This article was medically reviewed by Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a social psychologist, researcher and award-winning educator. For more information:
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It’s a common concern for many men, especially as they age – as testosterone levels level off and begin to decrease, what can we do to keep them at their peak levels? The answers are actually easier than you think, so read on for various ways to naturally maintain and even maybe increase your T-levels.
Ways To Boost Testosterone Naturally
For men, testosterone is a very important hormone that affects all of the things that – arguably – make one “manly”, such as libido, muscle mass, and bone density, just to name a few. A man’s levels of testosterone don’t stay constant throughout his life, and, perhaps unavoidably, will decrease to some extent with age. Around the age of 40, testosterone will start to decline by a rate of around 1% per year on average.
With such a small and gradual decline, most healthy men will retain testosterone levels within the normal range well into older age. However, if you experience a larger than normal hormone decrease or are concerned about your testosterone levels, there may be things you can do to boost them or slow future declines.
Basically, the ways in which you can support your natural testosterone levels are the same ways that you work to maintain a healthier sex life and general lifestyle: through diet, exercise and getting enough sleep.
If you’re not doing these things now, then embarking on a healthier lifestyle can help to boost your T-levels. If you are currently doing all of the things described in this article, it will help to support your levels of testosterone through all stages of male adulthood.
What the research shows is that even more so than age, it’s your overall health that matters in terms of testosterone. The more that you can maintain your health as you age, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to prevent a drop in T-levels.
First of all, though, let’s describe specifically what testosterone is and what it does. When you’re young, testosterone floods your system during puberty to support developments like deepening your voice, growing your penis and testicles to their adult sizes, as well as increasing your height, muscle mass, and sex drive. Following puberty, testosterone continues to regulate your libido, and a decrease in it can cause weight gain, loss of muscle mass, and erectile dysfunction.
To make sure that your T-levels don’t start to dip more than they naturally do, there are some things you can do to keep your testosterone pumping away as it should, like:
Getting enough sleep.
I hear you saying it – “What? That’s it?” but before you close the tab, ask yourself: are you getting enough sleep? And even then, is the sleep you are getting quality sleep?
Getting your full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep has so many benefits for your overall health; what’s more, your body produces most of its testosterone while you’re catching those ZZZs. During times when you’re not getting enough sleep or are constantly waking up and interrupting your sleep, you may experience a dip in your testosterone.
Treating yourself right, with a better diet and less alcohol.
Drinking to excess can cause your blood testosterone levels to decrease. Research shows that alcohol consumption, especially in large doses, tends to mess with hormone production. It therefore stands to reason that lowering your alcohol intake will be better for your testosterone production, because it is better for your health overall.
Likewise, rethinking your eating habits may help to maintain your T-levels, as studies have previously shown that obese people are likely to have lower testosterone levels than those who are in better physical shape. In fact, excess body fat can convert testosterone into estrogen.
According to the experts, the testosterone-supporting foods you should focus on are whole foods, lean protein, complex carbohydrates and heart-healthy fats like those found in the Mediterranean Diet.
Speaking of diet, there are a number of natural supplements you can take to encourage testosterone production, and are readily available over-the-counter at your local pharmacy or wholesalers like Costco. These include:
- Zinc, which benefits the hormone that helps in your body’s creation of testosterone.
- Magnesium, which not only promotes bone density, it is an antioxidant that will protect testosterone from oxidizing effects.
- Ashwagandha is a supplement that won’t decrease one’s stress, but rather will help to protect your body from the effects of it. Because increased stress can decrease one’s testosterone and start a chain of events that can decrease it even further, diminishing the effects of stress on one’s body (as well as facing and handling the sources of one’s stress) can go a long way in maintaining your own levels of testosterone.
However, a word of caution with dietary supplements: more isn’t always better! If you’re already getting the daily recommended doses of things like zinc and magnesium, taking more won’t necessarily offer benefits and, instead, could actually cause health problems and side effects. It’s best to talk to your healthcare provider before starting supplements to determine whether you’re actually likely to benefit from them and to avoid potential medication interactions.
With all of that said, if you are dealing with clinically low testosterone or have concerns about your T-levels, the best course of action is always to consult with your doctor because there may be underlying health issues in need of treatment and, in some cases, direct testosterone supplementation may be just what the doctor ordered.