Review Overview
Simple, friendly advice
There are way too many men in the United States with Libido problems or trouble gaining muscle and losing fat. Much of this is due to the decline in the testosterone levels of men in the US since the 1930’s. Here’s a quick guide to the most effect how you raise your testosterone levels naturally.
Introduction
All of the items listed below are part of a greater whole. They all contribute to one another. If you think you can do just one or two of them and see a change, you’re kidding yourself. Poor testosterone levels are caused by multiple factors, Therefore it takes multiple factors to fix it.
Manage Your Stress
Plain and simple, if you’re under severe amounts of stress, your body cannot make enough testosterone. Both stress hormones (i.e cortisol) and sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, etc.) all come from the same “mother hormone” called pregnenolone. If your pregnenolone is mainly being used to make stress hormones, there will be little left for making testosterone.
Sadly, Americans are some of the most stressed out people on the planet. We fill our lives with unnecessary distractions, worries, and schedule in way too many activities. Here’s a quick list of ways to lower your stress levels:
- Schedule a do-nothing day. Whether you’re religious or not, the concept of a sabbath makes perfect sense. Working all the time isn’t beneficial, it just runs you down a prevents the necessary amount of recovery needed to get your stress levels under control
- Remind yourself daily that you cannot control what other people do, only what you do and how you respond to them. This alone can reduce a great amount of stress since you’re no longer worrying about getting other people to do what you want, you can concentrate on your own reactions which are much easier to control.
- Reduce unnecessary obligations. Do you need to be a part of every club and organization in town? No. All that does is add to the ridiculous amount of stuff you probably need to accomplish in a day.
- Consult a Functional Medicine Doctor or Naturopathic Physician about taking adaptogens to lower your stress levels if they’re not coming down. Things like Rhodiola Rosea, Licorice Root, Andrographis, Holy Basil, and Panax Ginseng all have promising studies showing their effects on reducing stress levels.
Get Enough Sleep
8 Hours a night of sleep should be the minimum. Testosterone is a hormone that’s controlled by you sleep/wake cycle. When you don’t get enough sleep your body essentially goes into “emergency mode.” A lack of sleep will immediately cause an increase in stress hormones. As mentioned above, if your body is making excess stress hormones, it can’t be making enough testosterone. Sure you can mask your fatigue with caffeine, but your body is already starting it’s day on empty, and this will often make things even worse by causing your adrenal glands to become over-worked. You’ll often see people who drink tons of caffeine who can’t seem to wake up in the morning but are full of energy at night. They’ve ruined their sleep/wake cycle.
Get Quality Sleep
It’s not enough to just get a good 8 hours, you’ve got make sure that it’s quality sleep. If you’re waking multiple times a night, then once again, your body is going to increase the amount of stress hormones that you produce. And of course, once again, that will lead to lower testosterone levels.
Here is a quick guide to making sure your sleep is quality sleep:
- Stop exposing yourself to bright lights for 15min before bed. That means, TVs, Computer Screens, Cell phone’s etc.
- Make sure that the area where you sleep is entirely blacked out. Get thick shades, curtains, or even an eye pillow if you have to. There should be no visible light including street lights, moonlight, clocks, blinking computer lights, computer screens etc.
- Make sure you can’t hear any noise. If you live in the city, get a high quality pair of ear plugs. You may have to try multiple brands before you find one that fits, but it’s well worth it.
Get Regular Sleep
Once again, testosterone is a hormone that’s dictated by your sleep/wake cycle. If you go to bed and wake up at different times, your body will not be producing optimal amounts of testosterone. Your body needs a regular schedule of sleep in order to get an optimal release of testosterone at the same time each day. This is the most difficult thing for guys to get used to, but it will pay off big time.
Stop eating Garbage
You need basic building blocks for your body to even start producing testosterone to begin with. If you’ve been eating nothing but pizza, ice cream, and french fries, you’ve probably got the testosterone levels of a 4 year-old school girl. You need quality animal-based proteins and vegetables to make sure you’re getting enough vitamins and minerals for optimal production. A multivitamin won’t do it alone. Vitamins Approved By Dr. Clarke (The ND For Vitamin Agent.com and minerals absorb best when there are supporting nutrients available to aid in their absorption (i.e like with real food). If basic elements like zinc are missing from your diet, your body simply won’t make enough testosterone. Dark meats like grass-fed beef and bison (American buffalo) are great sources of zinc.
Source by Jonathan McSweet