Lifestyle Tips to Increase Testosterone Naturally, Part 4 (Breather Episode with Brad)

Mar 27, 2020

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(Breather) We’re wrapping up with the final, fourth part of this series by focusing on stress, sex, and biohacks for increasing testosterone.

STRESS.

Reducing stress is crucial, as too much of it (negative stress, as opposed to challenge-related stress) or worrying will depress the immune system and reduce testosterone production. In fact, when Dr. Ron Sinha was on the show, he said that FOMO (fear of missing out) actually has metabolic consequences! Try to get away from depressive and anxiety-inducing thoughts simply by calling them out - Dr. Ron even suggests saying out loud, “There I go ruminating again!” to yourself, just to make sure you can catch the moment you start to spiral into a loop of thinking and worrying about past or future events. Think of it this way: when cortisol (the flight or fight hormone) is regulated, that gives testosterone a fighting chance at becoming optimized. Cortisol and testosterone antagonize each other, so monitoring your stress is key because when you have high cortisol levels, nothing you do to help regulate your testosterone will work.

Show guest John Gray, author of Men are From Mars and Women Are From Venus, says that males should try their best not to get out of their calm, cool, and collected default mindset. A female’s “deepest biological drive” is to feel safe and protected by her male partner. The dominant male biological drive is, unsurprisingly, to be that hero and keep their partner safe and protected. But, as John notes, while our culture and society has changed greatly since our early days as humans, our biology has not changed. So now, females need to be primarily protected from their partner’s anger, not other, external sources of environmental danger. And how do you protect females from your own anger? How do you avoid those terrible fights that seem to spring out of the smallest issue and stop your relationship from becoming a war zone?

SEX.

Here’s the deal: having a healthy sex life can either boost or trash your testosterone - it all depends on how you do it. Frequent sex is a good idea, as it is healthy and can boost testosterone. From a physiological perspective, having sex increases testosterone levels, which promote libido, strength, energy, aggression, and competitiveness. From a relationship perspective, it helps you feel bonded and connected to your partner, and also creates a positive feedback loop, because high sexual frequency creates higher desire.

German scientists actually found that having sex or even just having an erection causes your circulating testosterone to rise significantly - and having one in the morning can goose your natural post-dawn testosterone surge.

However, keep in mind that an excess of anything can have harmful effects. There is a big discussion about whether too frequent ejaculation is healthy in the long term, something John Gray also brought up during our conversation, as there is compelling authority that ejaculation control and discipline improves men’s health, vigor, longevity, and sexual vitality.

A study done in Japan and published by the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health found that after 7 days of not ejaculating, men’s testosterone levels reached 145.7% of the baseline. The interesting thing is that they didn’t observe significant fluctuations from the baseline on days 2 through 5. The research also showed that the peak levels were at day 7.

Also, after ejaculation, John Gray suggests males actually get up and leave their partners in order to take time for themselves and engage in problem-solving or challenging activities, which actually boost testosterone.

BIOHACKS FOR INCREASING TESTOSTERONE

Cold thermogenesis: Invest in a chest freezer or start by taking some cold showers. Make sure to keep your testes cool; wearing loose clothing helps. Dr. Oz suggests sleeping naked!
Red light therapy: There’s tons of science (as well as years of use in beauty salons) that back up just how amazing red light therapy is for regenerating skin. It also increases cellular activity in the testicles. Be sure to get a 650nm red laser light, and that it doesn’t get the testes hot! You only need to do this for 10-20 minutes.
Sun exposure: Recent research has found that Vitamin D increases androgen receptor activities in men (see my previous episode explaining this concept here), and male reproductive tissue also has Vitamin D receptors, so make sure to go outside to get some sun, even if it’s for 10 minutes!

Ben Greenfield has also got some crazy, next-level things you can try:

Electro muscle stimulation on your leg muscles: this helps up regulation of androgen receptors.
PMF therapy (pulse electromagnetic therapy): At a low frequency, this counters the adverse effects from your cell phone and frequent WiFi use. Studies show sperm count is lower when your phone or laptop is near your genitals. If you have an iPhone, an Otterbox case really helps.
PRP injections, stem cell injections, and GainsWave jackhammer treatment.
Microdosing testosterone cream to testicles in the morning and evening: this mimics the diurnal variation in testosterone that occurs daily (compared to an unnatural surge in testosterone you’d get with an injection).

MISTAKES TO AVOID

Plastics: Don’t underestimate the power of plastic. Tests I had done revealed that I had traces of plastic in my blood, perhaps from cheap bottles that I left in the car that got super heated?
EMF: Try using an ethernet in your office, and unplug your router and use an acoustimeter to measure EMF.
Chronic cardio: It can destroy your testosterone, among other things.
Stillness: Don’t let your balls get too warm, get up and walk around!
Eating too often: Do your usual re-feeds, but don’t snack. HGH and testosterone spike after refeeds.
Wait for 1-2 hours after a workout to boost adaptive hormones, but then eventually eat.

Excess ejaculation: Ancient Taoist philosophy says that discipline in this area is the way to preserve the male essence. If you’re in your 30s, 3-4 times a week is ok, and if you’re in your 40s, it’s 2-3 times a week. In your 50’s, it’s 1-2 times a week, and just once a week if you’re over 60.
Alcohol: 3 drinks a day, max. Alcohol affects the endocrine system, causing your testes to stop producing the male hormone.
Smoke: smoking can reduce testosterone levels and, according to a recent study by the Boston University School of Medicine, decrease genital size. In the same way that smoking has been shown to damage the ability of the blood vessels in the lungs and heart to retain elasticity, the vessels of the penis may be equally affected. The blood vessels of the penis are much smaller than those of the heart, so constriction in this area may have relatively more severe consequences.
Weight management: Obese men had a 60 percent higher chance of having a low volume of semen, according to Ghiyath Shayeb of the University of Aberdeen, who presented these research results at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. They also had a 40 percent higher chance of having some sperm abnormalities.

And, if you need to measure testosterone, here are the best ways to do so:

With a blood test.

The con: It’s a snapshot in time (and hormone levels fluctuate throughout the day).

Or, test cortisol with a salivary panel (cortisol antagonizes testosterone) or a Dutch hormone urine panel.

Lastly, here are some herbal supplements recommended by Ben:

LINKS:

Body By Science by John Little
The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean
The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know by Mantak Chia and Douglas Abrams. Ben Greenfield says this is required reading for every man!
Estrogeneration by Anthony Gay will teach you more about the dangerous effects of plastics on hormones.
Vitamin K2 And The Calcium Paradox by Kate Rheaume-Bleau is an excellent resource for learning about why taking vitamin k2 in conjunction with vitamin d is necessary.
Ejaculation frequency commentary
Jack Kruse circadian clock
http://www.1vigor.com/article/increase-testosterone-naturally/index.html
http://www.1vigor.com/article/ejaculation-frequency/

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