Worried you might have low testosterone? Or want to know what you can do to improve it without TRT? We asked an expert for five simple steps to help you get back to feeling like yourself
Warning: Please note, this article contains some references to suicide.
It’s so easy to get worried about low testosterone when it’s such a taboo subject that people project shame onto. The reality is that it’s got nothing to do with how ‘manly’ you are – and the likelihood is that your levels are not too low.
In fact, despite what many people think, it’s not a good thing to have high levels of testosterone. The level should just be balanced for your body to be functioning properly and operating as its best self – not high, as many online companies trying to sell you TRT or other drugs would have you believe.
“Men sometimes want to be high, but they do not do well high, and paradoxically, normal is normal,” says the Medical Director of the The Men’s Health Clinic, Dr Stevens. He specialises in diagnosing testosterone deficiency and treating men with TRT – if it’s clinically needed.
“Testosterone is a misunderstood hormone,” he says. “It has got that negative association with performance enhancement and heightened ‘alphaness’ and that’s utter nonsense! When testosterone is right, your body is in balance,” he says.
What is testosterone and why is it so important?
“Fundamentally testosterone normalises physiology, and physiology is how your body functions,” explains Stevens. “Testosterone is your primary male sex hormone, but actually that does it a disservice,” he says.
“It’s actually your primary male anabolic hormone, and essentially what that means, is that it’s necessary for growth and repair. You’re repairing from the day to prepare for tomorrow.” It has nothing to do with your masculinity – or how capable you are.
What are the signs of low testosterone?
Your testosterone could be somewhat lower than needed if you find yourself relating to some of these symptoms. “Low mood is number one with a bit of anxiety and irritability,” says Dr Stevens. “Number two is fatigue and low energy, number three is brain fog – a lot of guys have a fogginess in their thought processes and a loss of mental clarity. You would normally think libido would be the primary presenting symptom, but it’s actually probably the fourth most common symptom.”
It’s important to note that these symptoms can also be symptoms of other illnesses, so if you’re worried you should speak to your doctor and get a blood test done. Stevens says that you need to establish whether treatment is actually medically needed, and that you’ve made lifestyle adjustments first before considering anything else.
How can I increase my testosterone levels?
There are many things that you can do in your everyday life without the use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) to improve your testosterone levels. These are worth working on before considering any treatment.
- Lifestyle:
“The absolute most important thing is to get a good night’s sleep,” says Dr Stevens. “Testosterone is an anabolic hormone, so it’s involved in growth and repair from catabolic activity in the daytime. Your anabolic process predominantly happens at nighttime so if you can get a good 7-8 hours of sleep, that is your number one best tool.”
- Stress reduction
“We live in a high stress society,” explains Dr Stevens. “We’re physical beings and we’re subjected to an abnormal level of psychological stress, so we’re cortisol dominant.” Where testosterone is an anabolic hormone, cortisol is a catabolic hormone, says Stevens. “So if you’re in a high stress state, that means that you’re essentially lowering your testosterone because it can’t keep up.”
- Nutrition
According to Stevens, “you can have problems with testosterone if you’re underweight or overweight – in an inflammatory state or in a stress state”. “The best thing to do from a dietary perspective is have a low carb, high fat diet because your fats are super important.” He also recommends a well balanced whole foods diet, which includes plenty of micronutrients with Omega 3, Vitamin D3, Zinc and creatinine alongside intermittent fasting.
- Exercise
“If you’ve got clinically low testosterone levels, you can’t out-exercise that,” says Dr Stevens, who’d recommend getting extensive blood tests done to find out where you’re at. “However, if you’re on the borderline, engaging in resistance training and high intensity interval training are the two main physical ways of improving testosterone levels. HIT and resistance exercise stimulate recovery and repair, so you can do a short burst of that to force that process. That’s going to help normalise your testosterone level because you’re spiking cortisol to spike the increase in testosterone.”
He also advises caution when it comes to stamina based training. “If you’re an endurance athlete and you’re in an overly predominant catabolic state and doing a 4 hour race, that, long-term is not gonna be good for that balance of testosterone to cortisol ratio. It’s almost overexercise, which isn’t allowing the capacity for the contrasting process which is anabolism.”
- Mindset
“Mindset is really important,” says Dr Stevens. “Testosterone has a massive impact on mental health, and we’re obviously very passionate about that, with 3/4 of all suicides being in men. It has a very close relationship with a neurotransmitter called dopamine, which is the reward neurotransmitter,” he explains. “You should be doing the things that you need to do versus what you want to do.”
What to do if you’re worried about low testosterone?
“The first thing is to get some quantitative markers, so get a comprehensive blood screen,” says Stevens. “Get that screen from a doctor-led clinic, not an online TRT clinic that is just dishing out TRT like Smarties. You need to be speaking to somebody that knows what they’re talking about, not a salesperson that wants to sell you testosterone.”
“There are lots of online TRT companies out there now, and they’re very keen to put you on TRT and not showing due diligence and making sure that it’s actually in your best interest,” warns Dr Stevens.
“After you’ve spoken to a doctor, do everything that you can do to not need TRT” says Steven suggesting that you try to make the aforementioned adjustments to your diet and lifestyle before considering therapy or supplementation. If you’re still concerned, Stevens then recommends getting a second test to see what changes have been made. “Only then, if you clinically need testosterone replacement therapy, then it can be utterly life changing – and lifesaving as well.”
