9 Testosterone Tuneups Without Using Steroids
Choosing healthier foods and changing into a simple lifestyle can help fight low T and it’s symptoms.
Testosterone has a major impact on maintaining man’s vitality and virility. It is only natural that the level of testosterone will be lowered by 1 percent after the age of 30. Loss of energy, decreased in sex drive, irritation or anger, and trouble sleeping are some of the signs that a man can feel when his testosterone is declining faster than the usual.
Nowadays, men in the United States are going for testosterone therapy and supplementation to
help them maintain their testosterone. While others are also trying drug-free and hormone-free ways
to maintain their testosterone.
The following are the 9 drug-free ways to help fight low T and it’s symptoms.
1. Avoid taking too much alcohol intake
According to Dr Jed Diamond, PhD, “Alcohol can convert testosterone to estrogen. A glass of wine with dinner is no problem, but overdrinking is not a good idea.” A 5-ounce glass of wine once or twice a day is the recommended alcohol intake.
2. Keep Lean
Dr Steven Masley, MD, of the Masley Optimal Health Center in St. Petersburg, Fla, said that “Every 10 pounds of body fat produces a noticeable bump in estrogen, and testosterone will drop as a result”. There are many health risks to consider if a man is overweight or obese. Some of them are cancer, heart disease, and increase the risk of low testosterone levels. According to research published in Diabetes Care in June 2010 that shows 40 percent of obese men had lower-than-testosterone reading while 50 percent of these men are with diabetes.
All of the health risks that are accompanied by obesity can lessen and will be prevented if a man will lose his weight. Weight loss can also be considered as a hormone-free way to combat low T. There is also a saying that “If you lose fat, testosterone goes up and estrogen goes down”.
3. Release some stress
Stress is also a factor wherein a man can suffer many ailments and according to Dr Diamond, “When our stress levels are up, our testosterone can get compromised”. There is also a study conducted at the University of Texas at Austin in 2010 suggests that the stress hormone cortisol may block one of testosterone’s effect.
There are ways to release or reduce stress level as well as helps you maintain your weight and one of them is regular exercise. Deep breathing is also another stress reduction technique as well as can serve as natural testosterone support.
4. Move it or lose it
Exercising plays a major role in boosting and maintaining your testosterone level and it also avoids the symptoms of low T. As Dr Masley said, “Interval training and exercises that build muscle mass allow more testosterone to be released from protein”. There is also a research in September 2011 by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research which shows that a 4-week training sprint-interval training program among the wrestlers helped boost testosterone levels.
5. Sleep as long as you can
Sleep-deprived men have a high risk of being stressed and may lead to lower levels of testosterone. There is a small study conducted at the University of Chicago School of Medicine shows that men who had less than 5 hours of sleep a night for one week had lower levels of testosterone than men who had a full night’s sleep. Dr Masley said that “Everyone’s sleep needs are different, but it’s important that you wake up feeling refreshed and don’t need an alarm clock to do it”.
6. Lessen the use of plastic bottles and the like
Many plastic water bottles, the lining of food and beverage can have chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and exposure to this chemical may result in low T. Masley said, BPA can act like the female hormone estrogen in the body, which means it can lower levels of testosterone. There is also a study in February 2011 issued by Fertility and Sterility shows that men who have a high BPA level have a decrease in their sperm count. The more flexible the plastic bottle is, the more likely it is to have BPA. Masley also said, “Don’t cook foods wrapped in plastic in the microwave, and try to drink from a glass or steel thermos”.
7. Get your zinc
Maintaining your zinc level to normal range helps you shove low T symptoms. There are many foods where you can get zinc. Shellfish, beef, and pork are some source of zinc and can provide natural testosterone support but Masley said that “this only helps if you are zinc-deficient”.
8. Have some fats in you
According to Masley, testosterone is made from cholesterol. There are many sources of cholesterol and some of them are unhealthy bad fats which you should avoid and some are from healthy fats found from avocado, nuts, and olive oil. Healthy fats help boost testosterone naturally but they don’t raise blood levels of artery-clogging cholesterol.
9. Lessen your sugar intake
Masley said, “Every time you eat sugar, testosterone is decreased, likely because the sugar causes a high insulin level”. He also said that avoiding sugar can be a healthy, drug-free way to help avoid low T.
