Testosterone – could it be affecting your weight?
When we hear the word testosterone, we think of a room filled with men, big muscles, body builders or anabolic steroids.
It’s much more than that.
We know that this male sex hormone plays a role in developing male reproductive tissue and promotes increased muscle and bone mass but what else does it do?
It is an important hormone for overall health in both men and women while reducing the risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, even cholesterol and glycemic control. Low Testosterone levels can also negatively affect body compositions (amounts of fat and muscle), make people gain weight as well as contributing to osteoporosis. It’s natural for T levels to reduce as we age so how can we slow, or even reverse this process?
The effect of exercise, diet and lifestyle on testosterone:
Stress – Chronic stress can elevate the hormone cortisol, which is responsible for many bodily functions and can negatively change testosterone levels. This can make it harder to lose body fat and build or maintain muscle. De-stressing your life is important for testosterone levels and overall health.
Sleep – The University of Chicago found that the daytime T levels of healthy young males dropped by 15% if they got 5 hours sleep per night compared with 8 hours
Balanced Diet – Studies have shown that being overweight with low testosterone may cause a variety of inflammation and impaired brain and bodily function. Even active people are affecting their T levels by overeating and strict dieting. The best diet is one you can maintain long-term and includes a balance of nutrients deriving from fats, carbohydrates and protein found in natural foods.
Vitamins and Supplements – Pharmaceutical companies advertise products that claim to increase testosterone. For some people, this may work, but it may slow down the body’s natural ability to produce testosterone. Vitamin D from the sun (15mins) or from fatty fish and fortified milk can help to promote T levels. Deficiencies in Magnesium and Zinc will decrease T levels but eating seeds, whole grains and dark leafy greens can increase these minerals.
Weight Loss – Research has shown that even young males between the ages of 14-20 who are obese are reported to having up to 50% less testosterone than males who sit in the healthy composition range.
Alcohol – Overuse of alcohol can cause cell damage, hormonal reactions and affect male reproductive health. This has been linked with decreased testosterone levels.
Activity and Exercise – Even more effective than weight loss, one of the biggest influences on testosterone levels in aging males is activity and exercise, but what type and how much???
Cardio – There has been no evidence that long endurance cardio has an effect on T levels but if it is done to burn calories and loose weight then there will be an improvement in testosterone from that. Don’t overdo it! Studies have shown that long distance runners may experience low testosterone. High intensity intervals of 90 secs of hard full body exercise followed by 90 secs of rest was reported to increase testosterone slightly more than 45min constant state exercise.
Resistance Training – weight training has been proven to be one of the biggest positive influences on T levels. Strength training with big compound movements like: squats, deadlifts, lunges, pushes and pulls used in the heavy 1-5 repetition range have the biggest hormonal response when training 3-4 times per week. Studies even found that the 8-10 repetition range increases T-levels significantly. After just 4 weeks, natural testosterone had increased.
Normal level of testosterone is key for health, vitality and can greatly determine our body compositions. Aging naturally decreases this important hormone but we can fight against that. Less stress, more sleep, healthy diet, good vitamin and mineral levels, weight loss, less alcohol and being more active with all levels of intensity and especially lifting weights goes along way to being healthy strong and lean. Not to mention, feeling younger!
