Although testosterone is known primarily for its role in male sexuality, women have some of this hormone too (albeit in lesser amounts). Plus, it serves other important functions in addition to sexual and reproductive health. For instance, it helps increase muscle mass, assists with improving bone density, and provides a greater sense of contentment and happiness.
Because its levels start to decline after 30 years of age, you may be wondering how to boost your testosterone naturally, so that you still gain all of the benefits that this particular hormone has to offer. If so, here are a few options to consider:
- Lose your excess fat. As your weight goes up, your testosterone levels go down, so reducing the amount of fat that you have on your body is a great way to get a testosterone boost.
- Lower your sugar intake. After you’ve eaten sugar, your body has lower testosterone levels, so lowering your sugar intake can keep your testosterone levels closer to where you want them to be.
- Get more zinc. Zinc helps your body produce testosterone, so eating zinc-rich foods like cooked oysters, beef, spinach, nuts, pumpkin seeds, and cocoa powder are great ways to ensure you get enough of this key nutrient.
- Up your vitamin D. Vitamin D is another nutrient that promotes testosterone levels. You can get more by taking supplements, eating fatty fish like salmon and tuna, and by spending more time in the sun.
- Engage in high intensity cardio. Practice high intensity interval training (HIIT) or any other type of interval training and your testosterone will increase naturally.
- Up your strength training intensity. Just as high intensity cardio boosts testosterone, so too does high intensity strength training (higher weights, lower reps).
- Lower your stress. Stress causes your body to release more cortisol which actually inhibits testosterone, so lowering your tension can help your body better use the testosterone it has.
These are just a couple all natural ideas to consider. What do you do to boost your testosterone?
