Now it’s 2024 and up to now, I’ve written a lot of articles about how to increase your testosterone levels, so you can look and feel younger. So you can have a higher libido, fix erectile problems, gain more muscle, lose fat, and have higher energy levels.
However, today I want to write an article about one of the major causes that lower testosterone in the first place and that’s stress and worry
Stress = Low Testosterone
As a reminder, optimal testosterone levels have both physical AND psychological/emotional benefits.
In fact, one of the best “anti-depressants” in this world, is having higher testosterone levels.
And there’s a lot of new evidence showing how testosterone and anxious feelings interact with each other1,2… Specifically, they work in opposing ways.
Interestingly, this also affects women in the same way.3
It’s All About Your Hormones
To simplify everything and get right to the point,… when you are feeling anxious or have a panic attack… or you’re worrying a lot,… a lot of negative changes happen to your body – many having to do with your hormones, various chemicals, and neurotransmitters.
When your stress hormone cortisol goes up, your testosterone levels drop.4
This is because nature thinks you must be dealing with a lot of problems and this is NOT the time for you to procreate and have a baby. So, it shuts down your testosterone levels.
As your testosterone drops, your estrogen RATIO becomes more dominant. Thus, estrogen starts to take over… This further causes you more stress and “moodiness”.4,5
Dopamine Drops Too
With worry and stress, your neurotransmitter Dopamine drops! …This causes a drop in your libido and will also cause an increase in your female hormone, prolactin. Which FURTHER drops your testosterone levels.6-8
Lower Serotonin
Also, worry and stress, cause more adrenal production and that lowers another neurotransmitter called serotonin.9,10 Which causes depressive feelings and panic attacks, which just makes this entire process much worse.
Sleep Problems
And finally, stress and worry cause sleep problems and we all know how important sleep is for testosterone products, growth hormone release, and just overall health.
Accelerated Aging
And all of these negative changes accelerate aging!
So what’s the point?… You need to BETTER manage your “state” of mind. Your THOUGHTS. Your BODY.
The Secret Is HOW You React
Now, you can’t always manage or eliminate stress. That’s just crazy and impossible.
However, you can and MUST manage how you REACT to stressful situations.
Your MIND is extremely powerful and what you focus on, expands. What you think about more, you’ll FEEL more.
So, don’t watch it just yet. … Because I want you to do yourself a big favor…
One of the biggest reasons people have CHRONIC stress and worry is that they mistakenly spend the majority of their time focusing on the PROBLEM… the “stressful” situation.
What You Focus On Expands
What you focus on expands and gets bigger. So if you’re spending time always focusing on the problem and having “negative dialog” in your head – your body is constantly going to feel stressed and anxious.
Instead, you need to spend your time on the SOLUTION!
I’m not saying pretend nothing bad has happened. Just don’t dwell on it. It’s not going to fix anything, right?
Most people make problems worse than they really are.
I’m telling you to just see it as it really is – a temporary setback, which is a part of life.
What’s interesting is that children freak out over the smallest things. The toy breaks and they think it’s the end of the world. They don’t know any better. They don’t know that they can just fix the toy or get a new one.
Do What Children Do
However, what’s really important is that children let things go quickly. While we adults don’t!
So as an adult, you have no reason to freak out when something bad happens because you know that “this too shall pass” and you’ve dealt with problems in the past and you always got through it, right?
However, like a child, you need to learn to let go and move “onward and upward”.
It’s all a state of mind.
Then, do something physical because “motion, creates emotion” and that will improve your hormones.
Take Herbs, Vitamins & Minerals
And finally, you can take special herbs, vitamins, and minerals during times of stress and worry, which will almost immediately rebalance your hormones back to optimal levels.
- http://pss.sagepub.com/content/19/8/764.short
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018506X02918386
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399911003060
- Dalley J.W. and Everitt B.J. (2009). Dopamine receptors in the learning, memory and drug reward circuitry. Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 20:403-10.
- Li S, Pelletier G. Role of dopamine in the regulation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the male rat brain as studied by in situ hybridization. Endocrinology 1992;131(1):395–399.
- Siris, SG et al. Effects of dopamine blockade on gonadotropins and testosterone in men. Am J Psych. 1980; 137(2): 211-214
- Pilz S, Frisch S, Koertke H, Kuhn J, Dreier J, Obermayer-Pietsch B, Wehr E, Zittermann A. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on testosterone levels in men. Horm Metab Res.2011;43(3):223–225
- Caronia LM, Dwyer AA, Hayden D, Amati F, Pitteloud N, Hayes FJ., Abrupt decrease in serum testosterone levels after an oral glucose load in men: implications for screening for hypogonadism., Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2013 Feb;78(2):291-6
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14509157
- http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223%2814%2900709-4/abstract