8 Ways To Naturally Increase Your Testosterone

Just like any other hormone, testosterone is naturally affected by your lifestyle, and while there are ways to naturally increase testosterone, they do not involve a secret formula. Diet, nutrition, and good health are the most important factors to increase your testosterone naturally. Following are 8 things you can do to increase your levels of testosterone.

1. Get To A Healthy Weight

If you are overweight, you should lose the excess weight to increase your body’s testosterone production. Studies have shown that overweight people are more likely to have lower testosterone levels. Fat contains aromatase, which is an enzyme that changes testosterone into estrogen. This slows down the production of testosterone, which consequently increases the amount of fat that you accumulate. It is a vicious cycle that will not stop until the weight comes off.

“Losing weight not only reduces the risk of diabetic men progressing to diabetes but also appears to increase their body’s production of testosterone.” – Science Daily

2. Incorporate Resistance Exercise

If you want to stimulate your body’s production of testosterone, weightlifting is the best exercise you can do. Vigorous resistance sets off big bursts of testosterone. The trick is to keep cardio to a minimum and hit multiple muscle groups as you lift.

3. Incorporate High-Intensity Exercise

If you are jogging, you may want to switch to sprinting. While there are many benefits to sprinting, one of them is its positive effect on testosterone levels. In fact, high-intensity exercise has been shown to prevent testosterone decline as you age, as opposed to cardio or endurance exercise that has no effect on testosterone at all.

4. Get Enough Zinc In Your Diet

Supplementing your diet with zinc for six weeks has proven to cause improvement in testosterone levels, whereas a diet without zinc can decrease testosterone in the body. Foods high in zinc include oysters, beef, and lamb. However, for vegetarians or vegans, sources of zinc can come from wheat germ, spinach, pumpkin seeds, cashews, beans, mushrooms and cocoa.

5. Eliminate Sugar From Your Diet

It has been shown that testosterone levels decrease after eating sugar. This is likely due to the fact that sugar leads to a high insulin level, which is another reason that low testosterone can occur. Many people eat a high amount of sugar at every meal, which will continuously decrease levels of testosterone in the body. It is important to look for hidden sugar in your favorite foods and choose foods that contain small amounts of sugar or no sugar at all.

“Past research shows that a high level of insulin, the hormone primarily secreted after eating, is related to low testosterone levels.” – Endocrine Society

6. Don’t Eliminate Fat From Your Diet

Of course, having too much fat in your diet is bad, but it has been shown that people who eliminate fat from their diet completely experience a plummet in their testosterone levels. Studies have shown that people who consume the most amount of fat also have the highest testosterone levels. If you are on a low-fat diet, start eating monounsaturated fats, such as nuts and fish.

7. Reduce Stress

When you are stressed, you produce high levels of cortisol, which blocks the effects of testosterone. This is especially true if you are in a constant state of stress. Therefore, it is important to eliminate as much stress as possible at work and at home. Incorporate meditation, relaxation, and a positive mindset into your life in order to reduce cortisol and increase testosterone.

8. Get Your Sleep

Poor sleep can be a crucial factor in low testosterone. When there is a lack of sleep, many hormones in the body are affected, as well as chemicals. It is important to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. The good news is that a good night’s sleep can also help reduce stress, which helps to tackle two issues that affect testosterone at one time.