10 Things You Can Do to Raise Testosterone Right Now
Most of us are impatient, so here are 10 Things You Can Do to Raise Testosterone Right Now.
1. Get 7-9 Hours of Good Sleep
Research shows that both the quality and quantity of sleep you get drastically affect testosterone levels.
One study showed that sleeping only 5 hours a night for a week decreased T levels by 15%.
In a different study the men who slept about 4 hours a night had an average of 200-300 ng/dL testosterone levels, whereas the guys who slept for about 8 hours had levels closer to 500-700 ng/dL.
How much you sleep is important but sleep quality matters a lot as well. Ideally would sleep in your bed, in a dark, quiet and cool room.
Falling asleep in front of your computer on the couch doesn’t count as quality rest time.
2. Be in the Range of 8-14% Body Fat and Have Some Muscle Mass
In research, body fat is usually inversely correlated with testosterone.
The reason for that is probably because increased fat-mass leads to increased aromatase enzyme activity, which in turn leads to more testosterone being converted to estrogen.
So in retrospect, the leaner you are, the more likely you are to have more testosterone.
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.
3. Become more relaxed
Becoming relaxed reduces cortisol levels – the stress hormone.
That’s good because cortisol is indirectly correlated with testosterone.
Cortisol is made from the same “raw material” as testosterone is (pregnenolone). High levels of cortisol can literally destroy your free testosterone molecules locally inside testicles and in the bloodstream.
I know this is easier said than done but becoming more relaxed is one of the best things you can do for your hormonal health. ‘
4. Maintain High Sexual Activity
It’s not fully understood why but sexual activity increases testosterone.
It’s theorized that its an interplay with dominance, feeling of power, feeling of success, pheromones, dopamine, and interpersonal touch.
The most telling study on this is the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging. It was done on men over 60-years of age and those with higher level of sexual activity had significantly greater serum testosterone levels. 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.
There seems to be this common misbelief that masturbation would “drain” the body from testosterone. That’s not true.
However, busting a nut doesn’t produce the same increase in testostosterone.
A study of 44 men visiting a sex club 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%.
5. Don’t Drink excess Alcohol
It’s well documented that chronic alcoholics tend to have significantly lower levels of testosterone and significantly higher estrogen levels than their non-alcoholic peers.
That is because alcohol increases the activity of the enzyme aromatase which converts testosterone to estrogen, increases oxidative stress in the body and increases the release of the hormone prolactin.
Luckily though, it’s all dose dependant.
Low alcohol consumption isn’t that bad for male hormone production. In one study, two glasses of red wine produced a decrease in testosterone of only 7%.
So if your goal is to increase testosterone you should avoid drinking alcohol frequently and in high quantities.
You don’t have to give up on it completely.
6. Lower your Endocrine Disruptor Exposure
Some synthetic chemicals or natural substances can alter the functioning of the endocrine system.
Unfortunately, some of these chemicals 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.
Here are the most common substances that do that
We highly recommend that you check the labels of the products you use regularly to make sure you’re avoiding these substances.
The products you can find them in are: plastic containers and cookware, canned food, cosmetics and personal care items, soaps, lotions, and hand sanitizers.
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.
7. Keep your Testicles Cool
Roughly 95% of the testosterone in your body is produced inside the leydig cells of the testicles.
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.
What you can do to improve their functioning is to sleep naked, wear loose boxers, and take frequent cold showers.
These can have a positive impact on your testosterone production.
8. Maintain Regular Physical Activity
Aside from lifting weights, you should maintain some regular physical activity on a daily basis.
This includes things like hiking, mowing the lawn, playing sports and other sorts of recreational stuff.
Studies show that when sedentary subjects are compared against “active” subjects, the more physically active guys have higher sperm counts and testosterone levels.
For example in Tsimane tribesmen, 1-hour of chopping trees led to 46.8% increase in testosterone.
9. Drink 8-12 glasses of Water per Day
This is something that everybody knows they should but hardly anyone does.
It has been shown in studies that even a mild 2% dehydration can significantly raise cortisol levels and lower growth hormone secretion.
Thirst is actually a sign of dehydration, not a signal to drink water.
So if you get thirsty you’re actually already behind on your water intake. Aim to drink enough water to have 5 clear urinations a day.
10. Do Intermittent Fasting
A few interesting studies have shown that after a short-term fast, your androgen receptors become more sensitive towards testosterone than what they would be if you’d eat on a constant basis.
Interestingly enough, even after 10-days of water fasting, re-feeding shoots testosterone levels higher than what the baseline was in the beginning.
Here is my recommended plan for Intermittent Fasting:
The form of Intermittent Fasting I recommend is simply skipping breakfast and eating 4 to 6 hours after waking up.
This way you spend 15-18 hours fasted and you get all your calories in the second part of the day.
For more ways to naturally increase your testosterone, check out this free ebook:
Hi Radu, I have been going on a caloric deficit and my weight has gone down. However, the stubborn belly fat has not reduced. What is the problem here? Could it be due to low T levels?
Your avid fan,
Biiscute
Hey Radu, I have a question about How much protein I should take? Because I burn a lot of calories, sometimes above 4000kcal. I follow your youtube channel and there you pointed to take 1.8-2.2gr per kg bodywheigt. But you also say in some video’s that the protein consumbtion should be around 25-30% off your calories. And if I calculate that then Its a lot more then 2gr per kg bodywheigt. Because I wheigt 75kg so that’s 150gr of protein. but if I take 25% of 4000kcal Its 250gr of protein so there is a big difference.