What is testosterone in men?
Produced mainly in the testicles, it allows men to maintain good bone density, distribute fat, strength and muscle mass and produce red blood cells, libido and sperm production.Men produce almost all of their testosterone in the testicles.
When your brain detects a low level in your blood, it triggers a complex chain reaction of hormones. This in turn triggers the production of testosterone in the Leydig cells of the testicles, whereas production in women occurs mostly in the ovaries.
An Overview of the 7 stages of testosterone production:
- When your brain senses low levels of testosterone, it makes the hormone GnRH.
- This causes the pituitary gland to produce two additional hormones (follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH)).
- Follicle-stimulating hormone is important for sperm production.
- The luteinizing hormone starts the production of testosterone in your testicles.
- It is then released into your bloodstream.
- The brain senses a normal level of testosterone and shuts down GnRH and testosterone production stops.
- When your brain detects low levels of testosterone, it produces more GnRH and the cycle speeds up.
When its level is low, you make hormones that stimulate testosterone production.
When you produce “enough” of this hormone, your brain flips the hormone switch and production stops.
This on/off cycle partly explains why levels are higher in the morning and why levels vary throughout the day.
What are the effects of testosterone?
Testosterone affects your body in several ways.
It is directly responsible for growth, sexual health, and essential bodily functions in both men and women.
«Testosterone is the primary male hormone. Male sex life dies out without testosterone. »
“Testosterone is linked to overall fitness; whether it’s fatigue, physical or mental state. Its second role is to nourish the bones and certain organs. And finally, it is the main sex hormone: without this hormone, the man cannot function sexually; neither in terms of libido, nor in terms of erections, nor ejaculation. Male sex life dies out without testosterone. »
More specifically, what is its role?
Testosterone allows the growth of bones and muscles, libido, intellectual and athletic performance, male fertility, the production of red blood cells, body hair, tone of voice, mood or the production of sperm.
The most interesting thing about this hormone is that the body only uses about 2% of all the testosterone it produces! this means that almost 98% of the testosterone in your system is completely inactive: it is metabolized by the body and transformed into another chemical substance.
However, even a small drop in your “free” testosterone (unmetabolized testosterone) can have a big impact on your overall health.
The same is true for testosterone injected into your body. In the case of testosterone creams or hormone injections, the body metabolizes more than 90% of the testosterone contained inside these products.
How to increase your testosterone?
The most common treatment is replacement therapy.
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) can help restore certain functions affected by low levels.
Studies have shown that TRT primarily affects bone strength and blood hemoglobin levels, but not mental acuity. The treatment can be administered by gels and skin patches, injections, tablets which are absorbed by the gums.
These can, however, trigger side effects, including:
- Increased number of red blood cells.
- Enlarged prostate and breasts.
- Acne.
- In rare cases, breathing difficulties during sleep.
The decision to undergo TRT treatment involves deciding between the perceived benefit of the therapy on a particular person’s symptoms and the risks of the treatment.
It is important to consult a sex therapist to avoid taking any risks and to have the best treatments.
How to increase testosterone naturally?
Here are 7 practical tips known to naturally stimulate testosterone secretions:
- Exercise regularly. This facilitates testosterone secretions. And most importantly, it can help reduce the symptoms of testosterone deficiency.
- Avoid excess weight. Particularly in the stomach. Indeed, the fat accumulated in the belly tends to destroy testosterone in the body. Moreover, being overweight can be dangerous for your health. It can, for example, cause you to have a big belly with severe sleep apnea.
- Take advantage of the brightness and sunshine. Beneficial for the bones and morale in general, sunshine also stimulates testosterone secretions.
- The quality of sleep. It is necessary to sleep well to allow all the hormonal secretions, which depend on the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness.
- Reduce sources of stress. doing some Yoga Resting the body and the brain naturally regulates all hormonal secretions.
- Stay away from environmental toxins and endocrine disruptors as much as possible. Seashores and forests far from the city are, for example, environments that keep us away from environmental toxins, which can block testosterone secretions.
- Phytotherapies. Zinc or tribulus terrestris are known to stimulate testosterone secretions. Seek advice from an online sex therapist for useful herbs.
