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Haven’t we all seen the commercial that tells us our testosterone is lower than our Dad’s was and our Dad’s testosterone was lower than his Dad’s was? Unfortunately, in most cases, that is true. Average levels of testosterone go down with age and have been going down for decades. But that doesn’t have to be the case.

Ladies, I’m not just talking to the guys in the room. Like men, women with low testosterone levels often experience chronic fatigue, a stunt in their libido and a decreased sense of well-being. This is a hormone that everyone should keep tabs on!

Why are levels of testosterone plummeting over the last few decades? The answer is multi-layered and likely involves a combination of these factors:

• Chronic stress – we live in a go, go, go world and have been taught to push deadlines while cutting healthy eating and restful sleep.
• Insufficient nutrition – often we eat plenty of calories but those calories don’t contain optimal nutrition. We are focused on eating something that makes us feel full or tastes good and not something that fills us with vitamins and minerals and great micro-nutrients.
• Weight gain – as we gain more and more weight our endocrine system is overworked. This means our production and ready supply of testosterone becomes depleted over time.
• Inadequate exercise – not only do we not take enough time to exercise regularly but our jobs have become more and more inactive. We spend too much time at our desks and tied to our computers.
• Prescription drugs – this is a huge factor for many people. Prescription drugs interfere with our natural endocrine system and do not allow vital hormones like testosterone to be properly supplied by our body.

Each of these factors deplete the normal immune response, lead to obesity and diabetes, tax the body and decrease metabolism. This is the perfect storm for low testosterone level that is negatively affecting over half of our population.

The good news is we can greatly enhance our testosterone levels and achieve noticeable changes in 24 to 48 hours – yes, that fast. Here are some things to work on:

1. Stress reduction – Chronic stress is killing our quality of life. Frustration, unforgiveness, anger issues and constant unsatisfactory view of our lives kills our testosterone levels. Start with forgiving, both ourselves and others. Take care of frustrating emotional issues with the help of friends, a counselor or a good church. Start today.

2. Kick the sugar habit – Chronically elevated blood sugar levels from eating processed foods zaps our testosterone and we don’t have a chance. Push for whole, unprocessed foods and feel the change in just days.

3. Get quality sleep – Getting enough sleep and at the right times are two of the most effective natural ways to raise testosterone. Consistently getting around 7 hours of sleep every night helps the body’s circadian rhythm reset itself and greatly contributes to overall hormone balance.

4. Intermittent fasting – This is the single most effective natural way to boost testosterone levels by 200% and up to 400%. The basics of intermittent fasting mean we eat all our nutrition each day within 8 hours and then we don’t eat anything for the other 16 hours of the day. Make sure we drink plenty of water and stay hydrated, but eating is completely unnecessary for 16 hours each day.

5. Weight training and high intensity cardio training – lifting weights combined with intensive cardio workouts are very beneficial for instantly and naturally boosting testosterone levels.

We started this article with the headline about age. Forgive me for not talking about age. The simple fact is every point of this article is valuable no matter what age we are. Young people, old people and everyone in between can benefit from boosting testosterone levels. The best news is we can get started today. Ready, set, go.

-Dr. Zane Sterling