doing other intense exercises, then it is best that you don’t do so too close to the time when you will be working out.
In conclusion, increasing your testosterone levels is possible, but it takes some work and discipline to do so. Remember that a healthy diet rich in zinc, vitamin D, and omega-III fatty acids, along with regular exercise, will help give you the most benefits when trying to naturally raise this vital hormone!
