Testosterone is the hormone that makes guys guys. If there is any doubt about that just look at where it comes from—your testicles. Those two testosterone factories pump your body full of the hormone responsible for hair growth, muscle mass, your sex drive, your sperm count, and also your happiness. But then, all of that starts to change. Guys start to lose their testosterone as they get older. Around 30, your testosterone levels begin to tank. That means you have a greater chance for sexual dysfunction, low energy, depression and unclear thinking. If you want to reverse the changes or slow them down, here are five ways to up your testosterone levels.
1. Intense Workouts
This kind of workout includes a warm up period of two to four minutes, followed by short, 30-second period of exercising as intensely as you can. Moving fast and hard, by the end of the 30 seconds you should be unable to do any more. Take about a minute and a half to rebound. Repeat this 30-second burst/90-second cool down another nine times.
2. Increase Your Vitamin D Levels
Vitamin D does a lot of good for a guy’s body, and boosting testosterone levels is just a part of it. These steroid hormones are crucial in the development of healthy sperm cells and sperm counts. The easiest way to get the vitamin D you need is to spend more time outdoors, since sunlight causes our bodies to produce vitamin D. If you can’t get out into the sun, a tanning bed will do. Your other option is to take a vitamin D supplement, but they probably aren’t strong enough to get your levels up as high as you want to see a bump in testosterone levels.
3. Stress Less
Your body under stress releases cortisol, which kills the effects of testosterone in your body. Cortisol is released when your body is trying to cope with bad situations. You’re effectively stuck in recursive loop of feeling shitty: if you can’t overcome the stress, you can’t get your testosterone levels up, and if you can’t get your testosterone levels up, you can’t start overcoming stress. You’re going to find some way to do it though, or your long term testosterone levels will drop to disastrous levels. Try meditation, or learning a martial art to cope. You’ll be getting exercise at the same time too.
4. Cut Out Sugar
Testosterone drops after you have anything with sugar in it. Sugar triggers your body’s insulin levels to spike and, like cortisol, that’s a testosterone killer. The flavor boost you get from sugar isn’t helping you keep your body or your brain. Sugar is addictive, releasing dopamine signals in the brain that encourage us to keep eating more sugar. Breaking this cycle means quitting added sugar, and restricting any foods that have high fructose levels. It isn’t easy, but if you combine this with increased exercise you will immediately start to feel better about yourself, without noticing the cravings. Before you know it, they will be gone.
