Just like estrogen and progesterone in women, testosterone is critical for men’s health. Healthy testosterone levels help men maintain:
Without adequate levels of testosterone, men’s mental and physical health will start to decline overall. Let’s get into what can lead to low levels of testosterone in men.
While men can be more resilient to stress, it still plays a major role in depletion of testosterone levels. Mainly because of how stress impacts our brain. In order for men to produce testosterone, they need the brain to send the proper signal to their testes. Just like women, their hypothalamus releases gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), which signals the pituitary to release luteinizing hormone (LH). This then tells their testes to start producing testosterone. Stress can impact the communication from the brain to the testes, which leads to a decrease in testosterone production. I am often asked about different types of stressors and if they are good or bad. I think it really depends on the person’s total stress load. For example, I don’t necessarily think a specific type of exercise like marathon training is bad for testosterone levels in men on its own. It could exacerbate lower testosterone levels if that man is also working a very stressful job, isn’t eating enough, and isn’t getting enough sleep. Just like with women, there is nuance, but we cannot deny that excessive mental and emotional stress can impact testosterone levels in men.
Gut health has a major impact on inflammation, blood sugar and insulin resistance, as well as immune system function, which can all negatively impact the production of testosterone. This is why one of the first areas we focus on with our male fertility clients is gut health. If our gut microbiome is not healthy, it will activate the immune system and can lead to a cascade of inflammatory reactions in the body that impact LH and FSH production, which impacts testosterone production. The gut microbiome is important for metabolizing androgens (male hormones) and can impact spermatogenesis.
Like I mentioned above, inflammation has a significant impact on men’s hormonal status. One of the reasons is because of the communication from the brain to the testes, but it also impacts nutritional status as well as hormones like leptin. Zinc is a mineral that is quickly used up when responding to inflammation in the body and is also critical for testosterone production and men’s health. Leptin is our hunger hormone and also tells our body how much energy is stored and how much energy we should be burning. When this gets out of balance it can lead to poor production of sex hormones as well. One major cause of inflammation is insulin resistance, which we will talk about next.
Hormone imbalances from thyroid conditions to insulin resistance can also negatively impact testosterone levels. Insulin resistance increases inflammation, which will impair the production of testosterone. Insulin resistance can also lead to an increase in the conversion of testosterone into estrogen. Sluggish thyroid function can impair the production of testosterone as well since it will impact hypothalamus and pituitary function as well as blood sugar balance.
Nutrients also play a major role in testosterone levels with specific nutrient deficiencies decreasing testosterone levels. That’s what I dig into in part 2 of this series!
Here are some great resources to get started on that can help with mens health:
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