It was about time I make this article. After hundreds of specific posts about what affects your natural testosterone production and hormonal health, I had yet to compile it all into one easily accessible article that covered all the basics. The goal of this article is to get you closer to knowing most of what you need to know in order to optimize your natural testosterone production. It links out to hundreds of other more specific posts about various topics discussed, while it also references hundreds of different studies. A big resource sort of.
Primer: Testosterone is the principal male sex hormone, responsible of most of the male characteristics. Your body produces it when the hypothalamus in your brain sends out bursts of something called GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone), which then travels to the other brain gland called pituitary gland, where the GnRH stimulates the release of two hormones called follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), these are the gonadotropins. The gonadotropins (LH and FSH) then make their way down to the testicles via your spine, and once they reach their destination FSH stimulates sperm production, whereas LH stimulates the testicular leydig cells to produce testosterone from a well known precursor; cholesterol. After the testosterone is made and done, it travels around in your bloodstream. Some of it remains bio-available in circulation as free-testosterone, some of it make its way into its target receptors around the body (androgen receptors), while some of it gets bound and rendered partially inactive by two carrier proteins called albumin and SHBG. Small parts of your available testosterone will also metabolize to estrogen (the principal female hormone) via an enzyme called aromatase and dihydrotestosterone or DHT (more potent male hormone) via an enzyme called 5-a reductase. All of the moving pieces that affect this synthesis, can be affected naturally by training, nutrition, lifestyle, and supplementation.
I’m sure you have seen the endless list of the benefits of optimal testosterone levels, which include (but are not limited to):
increased ability to build lean mass
improved rate of lipolysis, aka. fat loss
improved mood, confidence, and motivation
better erections, libido, and sexual performance
increased desire for success, dominance, and power
stronger bones, improved cardiovascular health
increased body and facial hair growth…
…Since testosterone is literally the hormone that makes man a man, it’s safe to expect increased manly qualities in nearly every area of your life after increased testosterone levels. Not everything is controlled by testosterone obviously, but if you start looking at the studies, it’s pretty clear that from womb to tomb, this one hormone determines A LOT in a guy.
The guide is broken into 4 big sections; lifestyle, nutrition, training, and supplementation. The four sections hide inside multiple topics from sleep, to macronutrient splits, to testicular health, all the way into neuromuscular training, hypoxia, sleep, sex, walking…
…So, let’s get to it:
1. Sleep Deep and Sleep a Lot
Whether you choose to sleep four hours or eight hours, can mean a difference similar to night and day in your T production.
Partial sleep restriction lasting one-week (5h/night) in a laboratory setting has been shown to decrease overall 24-hour testosterone levels in healthy young men by ~15%.
On a study by Penev et al. the men who slept for ~4 hours had an average of 200-300 ng/dL testosterone levels in serum, whereas the guys who slept for ~8 hours had levels closer to 500-700 ng/dL.
A study from Gov et al. showed similar results. On 531 Chinese men, increased sleep time was highly correlated with higher total and -free testosterone levels. The researchers also calculated that each extra hour of sleep led to about 15% more testosterone.
2. Be Lean and Have Some Muscle Mass
You definitely don’t have to be light to increase your testosterone levels naturally, but you should be LEAN.
More specifically, your body fat percentage should be relatively low (something between 8-14%), if your goal is to get more T oozing through your veins.
Generally speaking – though there are some rare exceptions – the higher the fat percentage, the lower the testosterone (study, study, study, study). So in retrospect, the leaner you are, the more likely you are to have more testosterone rushing in your bloodstream. Increased amount of muscle mass also positively correlates with serum testosterone levels, so if you burn the fat and build the muscle, you’ll not only look shredded, but you can improve your hormonal health too.
Why being fat often leads to low testosterone levels? The full answer is likely much more complex than this, but what we do know is that increased fat-mass leads to increased aromatase enzyme activity, which in turn leads to more testosterone being converted to estrogen. Also, increased oxidative stress, metabolic syndrome, and poor insulin-sensitivity are some other major-players in obesity related low-T.
Good news are that you can easily increase testosterone levels just by losing weight, in particular losing the fat-mass, not muscle. Though it’s worth mentioning that there is a limit to your leanness where it start to negatively impact testosterone production; going below ~8% body fat starts to decrease thyroid activity, and because of that you’ll eventually have to start cutting your caloric intake too much, and both of those things will start zapping the life out of your androgens.
NOTE: The weight-loss industry is chock-full of some major league bullshit. This guide should help you in getting to know everything there is to know about losing fat in a sane muscle-preserving way.
3. Stress Less
More easily said than done huh? Well it doesn’t change the fact that stress more or less kills testosterone levels.
This happens because chronic stress results in chronically elevated cortisol levels – and cortisol being the body’s principal stress hormone – is a catabolic hormone that among many other things; suppresses testosterone levels.
…No don’t get me wrong here, we all need some cortisol. It gets us up in the morning and allows us as a species to walk with 2 feet, and without cortisol any kind of minor trauma would instantly bring you into full shock and kill you…
…However, if you are under physical or physiological stress that constantly “haunts” you, it’s likely that your cortisol levels are constantly high thorough the day.
That’s not good, since cortisol not only breaks down your muscle mass and causes oxidative damage in the body, but it’s also made from the same “raw material” (pregnenolone) as testosterone is, and high levels of cortisol can literally destroy your free testosterone molecules locally inside testicles and in the bloodstream. I’ve touched this subject before in here and here.
4. Lower your Endocrine Disruptor Exposure
The definition of endocrine disruptor is as follows; “Synthetic chemicals or natural substances that may alter the endocrine system (consisting of glands, hormones, and cellular receptors that control a body’s internal functions) and may cause developmental or reproductive disorders.”
Compounds that act as endocrine disruptors in the body are used generously in modern personal care items, plastics, preservatives, pesticides, and many many other appliances.
Out of the millions of chemicals used, most are relatively harmless. However there are some compounds that have been proven to disrupt hormone production and functions in the body.
these include (but are not limited to);
Bisphenol A (BPA) which is a monomer used heavily in plastics and epoxy resins. Since BPA has a ‘hardening’ effect on plastics, its used generously in many industries,making BPA one of the most produced chemicals in the world. It also has hormone-like properties in the body and has been linked multiple times to low-testosterone and erectile dysfunction (study, study, study).
Parabens (methyl-, butyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, heptyl-, etc) which are preservatives used in nearly all kinds of cosmetics, such as; sun lotions, moisturizers, personal-lubricants, shampoos, shaving gels, toothpaste, and even as food additives. They’re classified as xenoestrogens, and can have a weak affinity to estrogen receptors in the body.
Phthalates which are commonly used to make plastics more flexible, but they are also used as stabilizers and emulsifying agents in many personal care items. Increased urinary phthlate traces have been strongly correlated with decreased testosterone in men, women, and children.
Benzophenones (BP-1, BP-2, BP-3…) which are permeability enhancing UV-stabilizers are used in a wide range of personal care items, but most commonly in sunscreens. Concerns have been raised of their effect in reducing the activity of enzymes needed in testosterone production. This has been studied for BP-1, BP-2, and BP-3.
Triclosan and Triclocarban, both of which are antibacterial agents found in many antibacterial soaps, lotions, hand sanitizers, etc. Not only are they highly ineffective at reducing bacteria, they also have direct mechanism in lowering testicular testosterone production.
How to reduce the exposure then? Well, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid all exposure in the modern World, but you can slash your exposure significantly by using a tap water filter, drinking from steel or glass cups and bottles, using natural personal-care items, and eating less canned foods. Grocery store receipts are also coated with BPA, so better not fiddle around with them too much.
5. Spark Up Your Sex Life
Admittedly one of the most satisfying ways to increase testosterone levels naturally is; sexual activity.
It’s not fully understood why this happens, but many studies have theorized that its an interplay with dominance, feeling of power, feeling of success, pheromones, dopamine, and interpersonal touch. For this reason it’s also likely that sex with an actual human instead of the palm of ones hand,would be a much better way to boost T.
Is there any research on increased sexual activity and testosterone levels? You bet there is.
A study of 44 men visiting a sex club actually showed that the guys who went there only to watch other people have sex, had an average increase of 11% in their testosterone levels, whereas the guys who went and actually had sex there noted an average increase of 72%. It’s also seen in couples that on the nights that there is “sexual activity”, testosterone levels are significantly higher than on the nights that they don’t have sex. One of the many findings in the Baltimore Longitudal Study on Aging was that in men over 60-years of age, those with higher level of sexual activity had significantly greater serum testosterone levels.
Much has been theorized about ejaculations and testosterone, and there seems to be this common misbelief that busting a nut would “drain” the body from testosterone (which fortunately isn’t the case). I recently wrote a more detailed article about the subject which can be found here.
6. Know the Side-Effects of Prescription Drugs
Healthcare is a business. A big business.
Chances are that if you visit a doctor – even without any known health issues – you’ll probably end up leaving with a prescription to some medication.
Therefore its not a coincidence – nor a surprise – to see that the largest pharmaceutical companies are raking in hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
In many cases, prescription drugs can prove to be vitally important to the patient. However, it’s also worth noting that in order for the pharmaceutical companies to make money – people have to be sick – and for some reason we are only treating the symptoms with more and more pills instead of actually focusing on the cause of the illness.
Though at the end of the day, your health is your own personal responsibility. Not the doctors. Not the governments. Yours.
With that being said, here’s some studies about prescription drugs that have side-effect of lowering testosterone levels (what ever you might do with this info is your decision);
Corticosteroids
Opiate-based painkillers
Some beta-blockers and tranquilizers
A type-2 diabetes drug called Sylfonylurea
A blood pressure drug called Spironolactone
Acid reducers such as; Tagamet, Cidemetidine, etc
Hair-loss drugs such as Finasteride and Dutasteride
Statins and other drugs that interfere with cholesterol synthesis
Some anti-fungal drugs, such as the commonly used ketoconazole
Many SSRIs (anti-depressants) are notorious for causing low sex-drive and also low-T
7. TestShock Program
Writing about natural testosterone optimization has been my job now for the past few years. Reading, learning, and researching info on hormones has been something I’ve done for ever since I was 15…
…As you can imagine, I have seen, read, bought, or sometimes straight up ignored hundreds of ‘T-boosting’ e-books, physical books, supplements, courses & programs, and even coaching. I get pitched some testosterone related products on a daily basis, since this site is currently the most visited ‘natural testosterone resource’, everyone wants their piece of the pie and their product to shine on the sidebar.
The problem is that I don’t want to promote bullshit in here, and that is exactly what 95% of the natural testosterone optimization programs and supplements are.
Not TestShock though. The moment I had read the first few pages of the book I knew that this was something different, something that aligns with the actual scientific evidence, and something that might truly be the ‘complete A-Z guide for natural testosterone optimization’.
Now I don’t want to over-hype the program, but if you like to read articles like the one you’re reading now, and you’re interested in natural T-enhancement, then you’re going to love all the 262-pages of Christopher Walker’s TestShock program.
8. Take a Look at Your Posture
According to an interesting study done by Cuddy et al. in Harvard University, your body language as well as postural changes can almost immediately impact your stress and steroid hormones.
In their research, the scientists wanted to know what happens to the bodily hormones when the subjects do either a set of ‘high-power poses’ (taking up more space, standing tall, hands on hips, dominant alpha stuff, etc) or ‘low-power poses’ (contractive behavior, closed limbs, taking less space, general insecure positions, etc).
Surprisingly, only in 2-minutes power-posing led to 20% increase in salivary testosterone levels, and -25% decrease in the stress hormone; cortisol. On the contrary, low-power posing led to a drop in T with accompanied rise in cortisol.
Here’s Cuddy herself talking about the topic and the study:
9. Money, Success, and Competition
I’m a big believer in the fact that making lots of honest money equals – at least in some form – happiness.
Not necessarily the fact that you can see the numbers in your bank account, but the fact that money (at least if you make it in your own terms) often equals total freedom.
Money also equals success in many fields, and can be a form of competition, or at least if not competitive, it generates the feeling that you’re “winning in life”.
Simply put, money is testosterone.
This study of young future-traders is a great example. In it, the traders noted higher testosterone levels on the days that they made above average profits. One young gun in the study ended up on a 6-day money streak and had 78% higher T-levels in serum as a result.
The results were likely caused by the fact that winning and success in almost any form of competition are both heavily correlated with increased testosterone levels (study, study, study, study), and what does a big pay day make you feel like? Winning of course. It doesn’t necessarily have to be money that generates the feeling of success. It can be sports, even watching sports, simply getting a list of tasks done, etc. Whatever makes you get the “genuine” feeling of being the boss and dominating your pursuits.
10. Testicular Health
Roughly 95% of the testosterone in your body is produced inside the leydig cells of the testicles…
…Because of this, it’s quite obvious that optimal testicular health and circulation would need to be one of the top priorities for all men.
For optimal testicular function, your balls actually need to be a tad bit cooler than the rest of the body, hence why they hang in a pouch outside of it. Because of this, sleeping naked, wearing loose boxers, and taking frequent cold showers can have a positive impact on your testosterone production.
Roughly 15-20% of men also develop a condition called “varicocele“, which is a thrombosis or “blockage” of some of the veins that lead to the gonads. Since varicoceles inhibit the normal blood flow to the leydig cells, they also inhibit the transportation of LH to its target, which causes your body to produce inadequate amounts of T. This is seen in many studies; men with varicoceles have significantly lower testosterone levels than control subjects, and when the blockage(s) are surgically removed, testosterone levels tend to increase significantly.
I guess some sort of testicular massage might also help in T production, though there isn’t (understandably) any research on that <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f600.png" alt="