Testosterone is paramount for a healthy male life. It influences your mood, muscle development, and even your sex life. It’s the quintessence of masculinity, essentially. Which is why it’s your job as a man to make sure your body’s testosterone production is in top shape. There are plenty of things to discuss, but let’s start with 4 common mistakes that can sink your testosterone levels.
1. Not Getting Enough Sleep
I always find it funny that many guys who want to boost their testosterone levels don’t realize how important it is to get plenty of rest. Of course, that’s not always a huge surprise. After all, in today’s society, staying up late until 3-4AM is very easy to do. All you need is a computer or a mobile device, Internet access, and it’s extremely easy to lose track of time.
For some, it doesn’t seem like too much of an issue. Hell, some people are even okay with only getting around five or six hours of sleep per night. However, the truth is that doing something like that is likely to have a negative influence on your testosterone levels. In fact, if you were to get only five (or less) hours of sleep per night for a whole week, it would lower your testosterone by up to 15%.
And keep in mind that’s just what happens if you do that for one week. Do it for longer and you might just end up with T levels as low as those of a male writer from BuzzFeed.
My recommendation? Try to get at least seven or eight hours of sleep, and try going to bed earlier (around 11PM-12AM). One way to manage that is to avoid exposure to screen lights one or two hours before getting in bed. Try a book instead.
2. Drinking Too Much Green Tea
I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one who’s heard how great green tea can be for your health. Not to say that it doesn’t have some perks, but I’ve even had people (some of them gym buffs) tell me that drinking a lot of green tea can actually have a positive impact on testosterone production in the body – because it’s so full of antioxidants. As convenient as that sounds, it’s just make-believe.
Yes, it’s true that antioxidants usually enhance T levels, but remember that only certain types of antioxidants do that. When it comes to green tea, the antioxidant contents vary a lot.
For example, in this study, male rodents were injected with the main antioxidant found in green tea, namely catechin. According to the researchers, the test subjects didn’t just experience a significant decrease in testosterone (70%) but — with some subjects — the size of the testicles ended up being reduced by up to 20%.
“Yeah but that study wasn’t run on human males so it might not be accurate.”
I know that’s the first impression you’d get, but consider this: male rodents have an endocrine system that is surprisingly similar to our own. So, I wouldn’t say it’s too “out there” to believe that the results would be the same if the studies were done on human males.
And if that’s not enough, here’s one more thing to keep in mind: Green tea generally contains large quantities of fluoride. The problem with that is that high levels of fluoride can actually damage your testosterone levels pretty badly.
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t drink green tea at all. Just remember that moderation really is key in this case — the occasional cup won’t harm your T levels too significantly.
3. Wearing Tight Underwear
Most underwear today feels tighter and more constricting than ever. “It’s a fashion choice; it just looks better,” some people might tell you. But the sad truth is that the tighter your underwear is, the more it negatively impacts your body’s testosterone production.
For one, your gonads are squeezed into a tight spot, which means they’ll be exposed to more heat this way. Well, the problem with that is that continuous exposure to high temperatures can lower testosterone levels and even reduce testicular weight.
And again, I know that the study used wistar rats as test subjects, but their testicles are almost identical to ours (if you don’t take the size into account, of course).
That’s not all, though. Since your testicles are being forced into an unnatural position, your scrotum won’t be able to hang normally. As a result, the circulation in your genitals will be hindered. Consequently, it will take longer for your brain’s luteinizing hormone (the hormone that stimulates your body’s Leydig cells to start producing testosterone) to complete its journey and start synthesizing testosterone.
My advice is to just wear loose underwear every single day. It’s more comfortable anyway.
4. Focusing on a Low-Cholesterol Diet
“Wait, what?”
Yeah, I know a lot of people automatically associated cholesterol with man boobs, ruined gains, and – ironically – low T levels. But the reality is far from it.
Thing is, cholesterol is essentially a sterol, and it can be found in pretty much all of your cells. What makes it stand out in this case is the fact that it’s a precursor for your hormones (including testosterone). Also, remember the Leydig cells I mentioned previously? They’re actually responsible for converting cholesterol into testosterone.
Lastly, here’s another tidbit of info you should know: If your cholesterol levels are too low, your liver will automatically start synthesizing it. In case you need more convincing, here’s a study that showcases how large amounts of HDL cholesterol have a positive effect on T levels.
So, there’s no reason to go with a low-cholesterol diet — it’s actually detrimental to your body’s testosterone production. It’s the intake of polyunsaturated fats (seed oil, oysters, nuts) you’ll want to reduce.
Bottom Line
Since testosterone is so important for a man to enjoy a healthy, natural life, it’s necessary to do everything in your power to make the right changes. Sure, it might be a bit inconvenient at first for some of you, but you should focus on the long-term goal of living a manly, confident, and happy life.
And if you know of other similar mistakes or practices that lower T levels, be sure to share them with the rest of us.
Read More: 5 Ways To Boost Your Testosterone
” Hell, some people are even okay with only getting around five or six hours of sleep per night. ”
Unfortunately, I am LUCKY when I get as much as 6 hours of sleep. Not that I don’t try. Typical weeknight for me if to try to get to bed by 10/10:30 (my alarm is set for 5:20). Lucky to fall asleep by 11. Even luckier if I don’t wake up around 3/3:30. And then staring at the ceiling until the alarm goes off. Lots of thoughts going off in my brain during this time. I have plenty of issues and my mind works overtime in the middle of the night for some reason. It sucks.
I think my T is OK so far though. Somewhat above average for my age. But yeah, would probably be even better if I could sleep.
If you haven’t already, try cutting caffeine and alcohol out of your diet. It might help. It certainly did with me.
Cutting out alcohol.
Good advice for sure, but easier said than done.
My life is not exactly how I pictured it so may years ago. Alcohol helps me cope with the grim reality. But yeah, you are correct. If I cut out the drinking, I know sleep would be better.
fix the reality.
If you drink you cope when you could also change it.
Love it?
No?
So go change it.
Cant or too much hassle?
Get the fuck out of there and leave the shit behind.
You need to find another way to cope. I know what you mean about the “grim reality”. The way I’m coping is by working to change that reality.
Good luck brother!
Automatic, will you please stop avoiding failure by choosing failure, and please start doing daygame?
Enough already. Go to simplepickup.com, get the “30 bootcamp”, its a series of progressively challenging missions to break social anxiety and talk to women. Get it, then go out and cycle through the missions each month. Also get rsd boss and watch it. Then MAKE IT YOUR MISSION to go on the RSD bootcamps. If you have to, fly out to vegas and do it. They will directly work with you in the field. If you are in new york then use viking lifestyle and pay him to go out with you.
Your life is already pain filled and angonising. Why? Because you need a woman who is yours and children to raise. You are not going to get that by avoiding the pain of failure. Avoiding failure is a sure fire way to fail in a much more terrible way. Instead you must embrace failure, challenge yourself to be just a bit better. Fail at a task that is within your reach until you succeed at it, then increase the difficulty and fail again until you succeed.
You have the money and means, you have nothing in your life that is too much to lose, so stop complaining and rationalizing and go for it.
“Since testosterone is so important for a man to enjoy a healthy, natural life, it’s necessary to do everything in your power to make the right changes.”
o ” is so important for a man to enjoy a healthy, natural life”
– So is having a hot, young, petite, traditional wife who does the cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, etc.. But I have NO IDEA what type if changes to make to get that. Or if that even exists. I suppose if a guy really wanted, he could find a 3/4/5 or some old bag in her 40s for that purpose, but that’s a fate worse than death, IMO.
Your forgot the part of borrowing over US$500,000 or C$800,000 for a payment to an overpriced 100-year-old termite infested bungalow somewhere in the worst city in the world for men….I don’t get it why Canadian women encourage their cucks to live in the large cities like Toronto & Vancouver….Who wants to become a debt slave for mediocre puzzy?
I also learned that you can’t walk away from your mortgage in certain cities like Ontario in Canada……… So if a man is in arrears of a mortgage, he still has to pay the lender the loan, rather than just “hand the keys over” like what happened in the US during the gfc of 2008.
So what happens if you don’t pay? Wouldn’t they take the property anyways?
Here is a stupid thought. Consider the anecdotal evidence of what male T levels were before the Industrialization of society (Pre 1900) and where we are now. Id bet you, if you were observant, that pre 1900 men didn’t have that problem.
Why you might ask? DIET for one, physically demanding meaningful lifestyles and environments for another, and legislation and societal pressures that didn’t cater to the feminization of men and needlessly empowering women ARTIFICIALLY in the day to day running of society.
Anecdotal evidence never lies, try it sometime. You want to fix you low T levels, live like pre 1900 pre industrialization pre modern technology enslaved men did.
If that’s beyond your mental capacity to achieve or desire, then shut up and enjoy your miserable life that you lead now. That’s what the anecdotal evidence shows me clear as day.
Good points.
The societal pressures were especially important.
Back then they had very positive societal pressures that females be good, traditional, submissive wives who fulfilled the proper feminine role of nurturer and caregiver. And men take the lead — be “king of the castle” so to speak — provide and protect.
But you left one point out.
They had significantly lower avg life expectancy prior to 1900. So many people were dead before low T (or other health problems we have today) would become an issue. But given the choice, I would MUCH rather live to 65/70 and have a great, healthy, independent life then be some shriveled up old prune in his 80s/90s on dialysis and wearing depends undergarments. Like all those old prunes you can see in Palm Beach County Fla.
OK, we live longer more diseased fill lives because of the technological advances and pollution.
Its a real boon for the healthcare providers. Big bucks in keeping zombies on life support.
The unabomber manifesto
Its about the food and the lack of workouts. The average citizen consumes loads of processed food which have few to no nutritional values left. Instead they are filled with cheap substitudes (best case) or plain out chemicals (worst case) to increase profit and to make it still eatable. Your body then has to make due with what it gets … Even if you regularly eat veggies and meat prepared the old school way, like cooked in a real cuisine, you are still not safe because even then, the food lacks the required minerals and vitamines we need to properly function. This is (again) due to profit. The soils don’t contain as much minerals as they did a long time ago, thus the plants contain less too.
Here is a secret, plants have a tendency to absorb minerals even if they are not required for their own growing. But they are still there if you or an animal eats them. We are basically forced to rely on supplements if we don’t want to run out of the various minerals and vitamines.
Eating crappy food is like peeing into the gas tank of your new ’17 Mustang and wondering why it runs like crap …
I always joke that every newborn should come with a proper user manual so they have no reason to treat their body poorly when they are able to make informed decisions. It is supposed to be a mothers job to make sure the kid learns how to properly eat. But how can you expect this if the mother herself has no clue ? They will then live off candy, fastfood and pizzas … Part of the blame also goes to the gov, in a nanny state as we have today, they are a guilty as well.
the John B Calhoun rat population study..
for all the advances in technology, people overlook the down sides of the intensity of the waste products pollution and poisons, the sheer amount of overall environmental damage, the depletion of essential nutrients replaced by junk starches filler and sugars, chemicals additives, and inserted industrial waste products claimed safe by corrupt FDA officials, farm land pest control chemicals, overprocessing of food products, and the sheer amount of waste due to over production excesses and merchantalist mindset and consumerism.
Growing old used to be an achievement. Men had to fight and struggle just to survive. Thus, growing old was and should have been honored in the past. Most old men would have some serious wisdom and experience then.
Now, growing old is the norm. You don’t have to achieve anything to do it. Life is not a struggle to survive in the west, except from heart disease and cancer. And beating that really just means showing the self discipline and habits to eat healthy and work out in the first place. This way, the problems are more likely avoided up front, if it is possible.
No, growing old now is more of a hell than ever for most I fear. I don’t usually see any elders whom don’t lament their age and their state. Maybe it is better to continually take risks, so a man can go out with his boots on. But it take courage to take those risks, and I think most modern men lack true courage, and if they don’t, it’s definite that most of them haven’t had their courage tested.
Totally true. Men in the past ate lots of beef (not always choice cuts), eggs, potatoes and fresh veggies. I’ve started doing the same about two years ago. The affect on my attitude and musculature (I’m 45) is actually quite stunning. I also make it a point to do some physical labor in my workshop every night since I work a desk job as a career. It keeps the joints loose, the muscles strong and it also makes me sleep really good at night. You should be tired at bed time, not so bored that you want to sleep!
If you want to increase T levels, just go chop some wood like my grandfather did. Mind you, it was chop wood or freeze to death.
In other words, work with a PURPOSE, satisfying as you are warm in the house. Work without a real purpose, without a satisfying result, is very draining.
The modern man today is scant shade of the Real Men of 100 years ago. It doesn’t take fancy theories or studies to figure it out. Compare the man of yesteryear with the rotten flesh that calls itself a “man” today. Now you know why the sorry state of affairs for men is as it is. Bitter Red Pill truth. Thanks, I will be here all day, but no more wisdom with I teach today.
Very true.
For example, compare Teddy Roosevelt to Hussein Obammy.
You probably are living in some f4ggot city like San Francisco, NYC or Toronto…..You need to live in the rural countryside like in Lee county Florida, or near the border at San Diego; I don’t see f4ggots wearing LV bags that often.
Think of all the modern “men” in the west today who are now “discovering” they’re gay – their DNA is no damn different than it would have been a hundred years ago, yet social conditioning is turning many of them into poofs. Especially Germans. WTF…
In the last ten years the number of young men associating has doubled. Although black men have the highest rates in the USA and whites the lowest.
There is no reproductive advantage in homosexuality the disease hypothesis is the only one likely. Its like downs syndrome its a failure rate that cannot be bred out or was maybe caused by something else we recently evolved to have eg some hormonal change. The only thing that will get rid of it is that these days gays have stopped breeding where in yesteryear they bred so there may only be a few more generations.
I think homophobia is a natural feeling of grossness around dudes that keeps men straight and we may find that reducing this is allowing it to go rampant. Most men have no issue with homosexuality unless it was there own son, in which case it would be devastating. The problem with our current society is that it could be your son. Men seem to get a sexuality in youth and stick with it for life and it seems almost impossible thus far to have it changed.
But we require High T men to invade foreign countries so that Hitlery Killton can spread her feminism more easily?
Why should High T men sacrifice themselves so that feminists and f4ggots wearing LV handbags can walk in the buff every year at your nearest elementary school during pride Month?
Every single male reader of ROK will get Prostate Cancer…..it is just a question of when and how aggressive it will be (there are over 25 types).
If you are over 50…the likelyhood is you already have Prostate Cancer….you just don’t know about it.
If you are over 40 you should consider LOWERING your testosterone levels…NOT increasing it.
Your Prostate (and Prostate Cancer) needs Testosterone.
A few facts:
1. Body Builders have higher incidence of prostate Cancer.
2. Vegetarians have a Prostate Cancer mortality rate (mets) similar to Japanese males (lowest in the world).
3. As many men die of Prostate Cancer as Women die of breast cancer (in the West).
Lowering your testosterone levels after you are 40 will not cause you to start wearing dresses and vote for Hillary Clinton…..but it may save your life.
I think a lot of men on here believe they are more interested in living a better life than a longer life.
And why don’t you link some studies to your claims. I don’t believe you are lying, but, the nuances of the studies are important and you might not have looked into them all in detail.
For instance, maybe these studies only included people in the normal ranges of testosterone. It could be quite true that lowering testosterone to a certain point will be healthy, but if you lower it too far, it may be unhealthy. So where does that leave men that are below the normal or healthy range. Should they not attempt to increase it?
Further, prostrate cancer is far from the only cause of death in men. The better question would be, do high T men or low T men live longer lives? Followed by do high T men or low T men live better lives? Of course, “better” would have to be rigorously defined, so as readers of the study could determine if those factor do in fact define a good life to them.
Then men could better answer the question of should they raise their T levels.
I do think it should be obvious that men with the lowest T levels would benefit both in health and quality of life from higher T, and men with the highest, probably have too much and would benefit if they could lower it. But that’s just a guess based on my rule of outliers.
It’s bad if you try to ARTIFICIALLY create high testosterone levels- what ROK usually does to its immense credit is to discuss 99% of the time how not to artificially LOWER those levels. That is natural and good for men, because those natural levels, even if they do drop as one gets past a certain age, are needed for better health.
/sarc – a better question, why bother even having Testosterone all you get for it is trouble.
But seriously I consciously try to keep my “energy levels” in check otherwise I might kill my boss or severely injure a co-worker or just go full postal on the street, the only thing that keeps from from going full “Alahu Ackbar” on this society is by keeping my T down.
please, here’s a cup of green tea with soy milk for you. feel free to ask more.
lol
It’s not T-levels causing suicide bombers.
All good advice, Andrew. I would like to add that no man should ever go under the knife to prevent pregnancy. Reducing the weight of a shot lowers the wallop. Just try taking the lead out of a shell then bust a cap with a 12 gauge. You’ll find the gun has no recoil. Cucks that undergo this procedure lie to their dude bro friends so they ruin their junk shot too.
What ??! I got a vasectomy after my son and it didn’t affect my T one bit …
Less volume, not less testosterone, resulting in reduced kickback. It’s physics. I’m sorry to hear you got a vasectomy, Hammered Shit. They should’ve told you at the door that no one who snips his junk is allowed in the manosphere.
having female friends (i mean ones you hang out on one-to-one mode, without banging her at all) seems the royal way to lower your T.
The big decline started in the 60s and 70s. Here’s why
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Worldwide_nuclear_testing.svg/2000px-Worldwide_nuclear_testing.svg.png
And it’s not going away any time soon, as it takes 50,000 years for that shit to disintegrate.
Is it me or does it seem like damn near everything lowers your testosterone? “Don’t fuck your girl in this position, it’ll reduce your testosterone.” “If you’re going to smack someone don’t do it this way, or it lowers your testosterone.”
I heard f8cking your mom reduces testosterone
I’ve heard that f*cking your mom lowers testosterone how smelly her snatch is…Might as well f*ck her in the pooper.
ah, when we told you that being a man is difficult but nobody seems to acknowledge. we told you ! lol
What about living in Toronto? I’ve seen that Pastor from the Eaton Centre being harassed by feminazis and trann*es for having an erection.
I also saw videos where the men in Toronto who are able to interact with those animals you call Toronto women; they are fruity f4ggots and uptight liberal gay f8ck tards living in the downtown core.
Last year I got a blood test and my cholesterol was 193…just got another test a couple weeks ago and my cholesterol has gone up to 242! I eat 3 eggs every morning, so maybe it’s time to cut eggs out of my diet.
I started eating 2 eggs a day, along with more oils and broccoli. Now I’m as horny as in my 20’s.
5. Smoking cigarettes
6. Doing drugs
7. Drinking alcohol
8. Working in an office
9. Hanging out with effeminate guys and masculinized girls
10. Not exercising
11. Not knowing how to fight with and without weapons.
12. Reading self-improvement books instead of studying philosophy
But alcohol was one of the reasons agriculture became so popular!
I think a natural high fat high protein lower sugar lower carb diet would affect testosterone levels the most, especially growing up as a young man. And yea, it’s possible any of the preservatives or chemicals or byproduct of materials that end up in our systems as a result of our modern environment might degrade someone’s test levels because the these chemicals and other contaminates that are in our systems might fool the body into thinking there is more growth hormone floating around due to their molecular makeup, which in turn would cause the body to produce a little less test possibly.
Physical labor can increase testosterone, but I know one group of people that do physical labor all day long, and that’s mexicans/illegal aliens. Although strong, those guys are short and small typically. But they have shit diets usually.
Blacks don’t do any physical labor either. They sit on their assess their entire lives, but they have higher T levels than the average white man. Although that might be just purely genetic since the blacks in America are descendants of slaves. The slave traders back at that time selected the most muscular slaves to bring over to America, so it was like a form of Eugenics taking place.
RED PILL REASONING VS T LEVEL – Assuming most of us are careful about diet, exercise, and nutrition why all the hype about (white cucks) having low Test? Besides NWO De-pop and JW psychological destruction of the G0y (MoOOoooO!) What is really going on? It occurred to me that despite the travel I do around the USA I cannot remember the last time I met a WOMAN.. I do NOT mean a logo-tatted fuck-toy twerk-bitch jizz-toilet. I mean a WOMAN with warmth and femininity exuding alluring charm. A WOMAN with kind eyes sparkling and big smiles just for the fact I am there with her. A WOMAN who blushes when she lets her breast brush my arm. Am I just a clueless-romantic, legacy-white, fake-American-dream victim? Or maybe the T-levels are fine but the WILL to suffer Seattle-stained-PIG-CUNTS has me repelled? Sure, any DinduN who sleeps all day and EBTs $100 worth of greasy KFC can muster up the T necessary to randomly doggie-fuck any farm animal in his path… Or any JWWW can Pizzagate his way thru the local nursery without losing a hardon,,, But what if you are not that? How do you maintain a T-balanced interest when you are surrounded by soulless Baphomet beasts? Maybe the T is code for :Fuck-NO! Sex and marriage should NOT be a prison-risking, gutter-inducing, nausea-provoking, bankruptcy-spin of the roulette wheel! Any thoughts? And PLEEEZ MMyers/GenXile/Roosh do NOT tell me to give up my citizenship/life that my relatives BUILT & DIED FOR just to re-locate to some 3rd-world cesspool. Despite the easy-kicks/ false-allure of sex-tourism disparity I do NOT want to dump my Grandparent’s carefully refined DNA into some OXFAM minghag, silverback, or curry-patch. T levels will rebound when an authentic society “appears” with CARING & BEAUTEOUS women in it!!!!
Dude…word!
Well said.
I’m a guy in his 40s who did everything wrong. My T dropped to nothing. Now I’m on TRT and I feel better than I have my whole life. This modern world WILL rob you of your GOD given testosterone, but there is hope!
100 years ago, men had higher T, because manhood wasn’t considered something ”bad”, ”evil” and ”problematic”. Men were allowed to be men. But today, it’s like the world is trying to effeminate men and boys! Through diet, food, manners, sexuality, behaviour etc.
THere have been SOME studies which indicate that a man’s drop in testosterone as he ages is largely due to lifestyle….the most well documented example is the 20% drop in testosterone after becoming a father.
So I would say – avoid ANY situation that makes you feel like you’re not the man, and that will increase your testosterone. That’s any job which makes you feel weak or disempowered, any woman who nags, and friends who complain about petty stuff.
Thanks for the blog Roosh! Found you on Youtube and am now checking out the blog and it’s a great resource.
If your liver synthesizes cholesterol when your levels are too low that means that the body makes its own to balance itself out. This means outside cholesterol is not needed. And since excess cholesterol is correlated with heart disease why would you. Add something into your diet that’s been deemed potentially harmful if your body will create the correct amount anyways? We need to stop thinking that if a little is good more is better. Heart disease is the number one killer in the US not small balls
Great advice! Thanks.
Fantasizing sex without having it, also.
Don’t take animal studies too seriously. There have been too many cases where they’ve been wrong, Wrong, WRONG, leading to many deaths. You cannot say human races are different on the one hand and then say tests with an entirely different species should really be relied on. It’s too random.
Emotional state is a factor not mentioned enough. If a man feels beaten, without aim or purpose, without that chance at a real VICTORY at life, you watch those levels go down. This is why many veterans will say it was both a terrible yet also somehow a best time- because they know they achieved something good at the end.
You get up, go to a hated dead-end job, just to pay child support for kids you never get to see or may not even be yours, get taxed so your money can be spent on the things that shaft you, and…you get the point. This is why fictional stories and games are and have always been popular: the hero fights for something worthy, and reaps the rewards afterwards.