Symptoms and Causes of Low Testosterone in Younger Men And Older- And Simple Treatments!
14 Weird Signs and Causes of Low Testosterone in Men- Younger and Older
We see that the Men of today have less Testosterone overall than our fathers did, and their fathers before. Too fat, too pussy, too indecisive, smartphone-zombies, smart-ass but no substance. We live in an overly politically correct, non –masculine society.
Sisters.
Just go down to the grocery store or shopping centers. You can see men carry their girlfriends bags like servants. Or beg their wives for permission to buy what they want. Or you see guys bitching about their friends, tearing others down with whining, without building anything for the future.
Even if you are a “sissy” – deep down you probably don’t want that for yourself, if you’re being honest ; ) Studies show that men throughout the population have 20% less testosterone than they did 20 years ago.
So if you are a truth-seeker, you should check for symptoms below.
Signs of low Testosterone in Men:
Overweight or Obese
Low libido
Gynecomastia – a.k.a Man boobs
Lack of motivation
Depression
Low self esteem
Irritability
Memory loss
Erectile dysfunction
Increased Fatigue
Decreased muscle mass
Testicle shrinkage
Low sperm count
One in four men above the age of 30 have chronically low testosterone and as it happens, even people who don’t have low testosterone technically (as in, they wouldn’t be diagnosed with low testosterone) could still benefit from having it a fair bit higher!
There are several reasons why men have lower testosterone today: but the most important ones are diet, and lifestyle patterns…
How Testosterone Decreases with Age
For Men over 30: (younger guys read this too)
Generally T levels drop with age after age 25. We’re also guessing the term “older gents” applies to those age 40+, but what the heck…
Generally T levels drop, but this decline tends to be accelerated by modern lifestyle habits.
These include things like reduced exercise, reduced exposure to sunlight and heightened stress. 20 years ago, your job would likely have involved lifting heavy items around a building site. Today, it’s more likely to involve sitting in a dark room somewhere, not really moving!
Here are the 3 most common causes of Low Testosterone in Older guys we know (younger men can also suffer):
- Being Overweight or just plain FAT
Obesity destroys testosterone levels. Being fat is a like a cascade of poison- a chain reaction of overkill; blow after blow to your T levels.
Because the more excess fat you have, the more aromatase enzyme your body produces-and the more aromatase enzyme you have, the more of your testosterone molecules will be converted to estrogen.
Note: It’s not your total weight, its your body fat percentage- excess belly fat, lard bucket, you know what we mean.
SO: belly fat prevents conversion from testosterone to DHT (a very important male hormone for strength and masculinity). So the fatter you are, the harder it becomes to reverse that state- you become even weaker and less motivated to lose that weight, and it gets tougher too.
- Lack of Sleep
Especially if you are sleeping less than 4 hours a night. This is a great way to kill your testosterone levels FAST. Here’s are studies showing that men who slept for less than 4 hours per night had 60% less T than men who had 8 hours sleep.
So you’ll feel like zombie-fied shit: AND have long term hormonal health issues. Anti-aging? Get more beauty sleep.
- Too Much Alcohol
Alcohol tends to mess up your endocrine/hormonal systems. Here are just a few studies showing that excessive drinking reduces testosterone and raises estrogen levels:
However the worst of all is Beer. *big sigh*
The main ingredient in beer is hops – and that contains 2 massive testosterone killers. The first is 8-Prenylnaringenin, a massively powerful phytoestrogen. 8-PN is so estrogenic that women who simply pick it up experience menstrual problems. Fucking radioactive.
The second toxin is xanthohumol, which inhibits testosterone production inside the testes.
But note that you can stick to some liquor, wine especially. A glass or 2 in moderation won’t hurt testosterone. Taken after a workout, this can even increase free testosterone levels
Honestly speaking, we still take some beer- but very occasionally. Like a bottle once a fortnight at most. Plus, we are careful for most other things, so the risk is for you to go figure.
Testosterone Inspiration for Young Men – From Older Guys
For now, just take a second and think of all the older men that you know- for example, the older gents in the gym….
There are usually 2 types of guys: In one category, you have the walking disasters. Land-whales with big beer bellies. Or those so wasted and dried up they look like they could break a hip when they sit at the leg press.
In the other corner is the better type of older guy: with low body fat, above average muscle mass and a confident healthy attitude. This kind of guy you look at and think “wow, I hope I look like that when I’m older”
So that’s who you want to be (if you’re older), and that’s what we want you to be like in the future, if you’re a younger dude : )
What are Side Effects of Testosterone Replacement Therapy? What to expect?
A rare few guys may have severe hormonal problems. Signs include severe inability to gain any muscle- or any signs of strength – or persistent depression – even after correcting lifestyle habits. For this you may want to consider TRT – though it is a more complex, expensive and worrying process.
Click here for one younger guys account of this.
TRT often involves seeing multiple doctors and opinions – and they themselves may not know detailed functions for testosterone, and may not be keen on helping you! Costs easily range into the hundreds or thousands of $$ for initial consults and treatments, and not all doctors will know how to moderate dosages – even if they claim to be specialists.
Try it mainly if you have already done your best in other areas:
For most men, we recommend that you try “natural” methods of supplementation, lifestyle and diet factors, before using methods like testosterone replacement therapy and injections – as the latter are usually more complicated.
So for most men, read on for some of the strangely common problems of modern life…
Surprising Causes of Low Testosterone in Men – Young and Old
Now we’re going to talk about little known factors that saturate the modern environment, and are causes of low T. If you are younger and have low testosterone, some of these are likely to be the cause. 
If you are older- you really should take note of these as well. Likely these substances or activities are speeding up your aging process by depleting testosterone…
4. Myco-estrogens
Can’t fake it.
Myco-estrogens are estrogens produced by certain fungi and mold. The most common being zearalenone which can be found in maize, barley, oats, wheat, rice, and sorghum .
Note that you may not want to avoide these completely: just that you should check for mould (if you have not already!)
There is also something called Quorn: which is a “fake” meat substitute for vegetarians, produced by Marlowe foods limited. Its actually made from these fungi.
All these are similar to estrogen and tend to lower testoseoren in men: so think about eating more fresh foods, and avoiding grains that you don’t know more about.
Editors note: we find it hard to avoid eating rice completely, but now try to get most of our carbs from tubers, like potatoes and cassava.
5. Rice Bran
So the funny thing is that many publications claim that brown rice is a good carb for health: but researchers in this study found that it’s a very strong DHT blocker.
Meaning that it blocks the conversion from testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is actually the strongest male hormone – though related to testosterone interactions, it is 10X stronger – some testosterone is actually meant to convert to DHT.
White rice is actually better for testosterone – though it also tends to be prolactin-increasing (which also reduces T)
As well as inflammatory: In general we recommend you get your carbs from tubers: potatoes, yam, pumpkins, beets, carrots, turnips, squash, fruit, etc
6. Fad Diets and eating like a Fitness-freak
Probably one of the fastest ways to screw up your testosterone!
Hire a personal trainer and tell him to create a diet plan for you: most of the time it will look like a high protein, low carb low fat diet ..
A deficit of calories lowers testosterone levels fast (though you may have to do this in a careful way if you are already overweight)
High protein diets tend to be very bad for T: Study , Study
Low Carb diets: bad too. Study, Study
Low fat diets: the worst! Fat creates essential building blocks for testosterone.
Generally it helps to look to science for real answers – and avoid extremes and fads : )
7. Overtraining – “You don’t have to hit the gym everyday”
Now exercise is great for testosterone, especially with strength training and compound exercises that activate a lot of muscle groups at the same time…
But overtraining causes cortisol levels (stress hormones) to rise – and testosterone to drop. High cortisol and high testosterone are antagonistic to each other.
And long distance running also tends to increase cortisol in a big way. Hours of endurance training drains testosterone. Not all distance runners look like skinny crap – but many do ; p
8. “She’s a Vegetarian”!
Our Chief editor Evan was a vegetarian for 13 years – to “save the animals”. So we can sympathize with ecological or compassionate efforts, but unfortunately many studies show that vegetarians have much lower testosterone than meat eaters.
This has several reasons:
- vegetarians don’t eat enough saturated fat
- they eat too much polyunsaturated fat
iii. they don’t eat enough cholesterol
- animal protein is superior to plant-based proteins for testosterone production.
So we’re still “nice people” , but in other ways : )
9. Many types of Prescription Medicines
These usually have a big number of side effects:
- Many acne drugs are anti-androgens (male hormones created by T and DHT interactions)
- opiate based painkillers and cough relievers reduce testosterone
iii. statins (drugs prescribed to lower cholesterol) also severely reduce testosterone
- Hair loss drugs such as Finasteride are also testosterone killers.
Try your best to talk to your doctor about hormonal effects, and ask about less disruptive alternatives.
10.Calorie Deficit a.k.a not enough food
Note that being overweight is worse than having a slight calorie deficit- so if you are FAT you should think about losing the pounds first : )
But if you are already at a normal weight range, and you don’t have enough food to eat for a longer period of time, your body starts shutting down functions that are not strictly necessary for immediate survival…
So your reproductive system and testosterone production ability gets hit. The bigger the deficit, the bigger the loss of T
11. Mosquito Repellents
Seems that many older brands of repellant were banned because they were anti-androgenic, blocking testosterone production. Unfortunately new bug sprays may not be much better: they use a chemical called chlorpyrifos- which lowers testosterone…
AND: chlorpyrifos is also a big feature in insecticides used in GMO crops!
A better alternative would be to use citronella oil or wristbands for repellant – effective and far less problematic.
12. The Chlorine in swimming pools!
Chlorine is toxic and removes iodine (essential for human survival) from your cells, which in turn lowers testosterone- there is a study among teens that shows that frequent swimmers in chlorinated pools had lower T levels in their blood ; p
We still swim once in awhile (it’s more than an hours’ drive to the sea for most of us), but swim in real oceans and lakes if you can .
13. Sunscreen
Sunscreen and various sun-blocking UV lipbalms and the like are filled with xeno-estrogens, which are harmful to male hormones…
The best solution is to use the “baby” versions of this (may hurt your pride but not your manhood) – as they tend to reduce chemical strength in them.
14. Plastic Products
And related to the above: there is a highly strong estrogenic effect that plastics have on the male body. Plastics are full of Phthalates, compounds that make plastics flexible – and these mimic estrogen in the body!
And drinking soda amplifies the problem more: the new plastic bottles are instantly filled with acidic soda that even more quickly dissolves those phthalates into your “refreshing” beverage…
Conclusion
So: what we’ve covered are common yet surprising causes of low testosterone in older and younger men. This can seem overwhelming – there are just too many lifestyle factors in the modern world to change in one shot.
But do your best, as we’ve found that gradual changes can make big differences over time (such as cutting out grains). You can’t change everything in one day, but one habit a week is much easier.
Also, you might think about getting quality supplements to improve testosterone –some natural testosterone supplements create good results quickly, and also for the long term.
