Low Testosterone Level And Its Adverse Effect.
By vishwa on Health
December 2, 2010
Men develop masculine qualities in the presence of testosterone and similarly women in the presence of estrogen. Testosterone is needed for both men and women to build muscle, strengthen bone density, and increase sex drive. As discussed earlier in a previous blog entry women produce far less quantity of testosterone than men do. It is evident because lesser presence of testosterone do not allow women to grow big muscles like men. Furthermore, if women produce the same amount of testosterone like men they would have grown mustaches, beards, more hair on the body, and what not.
However, healthy amount of testosterone production is paramount among men and women. Low testosterone is linked to increased risk of heart disease, impotence, osteoporosis, and depression. Symptoms of low testosterone in men include low sex drive, muscular weakness, fatigue and others.
Adding to your woes, it is known that obesity is one of the reason for low testosterone. Eating huge quantities of food especially fried food stuff should be avoided as that is known to be the primary reason for obesity. The higher the body fat percentage the higher the estrogen production will be because fat contains an enzyme called as aramataze that converts testosterone into estrogen making your testosterone drop. In addition, excess caffeine and sugar over stimulate the adrenals and can lead to low testosterone in men and women. It should be also known that excess alcohol consumption, smoking,and sedentary lifestyle can inhibit the body’s ability to produce testosterone, which would invariably exasperate the situation.
On the contrary to the above, help is on your way, as there are certain ways to increase testosterone production in a natural way, which should be of consideration.
Healthy fats: Research has shown that eating healthy fats which are rich in monounsaturated fat, omega 3 fatty acids had the highest testosterone levels.
Zinc: Zinc is very important for the production of natural testosterone because zinc prevents testosterone from being converted into estrogen by making the enzyme aromataze not work. Foods high in zinc include oysters, beef, liver, crab, sea food, poultry, nuts and seeds, salmon, brown rice, cheese, beans, and cheese.
Stress: When you are stressed your body releases a stress hormone called cortisol that suppresses testosterone.
Alcohol consumption and smoking: As stated above, indulging in either consuming excess alcohol or smoking cigarettes would worsen the situation.
Lifting weights. Last but not the least, workouts based on compound movements like squats, deadlift, clean and press, bench press, power cleans, and pull ups force your body to produce more testosterone. More importantly, weight training is also touted to be one the best method to lose fat, for obesity would never trouble individuals who weight train provided they eat sensibly. However, it is apparent that individuals who exercise regularly are more disciplined than non-exercisers when it comes to consuming food, for they would seldom indulge in bingeing.
You now see that there is one more feather in the cap when it comes to the benefits of lifting weights.