I’ve been writing about testosterone on this site for over a decade because testosterone is an important part of a man’s overall health and wellness. It helps with strength and muscle mass, strengthens your bones, improves your sexual health and boosts your mood.
You will find a lot of information out there on the web about how to increase your testosterone naturally. Cold showers, testosterone boosting supplements, even exposing your balls to red light.
But after talking to experts on the testosterone podcast and reading a ton of research on the subject, the bottom line I’ve come to is this: hormone health comes down to consistently doing the boring stuff.
Several years ago, I spoke with fitness trainer Vic Verdier on the podcast about how men can deal with the decline in vitality that can come with aging, including the natural decline in testosterone. His answer was to take care of the basics.
Vic uses an acronym he calls SEEDS to capture the basics of what you need to do to keep your T levels healthy. It represents sleep, exercise, environment, diet and stress.
Let’s talk about each of the testosterone enhancing ingredients in the SEEDS framework:
smallsleep
A large portion of daily testosterone production occurs during sleep. So if your sleep is constantly crappy, your testosterone drops. When researchers at the University of Chicago restricted young men to five hours of sleep a night for a week, their testosterone levels dropped 10-15%. Aim for 6.5 to 9 hours a night.
If you’re looking for ways to improve your sleep, check out these AoM articles and podcast episodes:
mexercise
Exercise helps increase testosterone by increasing muscle mass and reducing body fat. Carrying too much body fat is not good for T because body fat converts testosterone to estrogen. the less fat we store, the more T we have.
Two forms of exercise are particularly useful for increasing testosterone. The first is lifting heavy weights with compound lifts that target large muscle groups, such as the squat, deadlift, and shoulder press, and getting adequate rest between sets. The second is HIIT, or “High Intensity Interval Training,” which requires short, intense bursts of effort, followed by periods of less intense recovery.
But beyond prescribed exercise, Vic recommends simply staying active throughout the day. Your body isn’t designed to do 45 minutes of structured exercise while you’re parked in a chair for the other 15 hours you’re awake. Ride. Do yard work. Play with your kids. All these little “movement snacks” can keep your body running like a well-tuned machine, including the parts that manage hormones.
menvironment
Vic’s specific point here is about sunshine and vitamin D, which is closely related to testosterone production. If you spend most of your waking hours under fluorescent lights and only see the sun through your windshield on your commute, you’re probably falling short. So get out more. Have lunch in the sun. Make your phone calls in a breeze. If you live somewhere that gets dark for months during the winter, use a few tactics to get more sun during this cold and dreary season. It may be worth supplementing with vitamin D3. But actual sunlight on your skin is the goal.
In addition to helping with vitamin D production, getting outside can also help manage stress, which, as we’ll see in a second, is another important factor in hormone health.
Another factor to think about when it comes to your environment and healthy testosterone levels is making sure you’re not bathing in T-killing chemicals. Pesticides and industrial chemicals can lower testosterone (and can cause cancer), so definitely limit your exposure to these things. Wash produce thoroughly, eat/drink from glass or stainless steel containers when possible, and limit the use of products with heavy chemical fragrances or pesticides around the home.
You also want to reduce your exposure to xenoestrogens found in many consumer products. A xenoestrogen is a chemical that mimics estrogen in the human body. When men are exposed to too much of this estrogen-mimicking chemical, T levels can drop. The problem is that xenoestrogen is scary everywhere – plastics, shampoo, gasoline, cows, toothpaste. You can tell, and there’s a good chance there’s xenoestrogen in it. I wouldn’t spend a lot of mental bandwidth trying to buy products that are completely xenoestrogen free. Just don’t microwave your food in plastic containers and don’t lick your CVS receipts and you’ll probably be fine.
heythat is
You don’t need to go on special T-boosting diets like eating loads of Ron Swanson eggs or consuming three Brazil nuts before bed, because selenium will boost testosterone production while you sleep.
Just eat a balanced and varied diet. Get enough protein. Get enough carbs to fuel your workouts. Get a moderate amount of fat for hormone health. Research shows that about 20% to 40% of your calories should come from fat for healthy testosterone levels. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to get the micronutrients your body needs for hormones. If your diet is consistent, you probably won’t have reason to supplement.
Diet can also help with fat loss, which will help lower estrogen and increase T. For help with diet, check out these articles and podcast episodes:
smalltress
Cortisol and testosterone compete for resources in your body. When cortisol is constantly elevated from work, scrolling or a schedule that is too full, testosterone suffers. I think stress management is especially important for men in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are running hard and wondering why they feel exhausted. Vic’s recipe is to build a life with some margin. Give yourself some time to relax. Take up a hobby. Become a cinephile. Download the Headspace app and meditate if you need to. Better sleep will also help with stress, so make that a priority.
None of these are exotic interventions to boost T levels. They don’t require a lot of time or money or exposing your balls to red light. Do them consistently, and your hormonal health will be good.
But…
If you do all of this consistently and still have symptoms of low T (low energy, brain fog, decreased energy, low libido, low motivation), get your levels checked and talk to a doctor about whether testosterone replacement therapy makes sense. But make it the last option, not the first. Get the basics right and your body will usually handle the rest.
More Testosterone-Related AoM Podcast Episodes:
For more tips on maintaining your benefits as you age, listen to our entire podcast with Vic Verdier:
