Authored by Douglas Mefford in Men’s Health
Published on 04-30-2009

For men, one of the more important aspects of maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle as they age is to work on making sure their testosterone levels either stay high or they work to raise them. As a primary gender related hormone, testosterone also helps keep the sex drive active and functioning. This chemical in the body is also an important element in the production of both muscle mass and stamina. While there are artificial replacement treatments available, the best way to increase and maintain testosterone levels is through natural processes.

Proper exercise is a primary element of keeping the male body in good healthy condition. Since testosterone production naturally declines as the body ages, building the levels up through regular exercise when you are young gives a higher baseline level to work from. Excess body weight is a prime culprit in reducing the production of testosterone while increasing its feminine opposite, estrogen. While a couple of pounds over your optimum weight will not hurt you, maintaining an excess of as much as 30% over your proper body weight really swings the balance.

Heavy lifting has shown itself to be the best testosterone producer of all the exercises. Weight lifting where you can only do a five set repetition repeated two or three times, is an optimal testosterone builder. The multi-joint, large muscle group exercises and weight lifting programs offer a greater level of testosterone production than smaller, single muscle movements.

Diet is another of the critical factors in adequately producing this hormone. A diet of 30% dietary fat is the optimum level, provided you are consuming the monounsaturated fats that are most often found in peanut, olive and canola oils. Fatty acids such as those found in fish and flax seeds are also crucial elements of a diet designed to aid testosterone production. One should never skip meals or go on a high exercise, low carbohydrate diet as this has the effect of convincing your body that it is starving. Not only will you feel miserable this way, you are thwarting your efforts at raising testosterone levels as this condition actually slows down the hormone’s production.

Since both exercise and the hormonal production requires a steady influx of nutrients to keep the system working effectively. It is more efficient to switch your lifestyle to include at least five or six smaller meals throughout the day rather than glut oneself during one or two huge meals. Adequate sleep is another critical criteria for keeping one’s testosterone levels as high as possible as they age. While the world may try to make excessive designs on your sleep time, seven hours a night will still provide your body with the necessary time to heal, repair and above all, produce the testosterone and other bodily chemicals require for a full and active life. Too little sleep causes the body to produce cortisol that will directly affect and lower testosterone levels.

There are also two social behaviors that have a direct effect on your testosterone levels. Drinking alcohol diminishes production and the more you drink the greater the destruction of your natural hormonal levels. Conversely, sexual activity and stimulation creates increased production of hormones like endorphin as well as testosterone. The longer you are sexually inactive the greater the drop in your natural levels of this necessary bodily chemical.