Testosterone and Libido

Generally, when you're young and in your 20s, your sex drive or libido is pretty high. Often as we age due to life stress and the natural decline in testosterone, the frequency and drive for sex also declines. This doesn't have to be the case, though, and why should it be? While testosterone, the main hormonal driver of libido, naturally decreases as we age, there are things that make testosterone decline at a much faster rate. 

Lifestyle Decisions

The simple fact is the decisions we make in our day-to-day lives have significant impacts on our hormone levels and our sex drives. We can break lifestyle decisions into four basic pillars of health: diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management. 

Diet

While foods high in simple carbohydrates are pleasant to our taste buds, they can really affect essential sex hormone levels involved with our libido, including testosterone. A diet with complex carbohydrates, lean meats and fish, and colorful vegetables will ensure that you start out with the best foundation for proper hormones. Good fats are especially important in proper hormone production as hormones are fatty molecules produced by the fats we ingest. 

Exercise

Exercise and proper weight management are essential for ensuring that you have optimal testosterone levels. This is especially true for men as increased fat tissue directly leads to increased estrogen levels and a subsequent decrease and testosterone. Increasing muscle mass through resistance exercise will burn excess calories and decrease fat throughout the body. Testosterone and resistance exercise go hand-in-hand as we age as both, if not in proper amounts, can lead to decreased bone mineralization called osteopenia. Of course, you'll want to add end exercises that promote cardiovascular health, such as jogging, biking, swimming, and others. 

Sleep

While most of us take sleep for granted, at least until we don't get enough of it, sleep is essential in both stress management and optimal hormone levels. Missing sleep places significant stress on the body, causing an increase in our stress hormones, such as cortisol. Plus, if you've missed sleep, you're probably not going to want to have sex! Sleep is also highly linked to testosterone levels in the body. Getting less than eight hours of sleep is associated with lower testosterone levels in men while getting an extra hour of sleep each night has been shown to increase testosterone levels. 

Stress Management

The management of stress cannot be over-emphasized when optimizing testosterone levels and increasing libido. One of the leading causes of erectile dysfunction in men and decreased libido are feeling overly stressed. Think about it this way, would you really want to stop to have sex if a bear was chasing you? Probably not! While bears or other predators are not chasing the vast majority of us on a daily basis, we are dealing with our life stressors such as work, school, children, and others. 

Testosterone Boosting and Libido Enhancing Supplements

Along with getting some of the pillars of health optimized, there are certain supplements that have been shown to boost testosterone levels and increase libido. Some nutrients work by directly impacting hormone levels, while others work by promoting stress reduction. Remember that supplements don't work like medications such as Viagra, which you'll take 30 minutes before intercourse. Supplements work daily overtime, with a supportive effect that addresses some of the root causes of why you're experiencing low testosterone or decreased libido. So, remember to take testosterone and libido enhancing supplements consistently for best results. 

Some of the ingredients you'll want to look for in these supplements include: 

• Ginseng
• Eleutherococcus
• Zinc
• Maca
• L-Arginine

Dr. Kasey Nichols,

Co-Chief Medical Officer of Naguna Labs