How did we get here?

Testosterone is typically measured in nanograms per decilitre or ng/dl. A man considered to have high testosterone in this era would sit at around 700 ng/dl. 30 years ago a man with 1600 ng/dl would have been considered high. Many medical publications for whatever reason like to claim that 250-600 ng/dl is normal and always has been, yet women can even reach 70 ng/dl on average which shows the gap has narrowed significantly.

In a study carried out over three decades; The Massachusetts Male Aging Study was composed of randomly selected men (aged 45-79 years) living in the Boston area. The men were initially sampled between 1987 and 1989 (n=1,374). There were two follow-up periods: 1995 to 1997 (n=906) and 2002 to 2004 (n=489). There were 2,769 total observations from 1,532 men.

These results are alarming as it shows that within the period of 17 years the average testosterone levels of men within this age range dropped by 885 ng/dl which is staggering. They’ve dropped by as much as what would be considered high as a stand alone figure today.

Many other testosterone reports have outlined the fact that this generation of men have testosterone levels that are a third of what their Grandfathers had. Furthermore these same studies claim that men’s sperm counts are also at an all time low being roughly a third of the volume.

What are the symptoms of low testosterone?

Low testosterone shows up in many different areas. We’ll link them back to the topic of male suicide and how they may be impacting the surge.

– Low sex drive

– Difficulty achieving an erection

– Low semen volume

– Hair loss / inability to grow facial hair

– Fatigue

– Loss of muscle mass

– Excess body fat

– Wide hips

– Decreased bone mass

– Female biologically associated behaviours – eg; excess crying, insecurities, anxiety, neediness, submissive, etc

– Mood swings

– Poor memory

– Smaller testicle size

– Low blood counts

Looking at these features from a depression point of view it would be easy to see how a man could feel self-conscious with even a handful of these traits being attributed to his life. Anyone who has had depression or suicidal thoughts knows that mood swings are a key feature along with fatigue. Feeling tired all the time and coupled with a poor mood is everyones worst nightmare, it’s not ideal to be feeling this way.

By having low testosterone it’s harder to be in shape, feel good about yourself, you’ll likely have brain fog, weak erections, absent sexual energy and more. It’s no wonder so many men tumble into depression after adding these features to their identity. It would be hard for even the most positive person to feel good about themselves under these circumstances.

So what traits are associated with the mentality of a man with high testosterone?

– More likely to take risks

– More competitive

– Greater drive and enthusiasm for life

– Higher sex drive – sexual energy

– Self-motivated

– More decisive

– Increased aggression

It’s again hard to argue that someone who suffers from depression would not feel significantly better if they were able to add the preceding features to their life. Being a competitive male with drive and enthusiasm for life would be enough in my opinion. Throw in the sexual energy and aggression and you have a man who is going to kick life back even at the worst of times.

As a former sufferer of depression and suicidal thoughts I can attest to the difference in mindset and self-belief that I felt once I decided to delibrately increase my testosterone. So how do you do it?

What is causing this drop in testosterone levels and what can we do to increase them?

When you look into all of the factors impacting our testosterone levels it becomes quite alarming. We are literally surrounded by products, substances and materials that are quite frankly removing the masculinity from us resulting in what is believed to be increased depression rates and thus suicidal thoughts.

– Toiletries, including toothpaste, shower gel, shampoo, deodrant, soap, moisturisers, perfume, shaving cream, all components that many men use liberally on a daily basis. The only way to get around this is to buy natural versions of each product, especially fluoride free toothpaste.

– Water, yes the thing that keeps us alive is killing us. We have fluoride in our water, plastic bottles are releasing BPA and it’s suspected that female urine containing higher amounts of estrogen is remaining in the water that we drink. Options; get a reverse osmosis machine for all water that you drink. The Army use them which tells you everything. You should also get an ionic shower head filter otherwise you’re bathing everyday in chemicals and estrogen.

– Poor diets, eating sugary foods, refined carbs, fast food, sugary drinks and more is having a negative effect. Yet the vegan diet has been found to help testosterone levels – there’s little reason as to why this is the case, but multiple studies back up the fact that it’s true. My personal theory is lower body fat, as body fat produces more estrogen.

Check out our article on vegan men having 13% higher testosterone than meat eaters.

– Lazy lifestyles, sitting in an office chair all day, driving home, sitting down in front of the TV and then sleeping is hardly a tough routine. Doing this 5 days per week is destroying testosterone levels.

– Alcohol, we live in an era where getting as drunk as possible as many nights per week is celebrated and it’s certainly not improving testosterone levels.

– Workout types, any workout is better than none, but there’s a lot of guys who are turning to the treadmill for their routine and not realising that long duration cardio lowers testosterone.

– Plastics, plastics may be the biggest contributor. the toxins in plastics leak into our food, water, even permeate through our skin and lower T-levels.

– Dairy, diary deserves its own category. Pregnant cows, producing estrogen filled baby calf growth food and we’re drinking it on a daily basis, do the math.

The solution

Again there’s no one fits all strategy so it’s hard to say that this will cure all male depression. However one thing is for certain, it’ll help!

You need to take better care of your body physically and mentally as the two support one another.

Low testosterone is a gateway to depression and suicide, don’t let it get that far and stay on top of your health. Anytime there’s a hormonal imbalance there’s issues.