As men age, their testosterone will decline. This will lead to things like less energy, less muscle tone, and less desire for sexual contact. There are several things that you can do to help boost your testosterone levels. These will all help you to improve your overall health as well.
Exercise
To help to increase your testosterone, you will need to get more exercise. No matter what you do for an exercise, it will help to increase your testosterone levels. The best exercise you can do, however, is strength training. When you are building muscles, this requires testosterone. Once you have built that up naturally, you will keep it. Another natural way to improve low-T is to practice High-intensity interval training. This will have you doing intense cardio and then lower intensity activities. Studies have shown that you can increase your free testosterone by doing this exercise method.
Improving Your Diet
If you visit your physician and tell them about your low-T, the first thing they will recommend is improving your diet. You should be eating complex carbs, heart-healthy fats, lean protein, vegetables, and fruits. You should avoid anything that is processed, and you should avoid simple carbs. In animal studies, avocados and olives were shown to boost testosterone.
Improving Your Sleep
Another thing your doctor may recommend to help improve your levels naturally is to make sure that you are getting enough sleep. Studies have shown that men who sleep less than five hours a night had a significantly decreased level of testosterone over those who got a full seven to nine hours of sleep. Improving your sleeping habits can help to improve your overall hormone levels.
Mitigating Stress
When you are stressed out, your adrenal glands put out cortisol. When cortisol is released, it decreases the amount of testosterone in your body. While it is not easy to minimize stress, you will need to do all that you can to avoid it.
Natural Supplements
There are therapy replacement medications that your physician may recommend, but you may want to try an all-natural approach. Consider trying these:
- Vitamin D. There have been studies that show that this vitamin can help to increase hormone levels and improve sexual function.
- Magnesium. Magnesium is crucial in muscle function and bone structure. Studies have shown that it can help with low-T.
- Zinc. Zinc can not only help to increase testosterone, it can also improve semen quality in men who suffer from fertility issues.
- Ashwagandha. This herb can help the body manage stress which can in turn help with low-T.
- Fenugreek. This all-natural therapy can help to boost the frequency of sexual activity, morning erections, and testosterone levels.
- DHEA. DHEA is a hormone that your adrenal glands naturally make. Taking a supplement is a great replacement for boosting testosterone levels.
- Fadogia Agrestis: Fadogia Agrestis extract's alkaloids can raise testosterone levels, thus improving sexual behavior. This is why it's well-known for having aphrodisiac effects.
Avoiding Excessive Alcohol
If you drink too much alcohol, this can negatively affect your testosterone. Moderate drinking is encouraged to help prevent heart disease and cancer. However, you do not want to overdo it because it can affect your hormone levels. You should drink only two drinks a day to help get the benefits without destroying your hormone levels.
Avoiding Endocrine Disruptors
There are endocrine disruptors that can negatively affect your hormone levels. These include BPA, which is commonly found in plastics, parabens, which are synthetic compounds that are found in lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, and more. These products act like synthetic estrogen, and the body thinks it is the real thing. It throws everything off in your body, causing a disruption of your hormone levels.
Check Out Your Prescription Medication
Your prescription medication treatment may be causing issues with your testosterone. For example, depression, reflux, and high blood pressure medications can all cause you to have issues in that department. If you think that your medication is responsible, speak with your doctor and see if they think this could be the case. They may be able to switch you to a different medication that will not disrupt your hormone levels.
Speak with a Testosterone Therapy Clinic
Now more than ever, access to clinics that specialize in finding a testosterone therapy physician in your area is easier than ever. Speak with your physician to see if testosterone therapy is right for you. If you have the symptoms of low-T, you will want to follow the treatment tips above so that you can naturally get your testosterone levels back to where they should be.
Reviewed by