Testosterone is a male sex hormone that plays a role in sex drive, fertility, bone health and muscle health. As men age, their testosterone levels decrease however, particular lifestyle factors can speed this reduction process up quicker that naturally designed.
Some medical treatments can raise low testosterone levels, especially in younger men, but it is encouraged to do this the natural way. Making some changes to the diet and lifestyle will be a significant factor in this.
Things for men to consider when it comes to testosterone support..
Enough Daily Calories and Protein – Nutritional status has huge effect on testosterone levels. When males don’t eat enough to support their day to day lives, this will decrease their testosterone levels as our re-productive system is the first to go when we aren’t supporting ourselves with enough calories. If you’re feeling symptoms such as low sex drive, injury, loss of body hair, loss of lean muscle mass, fatigue and many more, it is recommended to reassess your caloric intake.
Over Exercising - This comes hand in hand with meeting calorie target and protein targets. When people over exercise, generally their body requires more food for fuel and recovery. When people over exercise and don’t fuel for this additional exercise, a relative energy deficiency can lead to a significant drop in testosterone. Monitor how you’re feeling and if you’re low in testosterone, reconsider the amount of exercise you partake in.
Ginger - The mechanisms through which ginger enhances testosterone production are mainly by increasing LH production, increasing the level of cholesterol in testes, reducing oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in the testes, enhancing the activity of certain antioxidant enzymes, normalizing blood glucose, enhancing nitric oxide production and increasing blood flow in Leydig cells, increasing testicular weight, and recycling testosterone receptors.
Sleep –During our REM sleep, the later part of a sleep cycle, testosterone production is at its peak. This is the stage of the sleep cycle imperative to the replenishment of the body. Poor sleep = poor testosterone production. A study has shown that participants showed at 10-15% decrease in testosterone from a week of sleep restriction. Sleep is very underrated by the general population but is by far, the number factor when it comes to health.
Tongat Ali - Long term stress can affect testosterone levels significantly. A study conducted in 2013 found that Tongkat Ali reduced levels of the stress hormone; cortisol, by 16% and increased testosterone levels by 37%. Test Pilot contains 150 mg of Tongkat Ali and many ingredients that aim to help support stress and natural testosterone levels.
There is still the need for growth in the research behind food and testosterone levels. It is important to note that most of the studies conducted regarding testosterone are done in animals.
