If you have even a little knowledge about, what Testosterone is and what roles does it play, you would know the importance of Testosterone. If your body in showing some signs of low level of testosterone or you just want more testosterone flowing through your body, then this article will prove very useful to you.
There are many ways by which you can increase testosterone naturally in your body but before doing that you must know if unintentionally you yourself is reducing production of testosterone.
In this article, we will discuss all the things that cause low testosterone level in your body.
What causes low testosterone?
1) Over exercising
Although, you might have heard it a million times that exercise increases the testosterone generation in the body but over exercising can give contradicting effect. In order to increase the “T”, the exercise period should be kept small. For example, train really hard and for less time rather than training passively and for hours.
The best results can be seen by keeping the workout period not more then 1 hour, sprint for a mile instead of walking for 20.
2) Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol is one of the main low testosterone causes. Here is one another reason to stay away from alcohol. Researchers have found that alcohol inhibits the secretion of testosterone in the testes. And, prolonged use of alcohol can causes irreversible damage and your body may get damaged to a point at which, its ability to produce testosterone will be impaired permanently.
It doesn’t mean you should cut down on alcohol completely. But, if you are really serious about having high levels of testosterone, then you should keep a distance from hard liquor. A beer now and then won’t cause a decrease in the testosterone level.
3) Not getting proper rest
This is one of the major causes for low level of testosterone. If you don’t rest properly, then no matter how well you workout or how well you eat, your blood won’t ever be testosterone rich. And, when I say rest, it means both sleeping and just relaxing.
You must at least get 7-8 hours of sleep and more if you are working out. Apart from this, getting rest is also necessary. Specially, just after workout try to lay there and relax. Watch something soothing.
4) Excess Masturbation
I have heard millions of times that there is no relation between masturbation and testosterone. But, just saying that doesn’t prove anything. Let us think about it. From what I know, testosterone affects everything that is related to sex and masturbation is kind of a virtual sex. How can they not me related?
Apart from that, I heard stories of many people who use to masturbate excessively and when they quit, beard and body hair started to grow at a rapid pace. Clear sign of testosterone. And, for one moment if we think that it doesn’t have any effect on testosterone production, even then only good will come when you quit this habit.
5) No Hot woman around
According to a study, the testosterone level, although temporarily, increases when you are around beautiful woman. If you think about it, you will find it very logical. Whenever you see a hot woman your body will instantly would want to mate with her. That is why, production in your body increases. By the same logic, not being around enough will give your body one less excuse to produce T.
6) Less compound more isolation
If you are working out from a long while ago but still you think that your testosterone level is low, then this might be the reason. Most people prefer isolation exercise because it gives fast results. At least think that. Isolation exercises cannot help in complete development of muscles because, for muscle to fully develop it also needs hormones, apart from food and rest.
Isolation exercise produces growth hormone or testosterone in very less quality compared to the compound exercise. And, it might be the cause of low testosterone level.
7) Damage to your testicles
Did you ever get kicked in the balls? Or an incident with the soccer ball? An injury to your testes can also cause low testosterone level. This is because damaged testicular cells lose their ability to produce testosterone. Apart from injury, inflammation in the testes can also be a cause of low-T.
8) Hypothalamus and the pituitary gland
In the simplest language, Cerebral cortex, which is a part of the brain sends signals to Hypothalamus(also a part of the brain), these signals gives information to Hypothalamus about testosterone regulation. In turn, the Hypothalamus sends chemical signal to the pituitary gland, which in turn orders testes to produce testosterone.
So, if a person gets a disease that effects Hypothalamus or pituitary gland, then the entire chain gets broken. Or an injury to these two also cause a decrease in testosterone production.
9) Overuse of Anabolic steroids
Anabolic drugs are usually prescribed to a person with delayed puberty or someone who doesn’t produce testosterone that well. But, people also take these drugs to build muscles quickly. But there is a very big risk to it.
When you inject such drugs or hormones externally, your body will slowly lose the ability to produce these hormones naturally. That is why, you must think long and hard before going through a Testosterone replacement therapy.
So, if for any reason you might have taken Anabolic drugs in any form, that might be the reason causing low-T level in your blood.
10) Age
Age is actually one of those causes of low testosterone that can’t be avoided. During the puberty the level of testosterone shoots up to a very high level. That is why, a boy going through puberty starts developing body hair, deep voice, etc. But, after an age T production slowly reduces. At the age of 30, your testosterone level start reducing and it will reduce gradually till you die. That is why many men at the age between 50-80 develops “bitch tits.” Due to the estrogen to testosterone ratio in their body goes up high.
11) Genetics
Genetics play a vital role in every aspect of your body. In reality, more than anything the level of testosterone running through your blood is very much depending on your genes. If your body is genetically programmed to produce low level of testosterone than it will produce low testosterone. In order to beat your genes you have to work really hard and eat the right things.
12) Low level of cholesterol
Now days, people immediately start panicking after hearing the word cholesterol. This is the same reason why people refuse to eat egg yolk. What they don’t know is to produce testosterone to need cholesterol. After getting a signal from pituitary gland, testes converts cholesterol to produce testosterone. So, you must understand difference between good and bad cholesterol and plan your diet according to it.
13) Bisphenol-A
Bisphenol-A also known as BPA, is a substance released by plastic when heated, is the most uncommon cause of low testosterone. Although, the exact reason how BPA causes lowering of testosterone level is not entirely understood, but it is said that it increase toxicity in reproductive glands. Bisphenol-A is found in everyone, but people with high BPA has shown low-t level in studies.
14) Obesity
High testosterone is linked with weight loss and obesity is linked with low level of testosterone. More than age, the increase in the weight of the mid-age men causes the testosterone level to sink. So, if you are looking for more “T”, you should work on losing weight. Losing weight will increase testosterone production and testosterone help you lose more weight, its an amazing cycle.
15) Soy Protein
If you are looking to increase testosterone, then you should stay away from Soy protein. Soy protein is the main source of Isoflavones, which has estrogen like effect in our body. As we have discussed before that as a male the proportion of estrogen should be less compared to testosterone.
So, consuming soy protein will increase the estrogen level relatively and which will make your body estrogen dominant. Apart from fat storing, estrogen also suppress the testosterone production.
16) Vitamin and mineral deficiency
Zinc is a very important mineral for the production of testosterone. Deficiency of Zinc can alone can cause low-T. That is why, Zinc is also used for increasing testosterone in body. Apart from Zinc, deficiency of magnesium, vitamin-k2/A/D can also reduce “T” level.
Conclusion: What cause low t?
These were some causes of low testosterone level. In many cases, more than one factor causes low-T. So, before trying to increase testosterone level you should make sure that you pipe down all the sources that is decreasing the testosterone in the first place. And, before going to any kind of testosterone replacement therapy you should do everything possible which naturally increase T level.
