People often have misconceptions about testosterone. There are some individuals that simply connect it with the aggressive behavior in people, others consider the more testosterone in a man the more masculine it is!!!
However, as a fact it is found that testosterone is a hormone present in human body. It is basically considered as an exclusive male hormone. There are a lot of males that try different ways to increase their levels of testosterone.
Fortunately, there are some effective and easy ways to boost the testosterone levels in the body.
As the levels of testosterone in a man decreases there are a lot of changes or symptoms that it experiences:-
- Decrease in energy levels.
- Weight gain.
- Lower sex drive.
- Stress, etc.
This can often be problematic, especially when you want to live a healthy lifestyle. However, it is not a big issue, if you know the right ways to boost your testosterone levels.
First, you need to find out the levels of your testosterone, by doing a medical test and if you find that the hormone levels are low then you can look for ways that can help you increase the levels of testosterone.
Here are the 12 best ways to boost your testosterone levels:-
1. Exercising
We do know for a fact that if we do physical exercises regularly, there are several diseases that can be prevented, which might happen to individuals that are not physically active. Along with this, it is also found to boost the testosterone levels as well.
There are studies that prove individuals that did physical exercises regularly had higher testosterone levels, compared to the ones that were not very physically active or led a sedentary lifestyle. (1)
Now by exercising it doesn’t mean doing any exercise, but you should focus on exercises that impact on multi-joint movements. Squats, deadlifts, bench presses and pull ups can be truly helpful.
2. Heavy weight lifting
Weight lifting is likely the best way to increase your testosterone levels at a rapid rate. Resistance training with increased weights is considered to be very helpful in increasing the testosterone levels for both short-term and long-term purposes.
Here the repetitions are not important, but having a short session with heavy weights shall boost the testosterone levels to maximum.
You can also combine your weight lifting exercises with HIIT or High Intensity Interval training. Having intense training sessions, paying more attention on the intensity and keeping the sessions short for less than an hour is found to be very effective.
Also remember that you must not do intense training or workouts for more than 3 or 4 times a week. It might lead to fatigue and might also cause a decrease in the testosterone levels.
3. Focus on reducing stress levels and cortisol levels as well
The testosterone levels in our body are highly influenced by how stressed we are.
Do understand if you are dealing with stress then you are more likely to increase the levels of cortisols in your body.
As the cortisol levels (otherwise known as stress hormone) increase the testosterone levels in your body start decreasing. (2)
Thus, it becomes important that you reduce the amount of stress you have in your life.
Doing regular exercises, eating good food, having proper rest and laughing can be a good way of reducing stress. This shall further reduce the cortisol levels and boost your testosterone levels simultaneously.
4. Eating healthy diet (Keep a check on Protein, carbs and fats)
Of course our body responses to what we eat and it turns out to react accordingly!!!
The testosterone levels in your body too are affected by what you eat. Whether you look to go under a starving diet or you start overeating, it is going to impact negatively to your testosterone levels. It reduces the testosterone production in your body. (3)
Therefore, it becomes important that you focus on having a balanced diet that consists of enough proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
Protein- It helps the body to build muscles, blood, bones and skins as well. Protein also plays an important role in building hormones in the body, one such hormone is testosterone. (4)
Carbohydrates- During exercises, the carbohydrate content in your body helps you to maintain the level of testosterone in your body.
Fats- Fats too help in the production of testosterone. Thus, consuming good fats too becomes very important.
Having a diet containing of whole foods that provide you with proteins, carbs and fats shall help you to lead a healthy life and also support your body at the hormonal levels.
5. Getting some Sun daily (or a Vitamin D alternative)
The use of Vitamin D has been increased in the recent years, not only because of the number of health benefits and additional advantages it provides.
But, it also acts as a booster for the testosterone levels in the body.
Studies do suggest that individuals that had a Vitamin D3 (3000 IU) supplement daily were found with an increase of 25% of their testosterone levels. (5)
Now, in order to get more Vitamin D in your body, it is essential that you spend at least 15 minutes of your time under the SUN daily. If this becomes difficult for you, then you can look for the Vitamin D3 supplements, but make sure you get at least 3000 IU daily.
6. Getting proper sleep or Resting well
It does become very important to have a good sleep in order to ensure you have healthy levels of testosterone in your body.
Of course the duration of sleep per person shall differ from one individual to another.
According to a research, it is found that people that slept for 5 hours a day, showed reduction in the levels of testosterone by 15%. (6) Further, people that slept for four hours a day were found to suffer from testosterone deficit.
Therefore, it becomes very important that you sleep for at least 8-10 hours per night. This shall not only ensure long term health benefits but also boost your testosterone levels.
7. Using Mineral Supplements
Another effective way to improve the testosterone levels in your body is consuming certain type of mineral supplements.
Likewise, consuming Magnesium supplements can help you to increase the levels of testosterone, if the fall was caused due to the lack of Magnesium. Similarly, it is also found that lower concentration of Zinc in the body also leads to lower levels of testosterone.
Studies suggest that consuming Zinc supplements for only 1 month helped individuals to deal with testosterone deficit. (7)
Apart from supplements you can also look for natural ways of getting the mineral, such as whole grains or green leafy vegetables can be consumed for Magnesium and seeds of flax and pumpkins can be consumed for Zinc.
8. Natural testosterone Boosters
You also have the option of consuming natural testosterone boosters i.e. herbs and spices, to increase the testosterone levels.
Ashwagandha and Ginger are the most preferred natural testosterone boosters.
It is found that consuming Ashwagandha regularly for 90 days, helped to boost the testosterone levels by 17% and the sperm count by around 167%. (8)
Additionally, Ashwagandha also helps in lowering the cortisol (the stress hormones) levels by an estimated 25%, which directly helps in boosting the levels of testosterone.
Similarly, Ginger too helps you to boost your testosterone levels, along with this it also helps to increase other sexual hormones too.
9. Reduce estrogen levels
Increase in estrogen (or similar chemicals) levels, affects the levels of testosterone negatively.
Although the estrogen is an important compound in the male body, it becomes important to maintain a balance between the testosterone and estrogen levels.
The best way to avoid increasing the estrogen levels is keeping away from plastics or products that contain estrogen like chemicals in them such as products made from parabeans or BPA. (9)
It is recommended that one must not eat or drink in plastic products, especially when it is heated to avoid gaining estrogen and other similar compounds that act as hormone disruptor and/or compete for the same receptors as testosterone.
10. Leading a healthy lifestyle
Living a healthy lifestyle is considered as one of the most important factors to have good testosterone levels.
Having a good sex life too, is very important to maintain healthy levels of testosterone in your body. Moreover, it also helps to boost the testosterone levels.
Also, one must avoid consuming alcohol or any kind of drugs. They are neither recommended for overall well-being of an individual nor do they have any positive impacts on the testosterone levels as well.
11. Review your medications
People are often prescribed for medicines, when they are dealing with particular health conditions and it helps them to get rid of it.
However, it is also found that medications also lead to reduction in the levels of testosterone in the body.
Studies done by BMC medicine do suggest that medicines that reduced the cholesterol levels in the body, officially also affected the testosterone levels, by reducing it. (10)
Therefore, in case you feel that the decrease in your testosterone levels were caused due to certain prescribed medications, then you must ask your doctor to review it.
12. Lose weight
There have been several studies made regarding this and it is found that there is a relationship between how much a person weighs and its levels of testosterone.
For an instance, individuals that are on the heavier side are known to have lower testosterone levels.
Moreover, further studies also suggests that overweight males that aged between 14-20 have almost 50% less testosterone levels as compared to males that do not have excess weight. (11)
Conclusion
Above mentioned are the 12 best ways to boost your testosterone levels. Apart from this, if you are really finding it difficult to deal with such hormonal imbalances, including lower testosterones, higher estrogen, low muscle mass, decrease in libido, you can also refer to testosterone supplements.
Keep in mind, right diet, proper training, enough rest or sleep and right supplements, is the right key for you to boost the levels of testosterone.
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