Discover Ben's Top Tips for Improving Men's Hormones

Lets talk hormone health. You know, when it comes to men's hormones, there's so much low hanging fruit that I wish guys would focus on before they turn to something like testosterone replacement therapy. Some of those things seem intuitive to longevity and health overall. For example, in most cases if guys step back and analyze their diet and supplement regiment and make sure that they're getting adequate amounts of vitamin D, magnesium, minerals, creatine and adequate protein, I would possibly throw creatine into the mix with that. And then they combine that with sunlight, managing stress, adequate sleep and particularly lifting heavy weights with the legs because the legs contain the highest concentration of ant androgen receptors. Meaning deadlifts and squats are fantastic for testosterone. That covers the basis for a lot of guys. It's just that's the non sexy low hanging fruit. But man, if you focus on that stuff, let's say you even do turn to testosterone replacement therapy or maybe something like DHEA as a precursor to that, then that stuff's going to work even better. But a lot of times you don't need it if you're focusing on some of those other parameters that I just mentioned. So again, vitamin D, minerals, magnesium, adequate protein, creatine, heavy lifting, sunlight, adequate sleep and stress management. Those are all things that can help out a ton. I could probably throw in there icing the balls if you're going to look at some ancient Russian powerlifter techniques, but that's up to you. I can say that many guys see a big bump in their testosterone levels when they start to do cold therapy or cryotherapy or some other form of cold thermogenesis. Hey team. Boundless. So as summer approaches, let's all seize the opportunity to optimize our fitness outdoors. I talk a lot in my book Boundless about, you know, some of the issues with air pollution and lack of fresh air and sunshine that you get when you're exercising indoors, the wi fi soup you're often in when you're on those treadmills at the gym and the grounding and earthing that you can get when you're outdoors, even wearing shoes, you know, drop into push ups every now and again or some bear crawls or climbing a tree or a rock. There's so, so many benefits. So of course you could do circuit training at the park using benches and swings for a full body workout. You can do hiking and trail running and even throw weighted vests or rucksacks into the mix. You can swim, you can paddle board, you can kayak, which doubles up as cold. Thermogenesis you can even take a phone that might have a pre downloaded yoga or Pilates session in and take that outdoors and do it outdoors. So sky's the limit. Use your creativity. But let's make the most of this influx of nice weather to get outdoors. And I'll simply take any workout these days that I'd normally do and think, gosh, how could I turn this into an outdoor workout and get all the benefits of sunshine, cold, heat, breath, earthing, grounding, and much more. So think about that for your next workout. Now if you want to step things up from there. I had a very interesting interview with a guy who developed this form of blood flow restriction training called the Vasper, which I actually use when I'm at home three times a week. Super quick 21 minute workout that combines speaking of cold, cold thermogenesis via cold that's wrapped or circulates in tubes that are wrapped around the limbs. Blood flow restriction, which is limiting of blood flow to a muscle that's working, which allows for a surge in hormones that occurs after the workout. And then that Vasper machine also includes grounding or earthing. Now that's an expensive machine, but that's an example of a workout tool that increases testosterone a little bit fancier way than a heavy squat or deadlift. You can also simply use blood flow restriction bands, which are almost like tourniquets that you wrap around the arms or legs, or even the fancier Japanese version Katsu bands. And a lot of guys will see an increase in testosterone when they start to use these BFR bands. And when I interviewed Peter from Vasper, he even talked about some studies that they've done that have backed that up. And in addition, you see a big increase in bdnf, brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is like miracle growth for the brain, and vascular endothelial growth factor, which is also fantastic for nervous system function in the brain when you use blood flow restriction bands as a part of your training. And I have plenty more about BFR bands in my book Boundless and how to use them as well as@BenGreenfieldLife.com hey team Boundless. So summer is approaching, which is great. And as you know, there's also a change in light during the summer and that of course impacts sleep. These longer daylight hours can keep you up later, put you in a better mood, which is great. But sometimes it can be more difficult to sleep in the summer. Let's face it, what do I do? I make sure that I have my blackout curtains which I often don't use in the winter. Ready to go? Along with a good sleep mask, I've got a bedjet, which is like an air conditioning unit for my bed, hooked up next to the bed to keep things nice and cool. And I'll often run the AC during the day to make sure the bedroom especially is a little bit cooler than the rest of the house. You can even pull on a pair of socks, which paradoxically keeps the rest of your body cool as you sleep. I'll use blue light blockers quite a bit more in the summer, along with incandescent or red light, such as biological LEDs to simulate red light in the room. I'm careful with heavy spicy meals and lots of barbecue in the hours leading up to sleep. A lot of times summer dinners go late. Just be cognizant of that. It doesn't mean you got to avoid social adventures. Just be careful with how much you eat in the three hours leading up to bedtime. Right? The idea in general is three hours before bedtime, start dialing back the eating. Two hours before, start dialing back the drinking. And one hour before, start dialing back the technology and the work. And that's sage advice. So there are of course ways to combat summer sleep woes and still simultaneously embrace all the feel goodedness that comes with summer. Just think about that. It's not abnormal. You're not the only person who struggles with sleep in the summer. But pay attention to light and temperature specifically and that's going to help your summer sleep quite a bit. And for more, check out the sleep section in my book Boundless, where there's plenty of other sleep hacking tactics. Now to step things up a little bit more, if you actually want to test and track this stuff, I think the gold standard way to test or for hormones, it's a Dutch test, the dried urine test. You take urine samples over the course of the day. It gives you a really good measurement of hormones because it's measuring the way that hormones fluctuate throughout the day as well as upstream and downstream metabolites of those hormones. When I'm working with a client and I see their Dutch test, it gives me a lot more valuable data than say like a blood test or even a saliva test. Even though a blood test will give you a decent idea of what's going on with your hormones. For example, if it's super suppressed, say total testosterone and free testosterone, a blood test, that's a pretty big clue that you're also going to see things that are dysregulated on something like a urine panel. But a urine panel is the gold standard way to measure. And if you go to my website and you click on the then recommend section, I've got all my recommended tests for things like hormone function along with everything else right there on that page. So those are a few of the things to think about. Now, when it comes to testosterone replacement therapy, I'm not a big fan if that is something that fits into the category of something you need to do of like big injections, you know, one or two times a week, which causes a massive surge in testosterone that in no way mimics the natural diurnal variation in testosterone that occurs during the day. And that can also risk a lot of that testosterone getting converted into estrogen or dht, which can cause hair loss and prostate gland enlargement. I'm instead a fan of either a pellet and if that's inconvenient, a small amount of cream or gel, which is what I do, applied scrotally in the morning and in the evening. Now, if you're concerned about fertility or ball shrinkage, then you can also look into enclomiphene or HCG as two ways that you can keep testosterone from having some unwanted side effects, such as a downregulation of, say, like luteinizing or follicle stimulating hormone that would downregulate fertility. There are companies, for example, one that I've worked with is called Maximus, that actually specialize in hooking guys up with things like enclomiphene and will often combine that, in their case with oral testosterone replacement therapy with a capsule that you take, for example, in the morning and sometimes again at a second time during the day, usually with a meal fat, so it's better absorbed. Hey, so here's something cool. As we get into the summer vibes, we want to nurture our minds along with our bodies. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to improve immune system resilience, reduce stress, boost focus. And that's critical for navigating a lot of summer's hustle and bustle. You know, when it comes to mindfulness and the resilience and inner peace that that can bring. Along with my simple tactic that I use these days is as a part of my morning routine, I set aside five to 10 minutes and I'll literally use a timer so I don't fall asleep or snooze off or just lose track of time that beeps after 10 minutes or 5 minutes if I don't have a lot of time and you simply sit and you do nothing. And that sounds like a tiny, tiny amount of time. Just sit and do nothing. But so many people don't even sit for five or 10 minutes at some point during the waking hours and just allow for yourself to listen to sounds, smell things. No headphones, preferentially, no technologies. Try not to combine it with a bunch of stuff like BMF and electrotherapy and all your biohacks. No, it's just you sitting in your backyard or sitting in your Zen den, or you could technically sit in the sauna, but you're just allowing yourself to just be preferably eyes closed or eyes just barely open. And that's a great way to practice mindfulness. Another really, really good way is to just stare at a candle flickering. Just look at it five or 10 minutes. You'd be surprised at what this can do to your inner peace and your focus and the renewed sense of energy after you finish doing it. So a quick tip for you for summer mindfulness. Get out there. Enjoy your new mental vitality. So again, that's more advanced stuff that you don't necessarily need if you're lifting heavy weights, using BFR training, getting sunlight, managing stress, managing sleep, vitamin D, minerals, protein, creatine, magnesium. These are all the base foundational aspects of healthy testosterone management. And then just eating a diet nutrient dense that's rich in fat, that can also help out a ton. So some things to think about when it comes to testosterone and hormone management for men. I've also got some great tips for women with my wife Jessa, and I'll give you some videos for some of my recommendations for women along with this video, but I hope that helps. Thanks for watching.