Epigenetics Series – Is Cancer Related To Your DNA?


Are we predisposed to cancer, based on our DNA?

Or do our lifestyles and choices primarily determine our health?

For years, doctors debated this question in a “black or white” fashion: either disease is predetermined in DNA or disease is determined by lifestyle.

Recently, though, doctors determined that the answer falls somewhere in the gray area between both sides.

Our risk of disease, especially cancer, is defined by the expression of our genes.  And the expression of our genes is defined by our lifestyle and environment.

This is where epigenetics has stepped in to answer questions about disease and illness that have stumped scientists for decades.

There is an intimate link between disease, genetics, and lifestyle that can’t be ignored.

These epigenetics findings declare resoundingly: you are not a slave to your genes.

You can take control of your own health and wellness, which can enable you to fight off disease and cancer at its root.

Let’s explore how epigenetics plays a role in cancer—and what you can do about it.

What is epigenetics?

In order to understand how epigenetics impacts cancer, we need to first understand the basics of epigenetics.

Epigenetics is the expression of your genetic sequence. You’re born with a certain DNA sequence, and that’s the same DNA you’ll have for life. However, the expression of those genes can change throughout the course of your life. This expression depends on which of your genes are active or inactive.

There are two primary epigenetic factors that impact the expression of your DNA sequence: DNA methylation and histone modifications. (There’s also RNA-associated silencing, which we won’t get into today.)

Methylation

DNA methylation occurs when a methyl group is added to DNA. Usually, it’s added to a specific part of the DNA sequence: on a cytosine nucleotide next to a guanine nucleotide linked to a phosphate.

This is called the CpG site. Keep this in mind, as we’ll be discussing the impact of methyl groups at the CpG site in our discussions of cancer and disease below.

Generally, methylation “turns off” or deactivates genes. More methylation equals greater silencing of the gene.


In some cases, this can be positive. For example, if you have a gene that puts you at high risk for disease, you would want it to be silenced with a methyl group.

However, you don’t want to silence genes that fight off disease or tumors. Silencing certain tumor-fighting genes is one of the key causes of cancer.

Histone modification

Histones are proteins that make up chromatin, which is the foundational component of DNA chromosomes. DNA wraps around histones, like thread around a spool. When these histones are modified, then the chromatin arrangement can be altered and misread.

There are two types of histone modification: acetylation and methylation.

When an acetyl is added to the histone (acetylation), it typically activates chromatin. Deacetylation, then, is associated with heterochromatin, which is a deactivated or suppressed expression of the gene.

Histone methylation also impacts the active and inactive regions of chromatin. For example, a methylation on lysine K9 with histone H3 is responsible for the inactivated X chromosome of females.

Any of these epigenetic factors, especially methylation, create abnormal activation or silencing of genes. This can put you at greater risk for cancer, disease, syndromes (especially chromosomal instabilities), and other serious illnesses.

So how do these epigenetic changes occur? What causes methylation or acetylation?

Environment and lifestyle dynamics have a direct impact on these epigenetic factors, which I’ll discuss further below.

How does epigenetics affect cancer?


One of the most forceful diseases of our time is cancer. While there’s still so much we don’t know about the growth and treatment of cancer, there is one thing we know for sure: genetics and epigenetics play a significant role in the development and progression of cancer.

In fact, study after study has proven that there are links between certain types of cancers and certain epigenetic modifications.

Epigenetic factors can suppress cancer-fighting genes.

All humans are programmed with certain genes. These genes are meant to keep us healthy and functioning.

For example, there’s a gene that helps fight off diseased cells (aka cancer cells). There’s another gene that suppresses tumor growth.

You want these healthy “fighter” genes to be active, so they can minimize your risk for cancer.

But if methylation or acetylation impacts these genes, then they can be deactivated. So if cancer strikes, your body is unable to fight off the diseased cells or spread of cancer. This then would leave you susceptible to cancer, which you may have otherwise been able to fight off had your healthy genes been activated.

Studies have even shown a proportional link between methylation levels and severity and prognosis of cancer.

For example, the GSTP1 gene is methylated in over 90% of prostate cancers.

An early study found that diseased tissue affected by colorectal cancer had less DNA methylation than normal tissue. This is because the methylated genes “turned off” or deactivated the tumor suppressor genes.

Methylation deactivates genes that are necessary to fight off cancer.

Methylation impacts cancer cell growth.

Moreover, methylation itself plays a role in how cancer develops. Methylation is involved in cell divisions, DNA repair, apoptosis (cell death), metastasis, cell detox, and more.

High levels of methylation (hypermethylation) indicate that diseased cells aren’t dying off and healthy cells aren’t generating fast enough. Thus, high methylation is a predictor—and potentially a cause—of cancer.

For example, hypermethylation in APC and RASSF1A genes are used as epigenetic markers for early detection of cancer, especially breast cancer.

Methylation causes microsatellite instability.

Microsatellite instability is linked to a number of cancers, including colorectal, endometrial, ovarian, and gastric cancers.

Microsatellites are repetitive DNA, they have certain strands of DNA  that are repeated within the genome. They’re common in normal individuals without disease.

Instability of microsatellites, though, is linked to chromosomal instability. This upsets the genetic function, creating a dangerous mutation.

Microsatellite instability is a direct cause of DNA methylation, especially methylation of the gene MLH1, which is the gene that repairs DNA. If the gene is methylated, then it is unable to properly repair your DNA when it becomes damaged by disease and cancer.

Researchers have seen microsatellite instability in a number of cancers, even occurring in 15% of colorectal cancers.

How can I prevent cancer with epigenetics? 

Genes are inherited. This means that your risk for cancer could come from your ancestors—just like your genes that suppress tumor growth and cell division come from your ancestors. 

But just because you inherit certain genes does not direct the course of your fate.

In fact, nearly half of all inherited genes related to cancer can be impacted by methylation.

And methylation is not inherited. Methylation and other epigenetic factors are proven responses to environmental stimuli including diet, toxins, pollutants, and other stressors.

This means you can take control of your risk for cancer by directing your epigenetic expression.

In fact, some doctors have even started building cancer-fighting programs—like my EDGE Blueprint Consult—based on epigenetics as potential chemopreventative measures.

You can change your health with certain lifestyle and diet choices, many of which I go through below.

  1. Get your folic acid.

Folate or folic acid is a B vitamin (B-9) that plays an important role in cell growth and function. It’s actually the foundation of a number of prenatal vitamins as a means of reducing the risk of birth defects.

Folate can play an important role in gene expression and DNA integrity and stability. Studies have shown that folate can help modulate DNA methylation. On the other hand, a folate deficiency may cause DNA methylation.

Learn more about folate’s role in epigenetics in section 3.1 here.


You can get folate through both diet and supplementation. You can find folate in:

  • Garbanzo beans (100% of the required daily dose)
  • Liver (55% DV)
  • Lentils (45% DV)
  • Pinto beans (37% DV)
  • Asparagus (33% DV)
  • Black-eyed peas (28% DV)
  • Beets (17% DV)
  • Avocado (15% DV)
  • Spinach (14% DV)
  • Broccoli (14% DV)

You’ll also receive folate in oranges, lemons, bananas, melons, and strawberries.

You can also take folic acid vitamins. The recommended daily amount of folate is 400 micrograms (mcg).

  1. Consume polyphenols.

Polyphenols are antioxidants, which help reduce the damage of cancer-causing free radicals. They help minimize cell damage and regulate methylation. There are four types of polyphenols: flavonoids, phenolic acids, benzoic acids, and stilbenes.

Green tea polyphenols have been shown to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, and oesophageal cancer. It’s been shown to suppress methylation or demethylate TSG promoters, which helps protect against the spread of cancer.


Resveratrol has been shown to modify histone acetylation, as it works as a Silent Information Regulator 1 (SIRT1). It helps fight off cancer while maintaining the structural integrity of DNA. You can find resveratrol in blueberries, dark chocolate, red wine, peanuts, cranberries, and pistachios.

 

  1. Drink coffee. 

Caffeic acid is a type of polyphenol. It affects the bioavailability of SAM, which is a methyl donor (and required for methylation).

Some studies have shown that coffee consumption may be able to reduce the risk of cancer, especially progressive prostate cancer. In fact, one study found that coffee was a better regulator of methylation than even tea.

As with anything, though, you want to regulate your caffeine intake. A cup or two a day may help with methylation, but too much can have the opposite effect.

  1. Get sleep.

Sleep has a direct impact on epigenetic factors of methylation and histone acetylation. Learn more about the link between sleep and epigenetics here.

Sleep can literally help your body fight cancer. Tonight’s “all-nighter” could put you at risk for serious disease down the line. Get your Zs for optimal health.

  1. Cut the alcohol.

Alcohol consumption is directly linked to DNA methylation.

Over 20 studies have found that heavy alcohol consumption creates epigenetic modifications that can lead to disease and cancer.

One study, in particular, found that low folate intake and high alcohol intake had a significantly greater prevalence of hypermethylation, which was especially linked to colorectal cancer.

This doesn’t mean you need to cut out alcohol altogether necessarily. A glass of red wine can give you a boost of resveratrol and heart-healthy benefits. As with coffee, it’s the excess of alcohol that can cause genetic concerns. Stick to one glass daily at maximum.

  1. Eat a balanced diet.


Like sleep, nutrition has a direct impact on your genetics. What you put into your body can be the strongest predictor of future health—especially in regards to cancer.

Eating phytonutrients and vitamins is the only way to fight against inflammation, oxidative damage, imbalanced hormones, and more.

Learn about the importance of a rainbow diet for your epigenetic health.

  1. Minimize your stress.

Stress is a proven cause of DNA methylation. The more stress you have, the more it impacts your genetic expression.

In fact, stress has even been linked to cancer—but until recently, the cause of this link was always fuzzy. Epigenetics might be the “missing link” in the DNA.

Stress creates harmful free radicals while also causing methylation that suppresses cancer-fighting genes. This creates a double whammy that can cause progression of cancer.

Find out about the link between stress, epigenetics, and cancer here.

  1. Get more vitamin D.

Studies show that Vitamin D can reverse abnormal epigenetic modifications. Vitamin D has especially been linked to the development of breast cancer due to the role that vitamin D plays with estrogen.

Vitamin D is also linked to the development of prostate cancer.

  1. Workout.


Working out directly impacts your genes. Studies have shown that intense workouts can eliminate methyl groups in just one session. Daily exercise regulates ongoing methylation at a greater rate than even diet or sleep.

This means that you may be able to reduce your risk of cancer with intense, frequent exercises.

If you want to have improved overall health and optimal epigenetic expression, you need an exercise routine. 

Conclusion

Cancer is directly related to epigenetic expressions of your genes. But you can control this expression with lifestyle changes that minimize methylation and acetylation.

It’s time to sign up for our G1 Performance Health program to start experiencing the health and vitality you’ve always dreamed of.

Disease doesn’t wait—so why are you?

Sign up now to start living.

How to Treat Peyronie’s Disease


If you have a bent or curved penis, you may be dealing with Peyronie’s disease.

Between 1 and 23% of men over age 40 deal with Peyronie’s disease at some point. Although it’s a benign condition, it can be painful and make sexual intercourse unbearable.

And I’m a firm believer in the importance of sex for a happy and healthy life.

To ensure you are living to full sexual vitality, let’s take a look at the basics of Peyronie’s: what it is, what causes it, and how you can treat it to regain your sexual prowess.

What is Peyronie’s disease?

Peyronie’s is an inflammatory condition that causes the curvature or deforming of the penis. With the disease, the penis can be bent at an angle ranging from 10 to 90 degrees, and it can bend up, down, or to either side.

It’s normal for a man’s penis to curve slightly. If you have a bend in your penis, don’t panic, especially if you’ve had that bend your entire life. 


Peyronie’s is when the penis bends due to an accumulation of fibrous scar tissue. So, in most cases, this is a new or unexpected bend in the penis.

But Peyronie’s is more than just a cosmetic concern. It can impact sexual performance and cause debilitating pain. A lot of men with Peyronie’s have so much pain that they can’t have sex.

(But not always. You can have Peyronie’s and still have a satisfactory sex life.)

Peyronie’s disease may also lead to high levels of stress and anxiety. That makes sense. It’s easy to get stressed if you look down and see your penis is bent…

But don’t stress yet. Peyronie’s is treatable—and it may even go away on its own!

What are the symptoms of Peyronie’s disease?

Peyronie’s onset can be sudden or gradual. You might wake up one day (with a morning erection) and see a bent, painful penis. Or you might find that over the course of a few months, your penis slowly stops straightening or functioning like it used to.

The top symptoms of Peyronie’s include:

  • Bent or curved penis
  • Penis pain during erection and orgasm (sometimes when flaccid as well)
  • Lumps in the penis (cased by scar tissue)
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Loss of penis length (sometimes)

Peyronie’s can sometimes cause erectile dysfunction as well. The bend in the penis can be so painful that it can make getting or maintaining an erection nearly impossible. It can also create performance anxiety due to self-image concerns. Learn more about the causes of erectile dysfunction here.

What causes Peyronie’s disease?

Peyronie’s occurs from a formation of scar tissue in the penis. Scar tissue forms as a healing response to some sort of injury. Thus, in most cases, Peyronie’s is caused by some sort of injury or trauma to the penis.

This “injury” can be a sporting accident, car accident, or even a sex incident.

The injury causes damage to the capillaries (small blood vessels) in the penis. The penis has two sponge-like tubes on either side called the corpus cavernosum. These are filled with capillaries that engorge with blood in order to have an erection. If the vessels are damaged, blood can’t flow to the penis for an erection.

Some scar tissue may form in order to heal these capillaries. If this scar tissue sticks around, it could lead to Peyronie’s disease.


The penis is surrounded in a casing of skin that’s elastic and flexible. This skin stretches when the penis is erect. However, if there’s scar tissue in the penis, the casing can’t stretch as far.

When the penis becomes erect, the skin has to stretch out to accommodate the erection. But the scarred part can’t stretch. Thus, the scarred part pulls down that side of the penis to keep it bent.

Scarring on the top of the penis will bend it upwards, scarring below will bend it downwards, and scarring on the side will bend it in that direction.

You’ll sometimes see scar tissue referred to as “plaque.” This simply means there’s a buildup of gunk in the penis, which is what’s causing it to bend.

However, there can be other cases of men with Peyronie’s who did not suffer trauma to the penis.

Risk Factors

There are other risk factors for Peyronie’s as well. For example, men with Dupuytren’s contracture, which is a connective tissue disorder, may often have concerns with Peyronie’s.

Age may also play a role, as it becomes harder for our bodies to heal as we age. (Even though most men with Peyronie’s are over age 40, about 8-10% of men with the disease are under age 40.)

Another potential risk factor for Peyronie’s is the treatment for prostate cancer, like a radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy. This is likely because treatment can obstruct the penile blood vessels. These incite the body to go through the healing process, which can include scarring—and scarring can cause Peyronie’s.

How do I know if I have Peyronie’s?

If you have any of the above symptoms, like a bent penis or pain with erection, or you recently had a trauma to the penis, it might be time to visit your doctor.

He will do a physical exam to measure the curvature of the penis. He will be able to identify the location and amount of scar tissue with the examination as well.

In some cases, you may need an ultrasound or X-ray to pinpoint how much and where the scar tissue is exactly located. This is especially important if you’ve elected to have surgery (which I’ll discuss below).

If you’re diagnosed with Peyronie’s disease, you have several options for treatment. This can help reduce pain and make sex possible—and enjoyable—once again.

Keep in mind that the first six months of Peyronie’s symptoms are the most painful. Usually, though, the pain will start to go away without treatment. Because of this, a lot of doctors will wait for 6 to 12 months before attempting to treat Peyronie’s. It’s preferable to wait and see if your body will heal the plaque on its own.

If not, you’ll then have a discussion about treatment options.

How is Peyronie’s treated?

  1. Medication

Most medications for Peyronie’s are injected directly into the penis, not ingested.

There is only one FDA approved medication for Peyronies. Xiaflex, clostridium hystolyticum, is a series of penile injections that help breakdown the buildup of collagen. This can “loosen the gunk” in your penis to return it to its natural elasticity. It’s typically only recommended or prescribed for men with a curvature of more than 30 degrees.

Some doctors will prescribe interferon, which helps break down the fibrous tissue. It may also help reduce swelling and pain.

Verapamil is another possible option. This is a hypertension therapy medication that stimulates the activity of collagens, which plays a role in wound healing.

Keep in mind that these injection medications put a new incision in the penis. This perforation itself requires healing—which could further cause the growth of scar tissue. And scar tissue can lead to Peyronie’s.

  1. Anti-inflammatories

Anti-inflammatories are a type of medication usually taken orally. Some are prescription but many are over-the-counter. The goal of anti-inflammatory medication is to reduce pain and discomfort associated with Peyronie’s. These usually can’t reduce scarring or fix the curve, though.

If you have only a slight curve, your doctor might prescribe anti-inflammatories to temporarily relieve discomfort. When the pain goes away, you may not need treatment if the curve isn’t that severe.

  1. Shockwave therapy

Doctors have started to use shockwave therapy as a means of breaking up scar tissue. This hasn’t been proven as a continuous success, but it works for some patients.

How does shockwave therapy work? Imagine the Hulk just pounded his fist on the ground near a building. The building shakes a bit but stays intact. However, some of the coffee cups fell off the desks, some of the chairs fell over, and some of the ceiling tiles broke loose.


This is how shockwave therapy works (sort of). It uses waves to break up the scar tissue inside to help rid the body of backup and plaque.

  1. Iontophoresis

Iontophoresis uses a weak electrical current to deliver medication through the skin. This allows the medication to be delivered in a targeted area of the penis without an incision. This is only in the trial phases and hasn’t proven successful yet.

  1. Vacuum Devices

Some doctors will use a vacuum device to pull the penis outwards. This helps break up the tissue and straighten the penis. Vacuum devices are sometimes used in the treatment of erectile dysfunction as well.

However, it’s important to note that vacuum devices have a high rate of injury, meaning you could actually worsen your Peyronie’s if the vacuuming doesn’t go well.

  1. Penile therapy

You may need to put your penis through therapy to help rehabilitate it back to life. Therapy is especially recommended for patients taking medication like Xiaflex.

There are two penis exercises that can help get rid of pain and scarring.

When not erect, stretch the penis by gently pulling on it. Do this three times daily for thirty seconds each. This can help break up scar tissue in a temperate way.

You can also gently straighten your penis when experiencing a spontaneous erection. If your penis is curving to the left, pull it gently to the right during erection and vice versa. Do this for 30 seconds once daily.

  1. Nesbit procedure

The Nesbit procedure is the most recommended surgery for Peyronie’s. The doctor will remove or pinch the tissue where there’s scarring or plaque. This gets rid of the tissue, which frees the penis to bend and flex as it used to.

Although it’s the most successful reconstructive procedure, it also causes a shortening of the penis. Thus, it’s usually reserved for men who have adequate length, don’t suffer from erectile dysfunction, and don’t have any other nonsurgical options.

  1. Vein graft

Some doctors will do a plaque incision with a vein graft. This is especially common for shorter penises, those with a more severe curve, or those with an hourglass shape. This procedure puts an incision in the plaque and then grafts a vein in that area.

In this procedure, the surgeon may actually change the size of your penis. They might shorten the unaffected side, which pulls the penis back to be even on both sides. But this will shorten the length of the penis.

They may also lengthen the affected side where there’s scar tissue; they do this by creating cuts and grafts in the tissue. But this has a higher risk of impotence.


I don’t usually recommend these for my patients. There is a high risk for loss of sensation and erectile function, and it may cause an irreversible shortening of the penis. Plus, the body may again create more scar tissue around that incision, causing the Peyronie’s problem again.

  1. Prosthetic implant

You can put an implant in your penis, like those used for erectile dysfunction. This can help strengthen the curve of the penis while increasing the hardness of erections.

The implant is put in the spongy tissue that gets filled with blood during sexual arousal.

There are two types of implants. The permanent implant creates a semi-rigid penis; this can be cumbersome in daily life, but it’s enough for sexual intercourse. The inflatable implant is activated by a pump and creates a more natural erection, but you have to pump it in your penis right before having sex. This isn’t always the sexiest foreplay.

Nevertheless, implants can help improve rigidity and curvature without impacting the length of the penis or creating new incisions that require healing.

  1. Lifestyle changes

It’s also important to note that lifestyle changes have a positive impact on Peyronie’s disease. There is a link between lifestyle changes that are used to treat erectile dysfunction and treatment of Peyronie’s. For example, quitting smoking and exercising more frequently may be able to help the body better heal.

Learn more about treating your ED and Peyronie’s with lifestyle changes here.

Other treatments

Researchers are looking at other treatment methods as well, but these aren’t proven yet. For example, one study found that coenzyme Q10 can reduce penile curvature and another study found that acetyl-l-carnitine could help treat early Peyronie’s disease.

Vitamin E is another natural potential solution for Peyronie’s. It’s somewhat controversial, but I’ve seen success with a number of my patients using vitamin E as it helps to minimize pain and reduce plaque buildup. I will often recommend it to my patients because it’s cheap and easy–and it’s a necessary vitamin that everyone needs!

Is Peyronie’s curable?

Peyronie’s can be curable, but not always. Medication and surgery can show great results, but for some men, there is no permanent cure. Nevertheless, treatments can reduce pain and improve quality of life.

With certain treatments, you can have a more satisfying sexual performance and improved self-esteem, once again.

Bottom line

Peyronie’s disease is treatable. There are a number of options to help manage your pain and restore your sexual function.

You can and should have a healthy, happy sex life.

You deserve it.

If you want to restore your sex life to its youthful vigor, sign up for our G1 Performance Health program.

With an G1 Performance Health Consult, I’ll give you lifestyle changes that can help rejuvenate your sex life and health in weeks.

Don’t wait to have the healthy, sexy life you’ve dreamed of.

Epigenetics Series: How does stress affect your genes?


Could your genes and stress be related? Is stress passed down from generation to generation?

Recent research shows that stress may alter our genes in a way that’s linked to mental and physical illnesses. These stress-induced illnesses may even be hereditary, meaning the trauma of our ancestors impacts our contemporary genetic expression. 

How is stress related to your genes? Why is stress such a problem for health?

And what can you do about it to take control of your health?   

What is stress?

What’s the first thing you think of when you think of “stress?”

Maybe you instantly think of a project you’re working on at your job or a loan you’re trying to pay off. You may even think of public speaking or skydiving.

Interestingly, when we think of “stress,” we automatically think of situations. We think of instances where our bodies are stressed. These are uncomfortable or challenging situations that push our bodies and brains to new places.

These situations cause us “stress.”

In reality, though, stress itself is a response to these situations.

When these situations occur, our bodies release stress hormones called glucocorticoids. The principal glucocorticoid is cortisol, otherwise called “the stress hormone.”

There are two types of stress: acute and chronic.

Acute stress

Acute stress occurs in the short-term. This is when you’re met with a challenging situation that you have to respond to in some way. To overcome this stressor, your body releases a burst of glucocorticoids.

Glucocorticoids prepare your body to tackle the stressor. For example, your heart might start pumping blood faster to give your body more oxygen; your eyes might dilate to see more around you, and your hands and feet might tingle because they’re receiving more blood (in case you need to fight or flee).  

These stress responses are often dubbed as symptoms of “anxiety.” But in the short-term, these hormones can actually give us a biological advantage. For example, they would allow us to fight or flee a bear we come in contact with. In more practical terms today, this response could also make us more alert and energized to give a speech or take a test.

In short spurts, glucocorticoids are manageable and healthy. They can help you tackle a situation with confidence and determination.

It’s when glucocorticoids flood our bloodstream for an extended period of time that they become an issue.

Chronic stress

Chronic stress is long-term. This is caused generally by ongoing stressful situations, like a career you hate, a debt you can’t pay, or an ongoing divorce. Chronic stress can also be the result of PTSD. Even if you aren’t currently going through the stressor, memories of that trauma can continue releasing glucocorticoids for months or years.

Chronic stress causes high levels of stress hormones for an extended period of time. This damages the endocrine system by unbalancing hormones, tiring the body, and fatiguing organ function.

In fact, chronic stress can even negatively impact your genetic expression.

Moreover, this altered gene expression can be passed down from generation-to-generation.

Before we get into how chronic stress alters epigenetic expression, let’s first take a look at why stress is bad for us.

Why is stress harmful?

Stress kills. Stress has been linked to:

Chronic stress can literally burn out your body. Your adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, get fatigued and don’t function properly. The oxidative stress caused by these stressors creates harmful free radicals that severely damage your cells. This accelerates the aging process, damages the immune system, and impacts cognitive function.

Stress is linked to just about every disease—big or small. You’re even more likely to catch a common cold if you’re stressed.

Cortisol and testosterone

Stress also has a direct impact on your sexual health.

If you’re suffering from low libido and low testosterone, it may be because you’re stressed.

Numerous studies have shown that high levels of cortisol are directly linked to low levels of testosterone. There is especially a link between stress and severe trauma with PTSD. Higher cortisol in stressful situations drastically lowers testosterone.

When your cortisol goes up, your testosterone goes down.


Why does higher cortisol mean lower testosterone?

There are likely a number of hormonal pathways that create this hormonal relationship. To simplify it, we can look at the building blocks of cortisol and testosterone synthesis.

The body uses cholesterol to produce cortisol. Cholesterol is also a necessary part of testosterone synthesis. When stress levels increase, all of your body’s cholesterol goes to produce cortisol. This leaves no cholesterol left to produce testosterone.

Testosterone is a critical hormone in healthy adult males. Low testosterone is associated with decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, depression, anxiety, weight gain, reduced muscle mass, cognitive impairment, arthritis, increased risk of heart disease, and more.

Low levels of testosterone kill your energy, productivity, enjoyment, and health. And low levels of T are a direct result of high cortisol and high stress.

Chronic stress not only impacts our hormones but also our genes. High levels of cortisol and low levels of testosterone can alter the way our DNA is expressed, putting us at risk for disease and illness.

How does stress alter your epigenetic expression?

Epigenetics involves two key genetic alterations: DNA methylation and histone acetylation. DNA methylation adds a methyl group to the end of a DNA structure, and histone acetylation adds an acetyl to the end of the histone binding. These additions can either activate or deactivate certain genes.

Research has shown that stress causes both methylation and acetylation on a variety of genes, especially neurological genes (those in the brain).  

DNA methylation and stress

One study found that certain psychological stressors can cause DNA methylation of certain genes. For example, war trauma and physical abuse caused DNA methylation to occur on genes that activate damaging psychiatric disorders.

A study of Cushing’s Syndrome, which is caused by excess cortisol production, found genome-wide changes with regards to DNA methylation. They discovered that individuals with high cortisol levels had less DNA methylation compared to healthy individuals.


DNA methylation suppresses the expression of genes. In this way, certain harmful genetic expressions need DNA methylation in order to be suppressed. For example, in the study, the gene for psychiatric issues remained active because stress kept those genes “turned on;” this caused a number of CS patients to suffer from mental illness at a higher rate.

Research at Johns Hopkins found that mice given corticosterone appeared more anxious during a maze test. When testing their gene methylation levels, they found altered expressions in three of the five HPA axis genes.

They especially found higher levels of Fkbp5, which is the molecular complex that interacts with the glucocorticoid receptor. Genetic variations in Fkbp5 have previously been associated with PTSD and mood disorders.

transform-your-health-with-dna-2

Overall stress and genes

Basically, stress boosts cortisol and other glucocorticoids. These hormones impact histone coding and DNA methylation, activating genes of illness while deactivating healthy-suppressive genes.

Stress also plays an important role in those genes that control memory and cognitive function. Too much cortisol and these genes “turn off,” causing serious psychological and behavioral concerns.

Glucocorticoids, like the stress hormone cortisol, alter the genetic expression in the brain. Thus, any cortisol-boosting situation—like anxiety, PTSD, depression, and stress—can impact epigenetic chemical tags.

Thus, prolonged stress causes significant epigenetic changes that can drastically impact mental and physical wellbeing.

Stress doesn’t just alter your own genes. These epigenetic expressions and psychological concerns can be passed on for generations as well…

How does stress impact your children’s genes?

That’s right. You can pass your stress on to your children.

Studies have shown that environmental conditions of previous generations impact the expression of our current genes as well.


For example, one study found that daughters of women who experienced the Dutch famine were twice as likely to develop schizophrenia. The daughters did not go through the famine themselves, but their mother’s trauma was genetically passed down, increasing the offspring’s risk of mental illness.

Other studies have shown that extreme stress during pregnancy, like living through the 9/11 attacks, can pass the experience on to the child. These children report depression, anxiety, and poor coping mechanisms at a much higher rate than parents who did not live through extreme stress.

This is true even when the children are well cared for. A study of rats found that parents who experienced epigenetic-altering stress passed this genetic structure on to their pups and grand pups—even if they’re pups were cared for and loved in early life.

Although these altered genetic expressions are hereditary, they’re not permanent.

In fact, you can reverse stress-related DNA changes with environmental and lifestyle factors.  

A study of identical twins looked at how environment and trauma impacted epigenetic flags. Although the siblings were genetically identical, their epigenetics changed over time. One twin had depression, anxiety, and obesity while the other did not. This is likely because the latter twin was able to change his epigenetics in a way that suppressed the genes for those diseases.

We have power over our epigenetics.

You can deactivate the stress-related genetic expression that you may have inherited from your family.

And you can prevent the activation of your own stress-induced DNA methylation.

How can you reverse stress-induced genetic risk factors?

  1. Meditate.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to combat high stress is through meditation. Relaxation practices have been shown to reduce cortisol and increase testosterone. In fact, even just four months of meditation practice can help reset hormone levels and improve stress response.

I recommend taking a yoga class and learning deep breathing exercises. You should also get outside to meditate and relax. Studies show that taking a walk in nature is linked to lower cortisol levels. Fresh air helps calm the mind and body—and gets you to exercise as well.  

  1. Workout.

Working out has a direct impact on mood and cortisol. Working out releases endorphins, which makes you happier and less stressed.

High-intensity interval training boosts testosterone and decreases cortisol. Learn more about using HIIT to lower cortisol and increase T here.

This decrease in cortisol has actually been shown to boost cognitive function and improve behavior and mood.  

However, if you have high levels of stress, an intense workout might worsen the problem by boosting cortisol in the short-term. This cortisol increase isn’t harmful to your genes, but it can increase levels of anxiety and tension in individuals already experiencing high levels of stress.

Plus, losing weight and fat can help reduce stress. Moreover, body fat increases estrogen, which decreases T levels. This causes lower testosterone, and low T, in turn, leads to increased body fat and reduced muscle mass—which further impacts stress. It becomes an unhealthy cycle of weight gain, low T, and stress!

  1. Eat more carbs.

People tend to shy away from carbs because they “make you gain weight.” However, a diet that’s too low in carbs can actually make you gain weight by increasing cortisol levels.

Carbohydrates actually help reduce cortisol levels, especially post-workout.

However, don’t go guzzling carbs when you’re stressed, as too many carbs will cause weight gain and this can further increase cortisol and lower testosterone.

It simply means you want to maintain a balance of macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbs. Studies have shown that higher protein diets lead to high cortisol levels, while a strong ratio of protein to carbs creates the most balanced hormones.

Click to learn more about the dangers of an all-protein diet—and why you need carbs.

  1. Get more vitamin C.


Vitamin C has been linked to reduced cortisol production, especially after an intense workout. Vitamin C is also a great testosterone booster.

One study found that vitamin C actually regenerated 58% of damaged testosterone molecules. It also helps with sperm quality, motility, and volume for improved sexual health. Boost your testosterone and you can help reduce your cortisol and stress.  

You can find vitamin C in a number of healthy foods, like citrus, guava, red peppers, strawberries, and papaya.

  1. Sleep more.

Sleep helps reset your hormone levels, reducing cortisol and increasing testosterone.

In fact, if you don’t sleep enough, your cortisol levels rise astronomically.

Cortisol levels naturally rise slightly in the morning to help us wake up and prepare for the day. In reverse, cortisol drops at night to help us sleep.

However, if your body doesn’t drop cortisol at night, you’ll deal with insomnia and late-night anxiety. You’ll also have increased levels of cortisol in the morning that can cause severe, chronic stress whenever you’re awake.  

Sleep is critical to balance hormones, reduce stress, and restore your body’s natural health.

Learn more about how sleep impacts your epigenetics here.

  1. Stand in power poses.

Studies have shown that you can increase testosterone by 20% and reduce cortisol by 25% simply by standing in a “power pose” for two minutes. The researchers concluded that you can change your brain and hormonal chemistry through body language and behavior.

Simply pretending to be powerful and stress-free will make you powerful and stress-free!  

Conclusion

Stress impacts our behavioral epigenetics. Traumatic experiences in our past—and in our ancestors’ past—can scar our DNA. Although we can inherit stress-induced genetic expressions, we can also reverse this process as well. With certain lifestyle and environmental changes, you can reduce your stress and reset your genetics for a healthier expression.

Are you ready to change your genes?

Work With Me

You’ll learn how to change your environment and lifestyle to reduce your risk of major diseases… and finally, have the energy and health you crave!

Upgrade to Male™ 2.0 – Schedule a Consult!

You’ll get access to a genetic-based report and analysis, along with a private consultation that will put you on track to your ultimate health.

With the Male 2.0 Method, I test your DNA, interpret the results, and create a customized strategy just for you. This plan is specific to YOUR individual genes and lifestyle.  It will improve every area of your life, from your health and professional productivity to your overall longevity and total wellbeing. Male 2.0 gives you the actionable tools you need right now.  It reveals what you need to customize and design your future limitless self.

Click here to learn more about the lifelong benefits of a personalized genetics consultation and epigenetic coaching program.

Want more tips to optimize your health?  Listen to the latest podcasts. Click HERE 

I look forward to working with you to take your health goals to the next level.

COMING SOON TO AMAZON

In Male 2.0™, Dr. Tracy Gapin has turned everything we once thought we knew about men’s health and performance upside down. The old model of how to be “a man” is broken. A man who works himself to death. A man who tries to NOT get sick but isn’t really healthy either. A man who takes a pill for every ill but is never really cured. That was Male 1.0. Now, imagine being THE MAN ─ owning your performance in the bedroom, the weight room, and the boardroom. Living a fully optimized life. Becoming limitless. This is Male 2.0!

Tracy Gapin, MD, FACS  is a board-certified Urologist, Men’s Health Expert, Author, and Professional Speaker. Using state-of-the-art biometric monitoring, nutrition and lifestyle intervention, Dr. Gapin coaches Fortune 500 executives and evolutionary leaders of business, sports medicine, and high performance. He specializes in cutting-edge precision medicine with an emphasis on epigenetics, providing men with a personalized path to optimizing health & performance. www.SmartMensHealth.com 

Testosterone: 10 Crazy And Surprising Effects


Testosterone is a necessary hormone involved in health, reproduction, and behavior. Men and women both require testosterone (T) for sex drive, bone strength, muscle maintenance, and more. T levels drastically impact physical, emotional, and mental health.

So what are the effects of testosterone?

Below you’ll find the 10 ways the big T impacts your health, wellness, and even your psychology and behavior.

1. Testosterone increases sex drive

The most common effect of T is sex drive. Testosterone is the key hormone in controlling libido in both men and women. Men produce nearly ten times as much testosterone as women, which is why men generally have a stronger sex drive than women.

That’s also why low libido and low levels T often go hand-in-hand. If you aren’t interested in having sex like you used to, low testosterone levels could be to blame.


But having a strong sex drive and high T levels is actually a predictor of good health.

Our bodies are programmed to have sex. Our evolutionary biology tells us to have sex in order to procreate (to keep the human race alive). You’ve likely heard of the biological theory that men must “spread their seed.”

High levels of testosterone create that hormonal urge to “sow your wild seeds.”

So sex drive is an essential part of our biological processes.

But it’s not the most essential part. Your body first needs to survive in order for you to procreate. Thus, your body will take care of survival before focusing on sex.

Thus, if you don’t have a strong sex drive, it could be because your body is in a state of “survival mode.” Your body is focused on other, more essential processes before it can think about sex.

If you have a disease or illness, your body will shut down the baby-making process to first fend off the sickness. For example, think about the last time you had the flu. You likely had a lowered sex drive because your body was preoccupied with getting healthy.

So what does this all mean?

A low sex drive could be an indicator of low testosterone or another underlying health problem.

To raise your sex drive, you need to boost your testosterone. If you increase your T levels, you’ll feel more sexual and last longer in bed.

Keep in mind that “sex drive” is relative. Your low sex drive may be someone else’s high sex drive. If you feel you are less interested in sex than usual, you should get your levels checked.

2. Testosterone helps you attract women

Testosterone may actually make you more attractive to women (which can help quench that extensive sex drive).

This is partially because of the masculine-feminine dynamic. Estrogen gives women their feminine qualities, while testosterone causes more masculine qualities. An estrogenic woman is often attracted to a man with high T levels and vice versa. This makes for prime reproduction. In this case, opposites do attract.


However, the reason for this attraction actually goes beyond the masculine-feminine relationship. Researchers at Wayne State University studied two groups of men competing for the attention of an attractive woman. They found that men with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to “win the girl.” This was because men with higher T levels were more assertive, controlled the conversation, had more confidence and demonstrated a stronger self-image.

Basically, it can give you the confidence and suaveness you need to talk to a woman in a bar. Low T leads to low confidence and less luck with the ladies.

3. Testosterone makes you more competitive


Studies show that testosterone levels rise when partaking in any sort of competition. This isn’t just a slight rise in T levels. Competition causes such a spike in testosterone that it can actually result in aggressive and antisocial behaviors.

Have you ever met a guy who gets too intense about boys’ night poker? He may just have higher levels of competition-related testosterone!

Testosterone levels also increase after winning and decrease after losing. That may be an explanation for the gloating winner and a sore loser.

Interestingly, one study found that even watching competition impacts testosterone levels. Researchers compared men watching the Brazil-Italy World Cup match. After Brazil won, they found that Brazil fans’ testosterone levels increased and Italy fans’ levels fell.

4. Testosterone makes you more honest.

A 2012 study looked at how T impacts competition and honesty. They found something surprising—testosterone actually makes you more honest, even when in a competitive atmosphere.


They gave 46 men a testosterone gel and 45 a placebo. All participants rolled a dice in private and reported their numbers. They were told they would receive money based on their roll, with a higher roll paying out more cash.

The researchers found that men who received a testosterone gel actually self-reported the numbers more honestly.

They attributed this honesty to self-image. Testosterone increases one’s personal sense of pride. Cheating or lying could damage that self-image. Participants with higher testosterone were less willing to risk damaging their pride or to appear as a liar or cheat.

5. Testosterone makes you less fiscally responsible

In the previous study, men were more likely to value their pride over money. But the two may be linked.

Testosterone also makes men more interested in financial gain. It’s possible that testosterone makes men more interested in money because money contributes to a greater sense of pride.

In fact, this financial desire actually makes those with high testosterone levels more willing to take financial risks. One study found that men with higher levels had a greater willingness to invest more money and make riskier investment decisions. This might be a source of jealousy for those who have never quite managed to pluck up the courage to make their investment dreams come true, but there are plenty of resources available to help you trust in your own judgement, such as this Facebook page for Perpetual Assets which offers advice to those who lack confidence in investment.

6. Testosterone can make you more money


The reverse is true as well. Financial gain can actually increase your T levels.

One study looked at stock traders’ testosterone levels. Researchers found that the traders’ T levels increased on days where they made an above-average profit on their trades.

This implies that financial gain raises T levels. This may have something to do with a financial gain equating to a competitive win and a boost in self-image, as discussed above.

Interestingly, though, the reverse may be true as well. Higher testosterone may also make you more money.

The study also found that men with higher T levels in the morning had above average profits in the afternoon. They were more likely to make more money on days they had higher testosterone levels.

The reason for this isn’t completely clear. It’s likely because testosterone makes you more competitive and willing to take risks, both of which are important traits for stock traders.

Nevertheless, this can be risky business. After making a good trade, testosterone levels rise. But this testosterone can cause men to make riskier financial decisions. These hormones create a “gambling feedback”: a good trade occurs, testosterone rises, and testosterone creates poorer decision-making skills.

Basically, testosterone is more likely to make you willing to “risk it all”—which can make you lose it all or win it all.

7. Testosterone makes you think you’re right

“No honey, I’m right because I have more testosterone than you.”

That’s not necessarily the best way to win an argument—but it’s how testosterone affects the brain. A study of 243 men found that higher levels lead to greater confidence in answers—even when incorrect.

The men were either given a testosterone gel or placebo and then they were instructed to do a cognitive reflection test. Researchers found that those men given testosterone answered 20% fewer questions correctly—but were more likely to be convinced they were right. These men also gave their incorrect answers quicker and their correct answers slower than the placebo group.


This implies that T has two effects. It slows down cognitive processing and increases confidence levels.

If you have high testosterone, you’re more likely to think you’re right. If you have low T, you may have greater uncertainty and anxiety with decision-making skills.

8. Testosterone makes you less emotional

Women are generally more emotional and empathetic than men—and that may be because of their high levels of estrogen. Testosterone, on the other hand, may reduce emotional behaviors and processing.

Research at Utrecht University looked at how testosterone impacted the brain. They showed female participants a series of photographs of eyes, and they were asked to identify the emotion. Researchers found that women given testosterone took longer to identify emotions and made more mistakes than those not given the hormone.

In fact, they found that even just one dose of the hormone was enough to alter the connections between the “emotion processing” parts of the brain.

Elevated levels minimized the ability of the brain to process and relate to emotional cues.

9. Testosterone makes you immortal

No, it doesn’t actually make you immortal. But it may help you live longer. Strong T levels improve health to help avoid serious health concerns and early death. For example, testosterone can help you lose weight, which minimizes obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Low testosterone, on the other hand, is linked to weight gain, loss of muscle mass, loss of bone density, heart disease, and even early death.


Testosterone is especially necessary to regulate insulin and glucose. Low T levels create an imbalance in glucose and insulin, which can lead to the accumulation of fat tissue. This fat increases estrogen and decreases testosterone, creating a negative cycle of low T and weight gain. Testosterone also plays an important role in combating metabolic syndrome.

Low T is also linked to chronic inflammation. This body-wide inflammation weakens the immune system and may be linked to asthma, allergies, diabetes, respiratory disease, Parkinson’s, ADD, Lupus, MS, migraines, and more. Raising testosterone can help minimize harmful inflammation.

Healthy levels of testosterone may:

Plus, testosterone boosts libido and sexual function. And more sex is linked to a longer lifespan! (This is likely because sex is a great form of physical exercise while helping to minimize stress and cortisol levels.)

10. Testosterone isn’t just a male hormone

Men have ten times more testosterone than women, but it’s an important hormone for females as well. Testosterone has the same health benefits for women as it does for men, like weight loss, improved bone density, and greater sex life.

In fact, women with higher T levels have more positive sexual experiences and are more likely to achieve orgasm. Too much testosterone, though, can become a health concern for women. It can lead to “manly” features like deeper voice, hair growth on body and face, and hair loss from the head.

Did you know that kissing actually transfers small amounts of T from the man to the woman? This helps excite the woman in preparation for sex. So, yes, kissing is an important part of foreplay, helping to increase your partner’s sex drive!

Bottom Line

Testosterone plays an important role in overall health and wellness—both inside and outside the bedroom. It’s linked to libido, muscle mass, mental clarity, cognitive ability, energy levels, and more.

Do you want to boost your testosterone andimprove your health? Check out our Male 90X program.

Click below to get started on boosting your T levels for ULTIMATE health and MAXIMUM potential!

Epigenetics Series: What Should You Eat For Your Body Type?


Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”  In other words, eat for your body type.

Do you have trouble losing weight?

Are your blood tests consistently coming back with high cholesterol, adrenal concerns, low testosterone, and other risk factors?

Do you have an increased risk of disease?

Are you currently suffering from an illness?

All of these concerns may be a result of an incorrect or poor diet or failing to eat for your body type.  

What you eat has a direct impact on your genetic expression, which proportionally influences your health and wellness.

This intimate relationship between nutrition and epigenetics has a direct result on your body’s health, energy, and immunity.

Healthy, nutrient-rich foods strengthen your DNA expression to minimize illness, pains, and risk of disease. In reverse, the wrong foods can activate DNA markers that make you susceptible to obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other ailments.

Food is so much more than calories and energy. The vitamins and nutrients you put in your body have a direct impact on your health at a molecular and genetic level.

Let’s take a quick look at what epigenetics is and how it’s related to your diet. Then I’ll give you a list of the best foods you should eat for your body type to activate strong genes and deactivate harmful ones.

What is epigenetics?


Epigenetics is the means of “controlling” your genes. Your DNA pattern will always remain the same. The DNA you were born with will be the DNA structure you die with.

Though your genes don’t change, the expression of those genes can alter over time. For example, you could have blonde hair as a child and now you naturally have brown hair. Your gene didn’t change, but the expression of that hair color gene changed.

This change in genetic expression occurs through activation or deactivation of epigenetic factors. “Epigenetics” looks at those processes that “turn off” or “turn on” certain genes.

Read: What Is Epigenetics & Why Do You Care?

The two most common types of activators are DNA methylation and histone acetylation.

DNA methylation occurs when methyl molecules attach to the end of genetic sequences to tighten or loosen the DNA’s double helix. This process plays a significant role in aging, cancer, and other inflammatory diseases. Methylation has been especially linked to cancer production by silencing those genes that repair cells and fight against tumors.

Histone acetylation occurs when acetyl enzymes alter the body’s histone proteins. This has been shown to control the repression of certain chromatin domains in the DNA process.

Both DNA methylation and histone acetylation impact the way your genes are expressed. If an environmental or lifestyle trigger causes either process, your genes can be silenced or activated.

Just as easily as high-risk genes can be flipped “on,” they can be reversed into the “off” position as well.

The easiest way to reverse or prevent the process of negative genetic expression is with healthy lifestyle influencers—like nutrition and diet.

How are epigenetics and diet linked?

DNA methylation and histone acetylation occur as a result of certain lifestyle and environmental triggers. These triggers can include physical exercise, stress, sleep, addiction, pollution, and diet.

Every day, our body handles oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs naturally whenever we metabolize oxygen in our bodies. When we exercise, move, or even breathe, we metabolize oxygen to create more energy. This is a natural, low-impact oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress also occurs from our environment, like pollution, radiation, pesticides, and chemicals. It can also be a result of high stress or lack of sleep.

Although we deal with oxidative stress daily, high stress can create a serious health problem. This stress, also called “uncontrolled free-radical production,” alters your genetic expression. It minimizes the body’s immunity and damages your body’s natural self-healing properties.


This leads to disease and cancer because the body doesn’t have the immune strength to prevent or fight against illness. Oxidative stress also promotes inflammation, which progresses conditions like cancer, premature aging, and heart disease.

We can’t prevent our bodies from dealing with oxidative stress. However, we can minimize the impact of oxidative stress on our genes and health—through a healthy diet and by ensuring you eat for your body type.

Eating certain vitamins and nutrients actually helps defend against oxidative stress in the body. In fact, diet is the number one way to fight against cancer and disease caused by oxidative stress.

What are phytonutrients?

Certain nutrients and compounds, like phytonutrients, are proven defense mechanisms against free radicals. These nutrients promote the gene expression of protective immunity genes while silencing those genes that initiate high-risk disease.

Phytonutrients are plant-based compounds that impact our bodies at the genetic level. They’re antioxidants, meaning that they fight against (“anti”) oxidative stress (“oxidants”). They’re also anti-inflammatory, meaning they defend against inflammatory triggers. These phytonutrients have healing qualities that are proven to activate healthy genes while silencing adverse ones.


There are nearly 25,000 known phytonutrients. Each plant has its own makeup of phytonutrients, which are usually found in the pigment of the plant. For example, red plants like tomatoes and watermelon contain lycopene, while yellow plants like pineapple and lemon contain flavonoids. Both lycopene and flavonoids are phytonutrients, but they impact genetic expression in unique ways.

Thus, you want to have a “rainbow diet.” A variety of plant colors helps ensure you get an array of phytonutrients in your system. For optimal body function, you need a diversity of nutrients and vitamins.

What should I eat for healthy genes?

You want to incorporate more phytonutrients into your diet in order to eat for your body type and activate immune-boosting genes and deactivate disease-risk ones. This is a process that everyone should add to eat right for his/her body type.

But what specific phytonutrients should you eat for ultimate gene health?

Below I’ll go through some of the most impactful phytonutrients that will boost your overall health—and your sexual health.

Ultimately, though, you want to focus on choosing healthy, whole foods that come in a variety of colors. Whether on this list or not, most fruits and veggies contain nutrients that can assist your body’s healthy genetic expression.

  1. Lycopene

Phytonutrient: lycopene

Foods: tomatoes, watermelon, red cabbage, grapefruit, papaya


Lycopene is a type of carotenoid that gives a reddish color to fruit. It’s a powerful antioxidant that may help decrease the risk of chronic diseases and cancers.

Some researchers have looked at a link between lycopene and prostate cancer prevention and treatment. The general consensus is that lycopene may have an impact on prostate cancer due to its strong antioxidant effect. Lycopene is found in high concentrations in prostate cells, so it may be the fastest acting antioxidant due to proximity. Lycopene has also been linked to slower tumor growth and reduced levels of an insulin growth factor.

The lycopene antioxidant is especially related to the deactivation of “aging” genes. Basically, lycopene may help minimize the natural effects of aging!

  1. Beta-carotene

Phytonutrient: beta-carotene

Foods: carrots, mangos, oranges, sweet potato, winter squash, cantaloupe, spinach, lettuce


Beta-carotene (BC) is most often found in orange fruits and vegetables. It may be proangiogenic, meaning it promotes angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels from pre-existing blood vessels. One study found that BC decreased DNA methylation and promoted vascular endothelial growth.

Strong blood vessels are critical to a healthy body. Your blood vessels transport oxygen throughout your body, delivering energy to your muscles and organs. Without a strong process of angiogenesis, you’re at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. This vascular process also plays an important role in erectile dysfunction, which is often the result of weak blood vessels or other vascular disorders.

  1. Flavonoids

Phytonutrient: flavonoids

Foods: lemons, citrus, pineapple, berries, apples, legumes, red wine


Flavonoids are linked to anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-thrombogenic mechanisms. They seem to be able to module cell-signaling cascades.

Flavonoids are associated with a significantly reduced risk of stroke and cardiovascular events. This is likely because of their anti-inflammatory effects on markers of oxidative stress.

Learn more about flavonoids here.

  1. Glucosinolate  

Phytonutrient: glucosinolate

Foods: kale, arugula, watercress


Glucosinolate is a phytonutrient that suppresses cancer cell growth. These cruciferous vegetables tend to be bitter due to the high levels of glucosinolate. For years, this bitter taste was associated with plant “toxins.” In fact, the reverse has been proven true. That bitterness actually plays an important role in genetic biosynthetic pathways.

Cruciferous vegetables also contain isothiocyanates, which increase histone acetylation and activate immune-boosting genes.

Want to get the most out of your vegetables? Cut your cruciferous veggies and let them sit for five to ten minutes before cooking. This helps activate the glucosinolate enzyme to release the nutrients for digestion and absorption.

  1. Anthocyanins

Phytonutrient: anthocyanins

Foods: pomegranates, blueberries, plums, raspberry, black rice, corn


Anthocyanins are one of the greatest phytonutrient powerhouses. In fact, the flavonoid anthocyanin plays a significant role in minimizing free radicals, decreasing inflammation, minimizing blood sugar concentrations, and preventing age-related neural declines. There are endless proven benefits of anthocyanins that your DNA expression loves.  

This compound gives foods a reddish-purple pigment, so be on the lookout for dark-colored fruits like pomegranates and blueberries.

In fact, pomegranates are proven to be one of the best foods for your sexual and overall health!

  1. Quercetin

Phytonutrient: quercetin

Foods: apples, peppers, blueberries, tomatoes, cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, cocoa, red onion, black and green tea


Quercetin is a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound. It’s a type of polyphenolic antioxidant that reduces oxidative stress and free-radical genetic changes. Quercetin has been shown to fight inflammatory conditions like high cholesterol, heart disease, ulcers, diabetes, allergies, cognitive impairment, prostate inflammation (BPH), cancer, and skin disorders.

This anti-inflammatory effect helps activate a strong expression of your immune genes.

Apples are especially chock full of quercetin and other necessary phytonutrients. If you learn only one thing from this article, let it be this: An apple a day keeps the healthy genes at play!  

  1. Butyrate

Phytonutrient: butyrate

Foods: sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, pickled beets


Butyrate blocks inflammation in the body, especially in the digestive system. It plays an important role in the fermentation of dietary fibers in the gut. This gut-brain link is critical to overall health—as well as genetic health. If you have a strong gut, you are less likely to be susceptible to adverse DNA methylation.

Learn more about butyrate and probiotic microbiome health here.

Have you noticed that some of the strongest phytonutrients reduce both oxidative stress and inflammation?

Find out more about the concerns of chronic inflammation and its impact on genetic expression.

What should you avoid?

All of the above phytonutrients come from fruits and vegetables.

But does this mean to eat for your body type, you have to avoid all non-plant products?

Not necessarily. You can still eat animal products in moderation. Animal products themselves have not yet been linked to epigenetic methylation concerns. However, animal products and packaged, processed foods do have higher levels of chemicals and additives. These antibiotics and preservatives are proven environmental triggers for epigenetic changes.

Moreover, certain foods drastically impact your health at a genetic and cellular level. Take a look at our list of 7 foods that cause erectile dysfunction as an example.

You don’t need to drastically change your diet and lifestyle in order to be healthy.

But you need a diverse diet to maintain genetic health. Eating the same foods day after day make it challenging for your genes to function properly. You need a variety of nutrients and vitamins to maintain all processes in the body, including those that regulate gene expression.


Remember: when you eat for your body type by eating a salad, you won’t instantly change your genes. But healthy, strong choices on a consistent basis can impact your weight, energy, and genetic expression. With the right vitamins, you can reduce your risk of disease—while having the most energy you’ve ever had in your life!  

Bottom Line

Your health is in your hands—and on your plate! It’s imperative for your wellness to eat for your body type. The food you eat has a direct impact on your genetic expression and risk for disease.

Do you know how to incorporate a variety of phytonutrients into your diet?

Do you know how to minimize oxidative stress and control your genetic expression?

No? Then you need an easy, step-by-step plan to get you on the path to ULTIMATE health.

Schedule a consultation to learn how to personalized health advice so you can live your life to the fullest.

Ready to take the next steps?

Schedule a Call

**************************

In Male 2.0™, Dr. Tracy Gapin has turned everything we once thought we knew about men’s health and performance upside down. The old model of how to be “a man” is broken. A man who works himself to death.  Unfortunately, a man who tries to NOT get sick but isn’t really healthy either.  And a man who takes a pill for every ill but is never really cured. That was Male 1.0. Now, imagine being THE MAN ─ owning your performance in the bedroom, the weight room, and the boardroom. Living a fully optimized life. Becoming limitless. This is Male 2.0!

Tracy Gapin, MD, FACS  is a board-certified Urologist,  world renowned Men’s Health & Performance Expert, Author, and Professional Speaker. Using state-of-the-art biometric monitoring, nutrition and lifestyle intervention, Dr. Gapin coaches Fortune 500 executives and evolutionary leaders of business, sports medicine, and high performance. He specializes in cutting-edge precision medicine with an emphasis on epigenetics, providing men with a personalized path to optimizing health & performance. www.GapinInstitute.com

Want more tips to optimize your health?  Listen to the latest podcasts. Click HERE

 

Epigenetics Series: Is Porn Addiction Genetic?


Nearly 23 million Americans suffer from a drug or alcohol addiction. It is estimated that between 7.4 and 14.7 million American adults are addicted to porn or sex. Porn addiction is a serious epidemic. 

“Addiction” is a broad term with an even broader population. Despite the prevalence, understanding, and treatment of addiction, it remains far behind where it should be, with only 1 in 10 individuals getting appropriate and lasting treatment.

Now, research in epigenetics is stepping in to help treat addiction on a deeper and broader scale.

Why are only some people addicted to activities, behaviors, and substances while others are not?

The answer may lie in the expression of your genes.

Recent studies show that epigenetic mechanisms could play a significant role in addiction. In fact, the risk of addiction may not necessarily come from an inherited genetic sequence but from how those genes are expressed.

Understanding the link between addiction and genetics may help create new advances in prevention and rehabilitation moving forward.

So what is the addiction? What is its link to epigenetics? And how can you alter your genes for a healthier life?

What is addiction?

“Addiction” is a psychiatric disorder where a person compulsively engages in or with some stimuli, like drugs, alcohol, or sex.

A person becomes addicted to the “feel good” aspects of this stimulus. This stems from the excitement of the brain’s reward regions. These “reward” regions include the nucleus accumbens (NAc), prefrontal cortex (PFC), and ventral tegmental area (VTA).

Drugs and alcohol are the most common associations of addiction. However, people can become addicted to nearly anything that ignites the reward centers of the brain. For example, other addictions can include gambling, shopping, sex, video games, television, overeating, exercise, and more.


Sex addiction is an especially prevalent concern in America, with the open accessibility of porn. In fact, an estimated 3-8% of U.S. adults suffer from a sex addiction that causes significant distress or impairment in personal, family, social, educational, or occupational areas of functioning.

We know that addiction creates changes in the brain. An ongoing surge of dopamine actually alters the prefrontal regions of the brain. In fact, this dopamine “high” starts to decrease sensitivity. The more you activate this part of your brain, the less it works. This impacts reward, motivation, memory, and cognitive control.

Thus, a progressive “high” can actually make it harder to feel that same sort of pleasure over time. This is why addicts tend to progress deeper into their addiction; addicted individuals seek that same pleasure but their brains become desensitized to it.

Science has proven that this dopamine desensitization alters the structure of the brain. Does that mean addiction could alter DNA and genetic structure as well?

Is porn addiction or any addiction linked to epigenetics?

Addiction is a disease just like any other, like cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Epigenetics impacts these types of diseases.

So does addiction.

A number of studies have looked at the relationship between genes and addiction.

It’s widely accepted that addiction is a “hereditary” disease. Recent studies have found a panel of 11 genes linked to a genetic predisposition for addiction, especially alcoholism. Of these, there are 66 associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP variations) that are correlated with addiction.

Studies have shown that a child has an 8x greater risk of developing an addiction if one parent has a drug or alcohol addiction. This insinuates that there is some sort of genetic predisposition to addiction and can also play a role in porn addiction, and this doesn’t mean one type of porn, this can range to every sexual aspect from real taboo kinks, to simply viewing sites.

In fact, studies show that 50-60% of addiction can be contributed to genetics. (The other half comes from poor coping skills when dealing with stress or emotions.)


So, for decades, children of addicts have been taught to avoid drugs and alcohol completely to prevent the development of their own addiction.

Genes themselves are irreversible. The genes you’re given are the genes you keep for life.

But what if there was a way to “deactivate” or turn off those inherited genes of addiction?

Can we treat addiction with epigenetics?

Epigenetics looks at the expression of genes as opposed to the genetic sequence itself. We can’t change our DNA sequence. But we can change which of our genes are expressed and activated—even those genes of addiction.

Research has found that certain factors can alter this genetic expression of addiction. There are a number of ways addiction can change your epigenetics, but the two most prevalent are DNA methylation and dopamine reception.

DNA methylation

Just like with other epigenetic marks, DNA methylation can activate or deactivate the genes that carry addiction-related risks.

A study at McGill University and Bar Ilan University found that the genes in the brain—especially those in the NAc reward center—can be reprogrammed during drug withdrawal.

They found that you may be able to prevent a relapse of cocaine use by adjusting epigenetic marks during the withdrawal period. This means that an individual going through rehabilitation would be less likely to return to drugs with an epigenetic treatment.

They especially looked at RG108 as a potential rehabilitative treatment. RG108 is a DNA methylation inhibitor. This means it stops the genetic switch that turns a gene on or off. In the study, researchers found that cocaine-addicted rats stopped seeking out the drug once they were injected with the RG108.

This, in essence, could turn off the genes of addiction to stop an individual from experiencing the need or desire to return to the use of the drug or activity.

Researchers also found that this RG108 inhibition was most successful during withdrawal as opposed to while still exposed to the drug. During withdrawal, the genes are already undergoing changes because they don’t have access to the chemicals in the drug. Inhibiting DNA methylation in the brain during a period of withdrawal enhances this change to avoid addiction relapse.

Dopamine receptors

Other research has found a link between dopamine release and genetic changes. A study at Columbia University Medical Center discovered that individuals with greater dopamine release and higher concentrations of D2 (dopamine receptor) were less likely to relapse into addiction.

They found that the brain regions that handle self-control are linked to the genetics of addiction.

This tells us that even self-control is genetic—and it can be altered appropriately.

The scientists found that targeted therapy could increase the odds of extinguishing addiction. These therapies focus on changing certain behaviors to improve the activity in the prefrontal cortex and dopamine receptors.

Another study found a similar finding with sex specifically. The gene, which is also linked to dopamine, influences sexual drive and arousal. Researchers found that individuals with a particular variation of this D4 gene were more likely to develop sexual addiction than those with a typical D4. This proves that sexual activity, including porn addiction, could be a treatable disease based on genetic makeup.

Can knowing your genes prevent porn addiction?

The above examples both look at preventing a relapse of addiction by deactivating certain epigenetic markers. But can you prevent addiction even before it happens?

One group of researchers has been providing a number of studies about epigenetics and addiction. One of their greatest findings was the potential of early-onset prevention of addiction through epigenetics. Meaning if you are genetically predisposed to porn addiction, there may be a way of preventing it from ever taking hold.

They first researched HDAC5 as the suppressor of addiction-risk genes. They found that this inhibitor didn’t prevent addiction-like behaviors from forming, but it did prevent relapse. However, they then looked at all of the genes that HDAC5 inhibits.

They found that HDAC5 also suppresses the gene NPAS4. This gene is the early-onset gene of addiction. Rodents with less NPAS4 still developed addiction behaviors—but it took them a lot longer than their counterparts that had more NPAS4. Researchers found that HDAC5 lessened the effect of NPAS4, which lengthened the onset time of addiction.

Basically, HDAC5 may be able to both prevent relapse and help prevent initiation of addiction behaviors altogether.

Further research still required in order to learn how to prevent addiction… but many researchers think that deactivating certain genes is possible.

What does this mean for YOU?

If you have an increased risk of addiction due to a parent, you don’t have to be scared of your genes. If you’re suffering from addiction now, you can get help and prevent it from coming back.

Epigenetics tells us that there are ways to deactivate the genes of addiction so you can live your life without worry, and potentially be free of your porn addiction.

So how do you “turn off” these genes?

The solution isn’t necessarily to avoid complete avoid porn, sex, drugs, and rock and roll at all costs. (I do not advise taking part in any sort of abuse.)

Nevertheless, avoiding porn doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cured of your porn addiction. It just means you’re abstaining as best you can. If you stop abstaining at some point, though, you could still be at risk for serious addiction.

But you can control your genes and change the way addiction genes are expressed to evade porn addiction altogether.

How?

Lifestyle changes.

Studies have suggested that environmental factors drastically impact the activation or deactivation of the addiction genes.

One study found that addiction was highly related to social environment. Interestingly, some research has shown that genes play a role in how an individual responds to the environment around them.

This means that two individuals in the same cultural environment with the same gene for addiction could have different experiences. If one has an activated gene and another has a deactivated one, the first could have addiction problems while the other doesn’t.

This means you need to surround yourself with healthy habits and healthy people. But this isn’t always easy, especially when stress and other emotional stimuli step in.

Stress can actually activate the addiction gene. One study found repressive histone methylation with repeated stress. Basically, stress caused methylation, which caused the “addiction” genes to turn on.

Stress can activate some of the unhealthiest genes in your body, including the gene for addiction. If you want to reduce your risk and intensity of addiction, you need to first and foremost reduce your acute and chronic stressors.
The doctor’s orders:

  • This week, keep a stress journal with you. Every moment you feel slightly stressed or anxious, write down the time, place, and trigger that caused that feeling. Write down the exact emotions and tenseness you feel.
  • At the end of the week, review your journal for patterns of stressful behaviors. Is there a certain activity or time of day that creates your stress?
  • Find ways to remove these stressors from your life.
  • Next week, do one activity that de-stresses you daily.
  • Do a different activity each day. Switch between meditation, yoga, physical exercise, hobbies, family time, deep breathing, and sex (yes, sex!). Try a variety of activities to see which best relieve your stress.

Create an ongoing stress journal that records when you feel most stressed and relaxed. This will help you find a calming balance to reduce the daily and ongoing stresses in your life. If you have a serious, long-term stressor, talk to a professional for strong coping methods.

Read 5 Healthy, Productive Habits You Can Start This Week

Bottom line

Epigenetics influences a variety of diseases, disorders, and addictions, including porn addiction. Environmental and lifestyle factors like sex abuse can alter brain genes to create serious and long-lasting concerns.

But epigenetics adds something new to our understanding of addiction: we can deactivate the risk of addiction inherited by our parents. We can even activate those genes that handle self-control and reward response. Effectively relieving addictions of all kinds, including porn addictions.

This is promising for the future treatment of addiction and rehabilitation. This is especially useful for the understanding and treatment of sexual and porn addiction.

Although there are some current limitations, epigenetics will play a much larger role in recovery and relapse-prevention moving forward.

You don’t need to fear your genes.

You need to control them—before they control you!

If you’re ready to take control of your health and wellness, there’s no better time than right now.

Sign up for the G1 Performance Health Consult to own your genes, your vigor, and your life!

How To Last Longer In Bed Right Now


If you want to learn how to last longer in bed or extend your stamina in the bedroom, you’re not alone. Almost every guy wants to last just a bit longer. Stamina can help you please your partner, grow your relationship, boost your self-confidence, burn more calories, and have a more satisfying sex life overall.

But at least 35% of men have problems with premature ejaculation. In fact, The New Naked: The Ultimate Sex Education for Grown-Ups reported that 45% of men—even those not diagnosed with PE—orgasm in under two minutes. This can cause psychological and relationship concerns for a number of men, and it may even signal an underlying health concern.

But even those with great endurance want more stamina.

So what can you do to improve your stamina in a healthy (and even sexy) way?

What causes premature ejaculation?

The average duration of orgasm for men is anywhere from 3 to 13 minutes. “Short” sex sessions aren’t a cause for concern. However, premature ejaculation, whether diagnosed or not, can damage your self-esteem and relationship quality.

PE can stem from a variety of physical, emotional, and psychological causes that can be hard to pinpoint. Physical causes of PE include low testosterone and erectile dysfunction. Low T levels can create low libido and reduced energy, which can drastically minimize sexual stamina. Erectile dysfunction has its own branch of causes and concerns, often stemming from psychological stressors or worries.


PE can also often stem from psychological concerns, including performance anxiety. If a man feels he isn’t able to please his partner in bed or feels ashamed for some reason, he will usually tense up and get anxious. This can actually cause him to orgasm faster as the body’s way of relieving this uncomfortable tension.

Thankfully, though, there are ways to overcome these physical and psychological concerns to improve your stamina in bed.

  1. Reduce your anxiety.

Anxiety is one of the major causes of PE, so reducing anxiety is the first step to overcoming fast ejaculation times. It’s common for men to get too “in their heads” during sex. You basically get so nervous about finishing too quickly that it actually sneaks up on you—and you don’t even get to enjoy it as much.

Anxiety disconnects the mind and body so you don’t even realize what you’re physically feeling.

Thus, it’s important to try to relax your mind and body before and during sex.

Yoga

Relaxation in the bedroom starts outside the bedroom. You want to minimize your life stressors while partaking in relaxing hobbies like meditation and yoga. This can help put your mind in a more peaceful and calm state, which allows your body to be more receptive to sex.

Plus, studies have shown that a mind-body connection through yoga can actually lead to more intense orgasms.

Yoga can also help improve lower back pain and flexibility, which both play a role in sexual endurance and stamina.

Find some of my favorite yoga for ED here.

Breathing

One of the best ways to relax your body in both the short- and long-term is through breathing exercises. Deep breathing can help put you in a meditative state to lower cortisol and stress. Cortisol can actually reduce testosterone, which could lead to ED and lowered libido.

Breathing not only helps reduce stress, but it also helps transport oxygen to your muscles. This influx of oxygen helps the muscles relax—including the muscles in the penis. This relaxation can help prevent you from tensing up and having an orgasm too quickly.

Below are three breathing exercises specifically designed to boost your sexual stamina while reducing stress, boosting energy, and minimizing performance anxiety.

  1. Simple breath

Lie on your back. Bend your knees up and rest them comfortably together. Feet should be hip-width apart and flat. Put one hand on your stomach and the other on your heart. Close your eyes. Inhale and feel the way your belly and heart rise. Exhale, and feel them lower. Hold for 10 seconds and release for 10 seconds. Do at least 25 breaths.

This will help you find the rhythm of your breath. You can then call on this belly-breathing technique during sex if you find yourself tense and anxious. Doing these sorts of meditative breathing exercises not only helps improve your relaxation and endurance—but it can actually make you more connected with your partner as well.

  1. Rocking breath

Sit on a block or folded blanket so you’re slightly raised from the floor. Your legs should be folded comfortably underneath you. Place your hands at your hips, as if in a superhero power pose.

Breathe as you did in the first exercise while rocking your pelvis back and forth gently. Move forward on the inhale and backward on the exhale. Increase your speed slightly after each inhale-exhale cycle.

This can help push energy to your pelvis to improve blood flow and muscular strength.

  1. Circular breath

In the same position and breathing in the same rhythm, move your hips in a circular motion. Move your ribcage over your pelvis as you inhale and exhale. Don’t move your lower body; focus on the movement of your ribcage. This circular motion can help open up your pelvis for improved energy and blood flow.

  1. Strengthen your body.

Sex takes a bit of athletic performance. Endurance in the bedroom starts by building your athletic endurance.

You want to especially focus on strengthening your lower back and abdominals. Most sex positions require the use of the lower back muscles, so pain in this area can lead to poor performance and shorter duration in the bedroom. You also need a strong abdominal core for continuous thrusts. Building your core can also help improve stamina, endurance, and stability.


Exercises for your lower back:

  • Superman
  • Child’s pose
  • Kneeling hip flexor stretch
  • Glute bridge
  • Front fold
  • Trunk twist

Exercises for abdominals:

  • Plank and side plank
  • Exercise ball crunches
  • V-ups
  • Reverse crunch
  • Flutter kicks
  • Bicycle kicks

Along with strengthening your muscles, you also want to build your energy levels. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) uses bursts of cardio and strength training to help blast fat and improve endurance. Because you’re working in intervals, your body uses a short recovery time to build up stamina to get ready for the next interval. Often, sex works in a similar way with intervals and periods of faster thrusting and slower movement.

Plus, HIIT has also been shown to increase testosterone levels. Raising your T through exercise is a great way to improve your libido and energy in the long-term.

Recommended Read: 9 Exercises To Beat ED And Have Better Sex

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Developing your pelvic floor muscles can help support harder and longer erections as well as a healthy prostate and bladder and bowel functions. One study found that a 12-week course of pelvic floor exercises increased the average ejaculation time from 31.7 seconds to 146.2 seconds—an increase by nearly four times! A second study found that keel exercises restored normal erectile function to 40% of men suffering from erectile dysfunction.

Pelvic floor exercises help you control the muscles in your pelvic region, so you have greater regulation of your orgasms and sensations.

How to do pelvic floor exercises:

  • Find your pelvic floor muscles. When you’re urinating, stop midstream. This can help you become aware of the feeling of the pelvic muscles. (Don’t do this too often or you could hurt your bladder.)
  • At rest, tighten these muscles for five seconds. Then release for five seconds. Repeat ten times. As you practice, you can hold and release for longer intervals.
  • You should alternate longer intervals with pulsing intervals. Quickly contract and release these muscles for 10 repetitions with a 10-second rest. This variation will help grow the muscle faster.

I recommend doing these exercises three times daily. You can do them anywhere at any time—so you can improve your sex life on the go! Try doing the exercises in different positions for different resistance.

  1. Boost your body with diet.

Studies have shown that a healthy diet can actually help improve stamina and sexual function. Processed food, refined sugar, and dairy have been linked to low energy as well as changes in testosterone and hormone production.

Fruit provides a sustainable source of energy, so you don’t get the same sort of sugar crashes like you would from processed sugar. Bananas are high in potassium, which plays a key role in energy and hormone production.


One study found that vegetarians have twice the stamina as meat eaters. They found that athletes on a vegetarian diet could withstand greater physical feats for longer periods of time than their meat-eating counterparts.

Recommended Video: 3 Prostate Healthy Foods

Recommended Read: 13 Natural, Edible Vasodilators To Treat Your ED

  1. Improve stamina during sex.

Now it’s game time. You’re in the bedroom. How can you improve your stamina right now?

Foreplay

Foreplay is an absolute must. It preps your mind and body for an “extended stay” with sex. The slower you ease into sex, the longer you’ll be able to last. A slow start means a slower finish.

Focus on meditative, deep breathing during foreplay. This will help your penis adapt to the excitement and connect your mind and body before penetration.

Partner-first


Focus on your partner’s orgasm before your own. You may want to start with oral sex as opposed to penetrative sex. Helping your partner orgasm first helps you build up excitement and connection with your partner.

It also makes you less anxious, because you know your partner has already had some level of sexual satisfaction. It eliminates the stress and pressure so you can enjoy your own orgasm better. This works especially well for men suffering from performance anxiety.  

Start/stop method

When you’re close to orgasm, try the start/stop method. Often called “edging” in a casual context, this is when you stop thrusting when you’re close to orgasm. This trains your brain to better control your orgasm response in response to different physical sensations.

When you feel close to orgasm, slow down or stop thrusting. Take a few deep breaths. You may want to use this recovery period to focus on your partner’s pleasure. Then, after the sensation has died down, you can continue.

Slowing down in this way helps relieve tension while concentrating on the sensation. It also helps your body recalibrate to continue with greater endurance.

Sex positions

Certain sex positions can actually reduce your sensation to help delay orgasm. These positions usually reduce penetration depth or change the area of pressure. Full penetration stimulates the underside of the penis, especially the frenulum, which what causes men to ejaculate quickly.

Positions that can help you last longer:

  • Woman on top
  • Spooning (laying on side)
  • Modified doggy (partner on stomach, not knees)
  • Perpendicular

Condoms

Condoms help reduce the sensation, which can delay orgasm and help you last longer. (Plus they help guard against STDs and unwanted pregnancy.) Some condoms are made thicker to actually help extend your stamina by reducing stimulation, like Trojan’s “extended pleasure” or Durex’s “performax.”

Masturbate

Some men find it helpful to masturbate several hours before engaging in planned sex. Masturbation can help boost testosterone levels, so you’ll have a stronger libido and sex drive when you move into the bedroom with your partner. It also removes pent up sexual tension so your muscles feel more relaxed when it’s time for sex.

Masturbation can also help release your first orgasm. After ejaculation, your body needs time to recover. This is called the “refractory period.” This recovery period can actually lengthen your next ejaculation time. (This works in a similar way as HIIT.)

If you don’t want to masturbate or the sex is spontaneous, communicate with your partner that the first round may be fast –but the second round you’ll focus on their pleasure. This communication can help you feel less anxious so you can focus on your connection and sensation during sex.

Recommended Read: 8 Fun Ways To Naturally Increase Your Libido

  1. Don’t use pills or sprays.

Viagra and other pills can make you last awhile… but they’ll hurt you in the long run. These pills mask the symptoms of ED without getting to the root of the problem. Your body actually starts to get dependent upon these meds, and you’ll find that you ejaculate faster or can’t get an erection at all the more you use the little blue pill.

You also want to avoid de-sensitizing sprays. These are local anesthetics that help desensitize your penis to reduce sensation and help you last longer. However, these can have a number of concerns and side effects. If these sprays aren’t applied properly, they can transfer to your partner for an unpleasant experience. You may also find they desensitize you so much that you can’t stay erect long enough for sex.

Never use drugs or alcohol to last longer. Although your lowered inhibitions may help your penis relax and reduce your endurance, this is not a sustainable approach to healthy sex.

Conclusion

If premature ejaculation is interfering with your sexual satisfaction and relationship, it’s time to do something.

You don’t have to go it alone.

With The G1 Performance Health Program, you’ll get in-depth tricks to boost your sexual and overall wellness in weeks!

Sign up today!

Epigenetics Series: How To Sleep For Better Health


Even one night of sleep deprivation can alter your genes. The epigenetic change of poor sleep can result in reduced immunity, poor memory, lowered cognitive processes, enhanced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and even higher risk for cancer and early death.

1 in 3 American adults doesn’t get enough sleep on a regular basis. That means nearly 70 to 80 million Americans are being subjected to reduced health and quality of life simply because they aren’t sleeping enough.

But understanding the epigenetics of sleep could help treat sleep disorders and their associated health risks.

How is sleep related to our genes? How do these epigenetic changes impact our health? And what can we do to reverse these genetic changes, sleep more, and stay healthy?

Epigenetics Recap

Let’s quickly recap the basics of epigenetics so we’re on the same page to discuss sleep genes.

Epigenetics looks at how changes in lifestyle and environmental factors can influence genetic expression.

We can’t change our genes. But certain environmental and lifestyle factors—like sleep— can activate or deactivate the expression of those genes.


DNA methylation is the most important and common epigenetic change. Methylation occurs when proteins attach to the methyl groups on the DNA bases. This attachment either “turns on” or “turns off” the expression of those genes. Think of methylation like a light switch that can flip the genetic expression one way or the other. We’ll also discuss histone acetylation below, which also plays a role in epigenetic expression.

Learn more about epigenetics here: What is Epigenetics and Why Do You Care?

The Importance Of Sleep

Sleep is critical for almost every aspect of our health. From learning and memory building to maintaining a healthy weight to reducing risk for chronic diseases, a number of studies have linked proper sleep to overall health and wellness.

The reverse is true as well. Studies have proven a correlation between lack of sleep and health problems, like metabolic disorders, heart disease, and even early death.


But the reason we need sleep for health isn’t fully understood. It could be because a lack of sleep increases cortisol (“stress hormone”) levels, which is linked to health problems. Or it could be that your cells need sleep to “reset” and regenerate. It could also be that sleep gives our body the necessary energy to use during the day.

Epigenetics is making some headway in understanding why we truly need sleep. Epigenetics suggests that sleep impacts DNA methylation, which can activate or deactivate certain cells in the body.

A lack of sleep may increase DNA methylation, which can suddenly activate the expression of risky genes, like cancer-causing tumor growth genes.

“It is becoming clear that epigenetic factors are highly integrated into networks [of clock genes and circadian gene expression],” wrote Qureshi and Mehler.

Epigenetics Control Sleep Patterns

Recent studies have proven that maternal and paternal imprinted genes control REM sleep.

One study looked at two syndromes, Prader-Willi syndrome and Angelman syndrome.

Prader-Willi syndrome comes from maternal additions (and paternal deletions) on chromosome 15. It results in inactive and sleepy children who tend towards the psychotic spectrum disorder.

Angelman syndrome has paternal additions and maternal deletions on chromosome 15. This syndrome results in hyperactive children who tend towards the autism spectrum.

This says something interesting about the link between genes and these syndromes’ symptoms. The difference comes from an opposite pattern of imprinting, which is the expression of the gene of one parental copy over another (Prader-Willi favors the maternal and Angelman favors the paternal).

When the maternal is stronger with Prader-Willi, children are inactive and sleeping. When the paternal gene is stronger with Angelman, children are hyperactive and sleepless.

The gene is the same, but the expression on wakefulness and sleepiness is different.


This same study also found that these genes can even control dreams. When paternal genes were predominantly expressed, the dreamer showed more aggressive impulses. When maternal genes were expressed, the dreamer showed more pro-social behaviors.

The expressed maternal or paternal gene has a direct correlation to energy levels, sleep capacity, and even dreaming.

This proves, at the very least, that our genetic expression has a direct link to our sleep patterns.

Sleep Patterns Control Epigenetics

But the opposite is true too. Genes control our sleep, but sleep also controls how our genes are expressed.

Research has proven that sleep controls the REM cycle. In fact, nearly 15% of our total genes oscillate along the sleep-wake cycles. This means that the genetic expression is dependent upon sleep patterns. A loss of sleep that disrupts our natural circadian rhythm can actually affect 20% of the genes in our brain.

These genes are called “clock” genes. These clock genes are key components of our circadian clock. How they interact with one another is entirely dependent upon genetic expression. The clock genes control when we are awake and when we are asleep, aka our nocturnal and diurnal cycles.

Yes, whether you are a “night owl” or “morning lark” is actually a factor of your genetic expression!

Some of the core clock genes include BMAL1, CRY 1,2 and PER 1,2. You can learn more about clock genes here.

Sleep and DNA methylation 

One of the most significant studies looked at the DNA methylation after just one night of sleep deprivation. 15 healthy men stayed in the lab for two nights. They slept during one session and were kept awake the entire night for the other.

They found after just one night of sleep deprivation:

  • Complete methylation of CRY1
  • Methylation changes in two regions of PER 2
  • Reduced genetic expression of BMAL1

That means almost all of the clock genes were instantly changed in just one night.  Researchers wrote, “Our current results indicate that changes in our clock genes may be linked to such negative effects caused by sleep loss.”

The study also looked at cortisol and blood glucose levels with sleep loss. They found that one night of sleep deprivation changed the genome of fat and muscle tissue. This demonstrates a direct link to increased risk factors of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

The researchers weren’t actually surprised that sleep impacted DNA methylation. They were more surprised how abruptly this change occurred. Cedernaes said, “It was interesting that the methylation of these genes could be altered so quickly, and that it could occur for these metabolically important clock genes.”

But what’s the problem? Why do we care about these clock genes?

These clock genes determine not only our patterns of sleep but also other key impacts of health, including cognitive function, metabolic health, and immunity.

Key Epigenetic Changes Dependent Upon Sleep

  1. Sleep improves immunity

There is a direct link between sleep and the immune system. A loss of sleep reduces the ability of the body to fight infection and diseases.

One study found an increase in DNA methylation in children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Increased methylation occurred primarily on the FOXP3 (Forkhead Box P3) gene. This gene is known for regulating the body’s immune response.

Methylation of this gene increased levels of two key proteins:

  • High sensitivity C reactive protein: linked to cardiovascular disease and inflammation in blood
  • Myeloid-related protein 8/14 complex: has a role in the body’s inflammatory process

Overall, researchers concluded that increased methylation levels increased the systematic inflammatory response. This chronic inflammation reduces the immune system while damaging organs and body functioning over time.

Learn more about the serious adverse health effects of chronic inflammation here.

  1. Sleep enhances memory and cognitive functioning


Memories are stored while we sleep. If we aren’t sleeping, our brain doesn’t have time to “record” these memories.

Like methylation, histone acetylation is another epigenetic mechanism. This occurs when acetyl groups are added to histones (histones help order the structure of DNA). An addition of acetyl relaxes the DNA chromatin structure, which increases the expression of that gene.

While DNA methylation “turns off” or “turns on” a specific gene, histone acetylation enhances the “on” of a gene. If DNA methylation is a light switch, acetylation is the dimmer function.

Studies have proven a link between reverse histone acetylation and brain function. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are especially implicated in learning and memory.

A lack of sleep can actually cause histone acetylation, and thus impact the brain’s ability to form memories and apply new learnings.

One study looked at rats with three days of sleep deprivation. They found that sleep loss decreased histone acetylation levels and increased HDAC2 expression.

They also found a reduction in BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factor) promoters. These proteins are critical for the creation of neuron synapses and associated memory formation.

The sleep deprivation reduced BDNF expression, which can interfere with the process of building neurons. Without these neurons, the brain starts to slow down, especially with regards to memory formation.

That’s why a night without sleep can make you so foggy and forgetful.

The researchers then administered an HDAC inhibitor to reverse this process, which was able to restorer spatial memory function.

  1. Sleep minimizes cancer risk

Studies have shown a link between a desynchronized circadian clock and tumor development. Not getting enough sleep can alter genes that are linked to immunity and tumor growth. This leaves your body exposed to cancer progression without the immunity to fight it off.

This likely occurs due to the decrease in melatonin with lack of sleep. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep and wakefulness.

One study found that melatonin can actually reverse tumor growth. In reverse, a lack of melatonin enables tumor growth progression. If we don’t sleep enough, our bodies don’t release the necessary melatonin. Moreover, light at night inhibits the release of melatonin. This melatonin deficiency has been linked to global DNA methylation, which impacts genes that regulate the immune system and inflammation.  

In essence, melatonin is necessary to prevent and reduce tumor growth.

  1. Sleep impacts stress (in a cycle)

Sleeping more can actually reduce your stress. Sleep helps lower your cortisol levels and increase your other hormones, like testosterone. A reduction in the stress-hormone cortisol can help your body feel less anxious and stressed.

But the reverse is true too. You need to reduce your stress if you want to get better sleep.


DNA methylation plays an important role in our body’s response to stress. DNA methylation can “turn on” stress genes. Stress causes histone modifications in the hippocampus, which can make the brain too active to get a good night’s sleep.

And many scientists believe that stress causes insomnia.

So DNA methylation might increase stress, which causes insomnia.

Insomnia and disrupted sleep then itself can become a chronic “stressor.” This stressor causes the DNA methylation that then causes insomnia.

It becomes a negative feedback loop of sleeplessness, stress, and unhealthy DNA methylation of genetic expression. This can literally perpetuate and sustain insomnia and associated health concerns indefinitely.

But we can actually break this cycle of epigenetics… by sleeping more.

How To Sleep

Can you “bank” your sleep?

This is always the first question people ask. Is it okay if I don’t sleep during the week and I sleep a lot on the weekend?

Well, no… but maybe.

Scientists are still looking at the impact of sleep accumulation.

However, as we saw with the above study, just one night of sleep deprivation can impact DNA methylation. Chronic sleep loss may have irreversible effects on genetic expression.

But, that doesn’t mean you should start losing sleep over your lost sleep. You want quality sleep every night, but one rough night won’t kill you. It’s generally accepted that it’s better to make up lost time the following day or weekend than to consistently tire yourself out running on no sleep.

So what does a healthy sleep look like?

In all honesty, the jury is still out on the answer to this question. So I’ll give you two key tips to follow that everyone can agree on.

  1. You want to sleep in full REM cycles when possible.

One REM cycle is about 90 minutes long. This means you generally want to wake up in intervals of an hour and a half. For example, you want to set your alarm for 6 hours, 7.5 hours, or 9 hours. Waking up after 8 hours interrupts a REM cycle, which will not only leave you tired and grouchy, but it could also impact DNA methylation and epigenetic expression.

The number of hours you should shoot for each night is still up in the air. I generally recommend 7-9 hours each night depending on your own energy levels. You can sometimes get by with 6 hours depending upon your own body’s needs.

However, with regards to epigenetic expression, the number of hours seems to be less important than when you sleep. You want to follow the natural light-dark cycle of the earth—and of your body. Sleeping during the day may actually impact your chromatin remodeling and cellular metabolism.  

  1. Go to sleep when it’s dark. Wake with the sun.

Learn more about sleep and increasing your energy here.

The Bottom Line

Sleep affects our “clock genes.” These genes are linked to key health factors like the immune system, inflammation regulation, cancer progression, stress, and chronic disease.

Even one night of sleep deprivation can impact the epigenetic profile. Sleep alters the expression of our genes. This means that sleep can literally control our behavioral and physiological functions.

Further understanding of the epigenetics of sleep could help treat sleep-wake disorders as well as reduce risks of neuro-degeneration, metabolic disease, cancer, diseases, and aging.

It’s critical to sleep in appropriate circadian rhythms to improve the immune system, boost cognitive function, reduce cancer risk, and more.

Do you love learning about how you can control your genes and health?

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13 Estrogenic Foods And Products To Avoid For Your Health


Recent research suggests that obesity, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and mood disorders could be linked to estrogen dominance. High levels of estrogen squashes your testosterone, which can lead to poor sexual function, lowered libido, fatigue, loss of muscle mass, brain fog, and other health concerns.

Both men and women need estrogen for growth and development, but too much estrogen can damage the body. More and more studies are coming out that show our foods and environment are filled with synthetic estrogens. These artificial hormones disrupt the natural endocrine production and create an unhealthy balance of high estrogen and low testosterone.

If you want to maintain your health and reduce your risk of hormone-related concerns, you need to watch your estrogen intake in your foods and environment.

What is estrogen?

Estrogen is a naturally occurring hormone in both men and women. It’s usually considered a “female” hormone, because it gives females their feminine characteristics, including the regulation of the menstrual cycle. But men also need estrogen for growth and development.

Men need to be highly aware of their estrogen levels. If these levels are even slightly above normal, it can impact testosterone and insulin. Low levels of estrogen can predispose men to osteoporosis, brain changes (like memory loss), and unbalanced hormones. When estrogen levels are off, the other hormones unbalance in tandem, creating a body-wide endocrine disaster. This hormone imbalance can create a number of health concerns, including low testosterone.

What are the health concerns of excess estrogen?

Excess estrogen in men is linked to a number of serious health concerns that can impact short-term and long-term health.

Estrogen dominance is a toxic condition. Estrogen is the hormone that promotes growth and development. Too much estrogen is linked to the growth and spread of cancerous tumors. Researchers have especially studied the connection between excess estrogen and breast cancer in both men and women. Excess estrogen may also increase the risk for testicular and prostatic cancers.

Read: Does My Husband Have Prostate Cancer?


High levels of estrogen are also linked to weight gain. Estrogen likes to “hold on” to fat cells, which can make weight loss a challenge. Excess estrogen also upsets insulin levels. Insulin metabolizes sugar; when insulin is out of whack, it doesn’t fully process these sugars. If insulin can’t remove sugar from the bloodstream, the body starts storing that sugar as fat. This creates weight gain and eventually can lead to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Reducing estrogen levels and increasing testosterone levels can increase muscle mass and decrease fat mass.

Excess estrogen can also cause thyroid concerns and depress the immune system. Other health concerns from this hormone imbalance include:

  • Sexual dysfunction
  • Lowered sperm counts
  • Infertility
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Depression and mood disorders
  • Liver fatigue (liver works to reduce estrogen)

How do you know if you have excess estrogen?

In most cases, the symptoms of excess estrogen in men are similar to those of low testosterone (because high estrogen will suppress testosterone levels). These symptoms include:

  • Low libido
  • Thyroid imbalances
  • Digestive issues
  • Infertility
  • Fatigue
  • Depression

Where does excess estrogen come from?

It’s surprisingly common for men to have elevated estrogen levels, especially as testosterone declines with age. Combined with a high intake of estrogenic foods and an estrogen-filled environment, there is a perfect storm for high estrogen levels in men.

Xenoestrogens are chemical, synthetic compounds that mimic the structure of estrogen. Phytoestrogens are plant-based compounds that also show estrogenic properties. In the body, these xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens not only raise estrogen levels but also disrupt the endocrine system overall.

These synesthetic estrogens are popping up more and more in our environment. From the foods we consume to the chemicals in our household products, “estrogen” is everywhere—and it’s seeping into our systems and impacting our health.

Below you’ll find the 10 foods and 13 products to avoid in order to maintain a healthy hormone balance.

  1. Soy


Soy contains isoflavones, which are a type of phytoestrogen (the plant compounds that mimic estrogen). Isoflavones interrupt the endocrine (hormone) system and depress thyroid function. The thyroid helps regulate the metabolism, control hormones, and more; this dysfunction can contribute to metabolic syndrome.

Along with the isoflavones in soy, most soy grown in the U.S. is genetically engineered with heavy herbicides. In fact, more than 94% of soy grown in the U.S. is GMO (genetically modified). Farmers inject hormones into the soy plants in order to artificially engineer their growth and development. The plants hold on to these hormone-xenoestrogens throughout their life cycles. You then directly consume these synthetic hormones when you consume the soy.

Moreover, studies have shown “extreme” levels of glyphospate in U.S. soy. Glyphosate has been proven to increase estrogenic activity. If you are worried about and want to reduce your glysophate intake but aren’t sure how to go about it, there are therapies that offer up a foot detox, it supposedly pulls out all of those nasty toxins in your system bringing them into the water and helping the detoxification of your body making it healthier. Always check with a medical professional first before trying any alternative therapies.

  1. Meat & Dairy

Estrogenic hormones are used in excess on cow farms. The animals are fed synthetic estrogens to grow and stay healthy. This injected estrogen doesn’t disintegrate or go away, so you absorb these hormones when you consume any meat or dairy roducts. In this case, you really are what you eat.

Moreover, a number of farms force-feed their livestock soybeans, so you’re getting the estrogenic properties of the soybeans as well. They also spray the cow feed with pesticides that are considered estrogenic.


A number of farms use zeranol to enhance meat production. Zeranol is banned in the European Union, but it’s still prevalent in the U.S. Little is known about the negative health effects of zeranol, but several studies have shown a link between zeranol and early puberty and breast development in prepubescent boys and girls.

Dairy can be especially high in estrogen. In fact, nearly 80% of our dietary intake of estrogen comes from cow’s milk. Cows produce milk in order to feed to their young when pregnant or nursing, which is also when their estrogen levels are higher. In order to make milk, the cow needs to have high levels of estrogen; like other hormones, that estrogen goes into milk as well.

Injected hormones, pesticide estrogens, and the cow’s estrogen all leads to an excess of estrogen in meat and dairy that can drastically impact hormonal levels.

  1. Wheat

The Scripps Research Institute found that zearalenone colonizes on corn, barley, wheat, and other grains. Zearalenone is a fungus that mimics estrogen in the body. This research found that zearalenone actually reduces the anti-estrogen effects of breast cancer treatment.

In order to get rid of naturally-occurring zearalenone, farmers spray the plants with hormone-filled herbicides. With wheat, you could be consuming either estrogenic zearalenone fungus or estrogenic herbicides. It’s a catch-22 that can drastically impact hormones levels.

Also, certain types of wheat can cause inflammation in the gut. Chronic inflammation is the primary—though silent—cause of a number of diseases, like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression, prostate disorders, and more.

  1. Flaxseeds


Flaxseeds are a “super food” powerhouse filled with high fiber and omega-3s. However, flaxseeds are also high in phytoestrogens, drastically disrupting the endocrine system. 100g of flax has nearly 379,380 micrograms of estrogen. Watermelon, in comparison, has 2.9 micrograms of estrogen.

Flax also contains lignans, which have estrogenic properties. In some people, lingans may inhibit cancer cell growth, while in others it can stimulate cancer cells. It’s recommended to avoid lingans and flaxseeds when already diagnosed with cancer or going through cancer treatment, but research is inconclusive about lingans’ ability to lower cancer risk in a preventative way.

Despite its natural health benefits, flax is becoming more and more genetically modified as it grows in popularity. This genetic modification uses estrogenic hormones, like we discussed soy and dairy products. Thus, you can still eat this super food for all the great fiber and omega-3 fatty acids—but look for organic or pure flaxseeds and flaxseed oil.

  1. Sugar

Sugar causes a spike in insulin. A spike in insulin lowers the level of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). SHBG binds to excess estrogen and testosterone to naturally maintain healthy hormone levels.

When SHBG is low, estrogen and testosterone increase because SHBG isn’t there to remove the excess hormones. Thus, when insulin spikes and creates a drop in SHBG, estrogen levels increase in tandem.

Read: 7 Foods Causing Your Erectile Dysfunction

  1. Alcohol


Studies have shown heightened estrogen activity after consumption of beer, wine, and bourbon. Alcohol triggers a release of estrogen while depressing testosterone, which can create a short-term impact on hormones. With heavy drinking, this can create a chronic imbalance of hormones.

The hops in beer contain a phytoestrogen that especially disrupts natural hormones. This is one reason for the beer belly; too much beer is not only high in calories but it’s also high in estrogen, which “holds on” to belly fat. You might want to try the Dherbs detox water recipe to help eliminate any stubborn belly fat.

  1. Processed foods

High fatty and carb foods increase bodily inflammation and raise estrogen levels. Be aware of processed foods like pastries, white bread, pretzels, fried foods, and other heavy carbs. You want to incorporate carbs and fats into a well-balanced diet—but opt for healthy carbs and fats like avocados, olive oil, and vegetables.

Read: Why You Should Never Eat A High-Protein Diet If You Want To Build Muscle

  1. Food additives

A number of food additives and preservatives can also possess estrogenic effects. This includes 4-hexylrescorcinol, which is used to prevent the discoloration of shrimp, and propyl gallate often found in vegetable oil, meat products, chicken soup base, and chewing gum.

  1. Legumes


Legumes are great for health, but they’re also high in estrogenic properties. Chickpeas, red beans, black-eyed peas, green peas, and split peas are all legumes. Black beans have nearly 5,330 micrograms of estrogen per 100g and hummus has 993 micrograms of estrogen per 100g. This won’t drastically impact your health, but be aware of your legume intake when trying to maintain healthy testosterone levels.

  1. Non-organic produce

Most produce is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides that have high levels of estrogenic hormones. Even with a thorough washing, you’re still ingesting a number of these chemicals and synthetic hormones. Try to eat organic produce when possible. Even some “organic” products aren’t 100% hormone-free, so make sure you’re researching your food labels.

Note: Farmed salmon is also high in hormones and antibiotics. Eat wild-caught salmon when possible.

  1. Plastic water bottles


Some plastic water bottles contain BPA (bisphenol A), which is a xenoestrogen. BPA is a synthetic compound that has been studied extensively for its effect on human safety and exposure. You’ll find BPA in plastic water bottles, canned foods and drinks, cash register receipts, and keg liners.

BPA in plastics can leech into the drinking water in the plastic bottle, where it’s then absorbed into your bloodstream. A 2013 study found that BPA disrupts the normal estrogenic receptors, potentially triggering obesity, type 2 diabetes, asthma, and cancer.

Another study found that estrogen activity was three times higher when water was packed in PET plastic bottles compared to glass.

  1. Tap water

You can also find estrogen residue in your tap water supply. Some people blame this residue on people flushing birth control pills down the toilet, but this is only partially true. In most cases, the estrogen found in our tap water is due to a runoff of herbicides and pesticides from farms and agricultural plants. This can end up recirculating in the water supply, causing you to glug down water filled with synthetic estrogen.

Most filters can remove estrogen from your water supply.

  1. Phthalates

Like BPA, phthalates interrupt estrogen receptors, creating an increase in free-floating estrogen. Research has linked phthalates with prostate cancer as well, possibly due to this estrogen dominance.

There are phthalates in synthetic scents (cologne), vinyl, laundry detergents, and plastic cling wrap. When possible, choose natural home products to avoid these estrogen-disrupting chemicals.

How to avoid extra estrogen

What can you do to avoid this intake of environmental and dietary estrogen? How can you keep your estrogen levels as consistent as possible?

  1. Avoid plastic bottles and plastic use. Never heat plastics in the dishwasher or microwave, as this can release the chemicals into the water or food.
  2. Don’t use nonstick cookware, which can have BTA.
  3. Avoid vinyl curtains and flooring.
  4. Choose fresh or frozen foods. Canned foods and drinks can contain BPA in the lining.
  5. Don’t accept receipts or store them in your purse or pockets.
  6. Use coconut, olive, or avocado oil in place of vegetable oil.
  7. Avoid dairy and soy. Instead, drink goat milk or nut milk (almond, cashew).
  8. Choose organic and grass-fed animal products. Choose organic produce when possible. Look at the label to see if it’s hormone-free and pesticide-free.
  9. Drink filtered water.
  10. Exercise often. This helps minimize body fat, which can keep your estrogen levels healthy. This is also important to conquer metabolic syndrome, overcome erectile dysfunction, normalize hormones, and improve overall health.
  11. Eat a lot of greens. Greens help pull out excess estrogen and detox your body. I recommend cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and Brussels sprouts.

(Some people recommend a dandelion and milk thistle detox, but the results can be varied and side effects are strong.)

The Bottom Line

If you want to maintain a healthy hormonal balance with strong testosterone levels, you need to avoid estrogen excess or dominance. But in today’s world, estrogen is everywhere: in our food, in our water, and even in our laundry detergents. The more you subject your body to these synthetic estrogens, the more unbalanced your own hormonal system will get.

Keep your hormones in check by avoiding the above 13 foods and products and consistently, regularly detoxing.

Want more advice on what you should and shouldn’t be eating or using?

Sign up for the Male 90X program. This genetic-based report and private consultation will give you the tools you need to achieve your maximum potential.

What Is Epigenetics And Why Do You Care


Epigenetics is making a splash in science and healthcare as the medical community is deepening understanding of the link between gene expression and lifestyle factors. Epigenetics is the study of those processes or variables that activate or deactivate the expression of certain genes. These genes make up our entire lives—from the way we look to the way we act to the way our bodies respond to disease.

Epigenetics is showing that we can “turn off” and “turn on” our genes through certain lifestyle variables, like diet, environment, exercise, stress, and sleep. If we have control over the activation of our genes, we may also have control over the way our bodies behave and respond to illness.

What are genes?


To understand epigenetics, we first have to understand the basics of genetics. Our “genes,” or DNA, are what make us who we are. Over 3 billion nucleotide bases that appear in a specific and unique sequence make up our DNA. This sequence of genes provides the cells of the body with information. There are four fundamental types of DNA bases, adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T).

DNA directs the activity of the cells (which are the fundamental units of human life). The genes tell the cells how to build proteins and how to interact with one another. From hair and eye color to risk for disease and immune response, our DNA controls what we look, act, sound, and live like.

Every person has a unique DNA sequence. Only half of our genetics pass on to our children, while the other half comes from our spouse. No two people have the same genetic makeup—it’s what makes you unique!

But our DNA is just the sequence and this sequence remains unchanged unless afflicted by a rare (and sometimes damaging) mutation.

Our DNA is the instruction manual, but the cells are the builders and doers.

The body’s cells read this sequence. How the cells read the DNA will determine our genetic expression.

Genetic Expression:

Genotype: the genetic makeup or sequence of your cells

Phenotype: the observable characteristics that stem from the genotype

The genotype is the actual sequence of your DNA. The phenotype is how that genotype is manifested in your body in observable traits, like development, physiology, or behavior.

For example, your genotype would be the sequence of DNA bases that determine your eye color. The phenotype is the observable color, like blue.

Eye color doesn’t usually change, but not all genotypes and phenotypes are as cut and dry as eye color. Most DNA genotypes can be read in multiple ways.

The phenotype is the interpretation of the genotype… and there can be multiple interpretations.

Where do the different interpretations come from?

They stem from those parts of the genes that are “turned on” (active) or “turned off” (inactive).

This is where epigenetics comes into play.

What are epigenetics?

Epigenetics looks at how external and lifestyle factors can active or deactivate certain gene expressions.

For decades, we thought that our genetics were our genetics. They were unchangeable—or at least changeable very, very slowly. We thought that mutations in genes took multiple generations to be expressed, and these mutations were usually by random.

Recent years of research is disproving this. We’re finding now that our genes can be modified in our lifetime and then passed down to our children. This means your gene expression can literally be different as a child versus as an adult.

For example, you may not be at risk for cancer as a child but you’re at risk for cancer when you turn 30 because that cancer gene has suddenly been “turned on” from years of exposure to environmental factors, like smoking and pollution.  

Factors that affect genes

Epigenetics looks at how certain genes can be silenced (dormant) or expressed (active) over time and what factors influence this. Research is proving that what you eat, where you live, when you sleep, how you exercise, and even with whom you interact can all modify your genes.

Genes don’t just create an order in the womb and stay the same forever. The expression of those genes can change over the course of your life based on your lifestyle and other environmental factors.

Epigenetics doesn’t change the genotype or actual sequence of DNA, but it affects how the cells in the gene are read (the phenotype).

If we could understand exactly which factors turn off and turn on certain genes, we could, in essence, eradicate a number of diseases and cancers.

These changes in genetic expression can occur at any point in your life. They can also occur in previous generations and be passed down through decedents. For example, one study proved the influence of environmental factors on developing infants both in the prenatal and early postnatal stages. In one specific example, children born to mothers who suffered the Dutch famine (1944-145) had increased rates of coronary heart disease and obesity compared to those not exposed to the famine.

Living healthier not only impacts you and your genes. It impacts your children and your children’s children as well.

DNA Methylation

The most studied and understood factor of epigenetics is DNA methylation. DNA methylation controls gene expression. Basically, high methylation turns genes into the “off” position.

Methylation refers to the addition of a methyl (CH3) to the DNA strand. This addition, in essence, turns the DNA strand into the “off” position, as if the methyl addition were flipping a switch.

Whether methylation is a default state or a target on certain genes is still being studied.

DNA methylation is important to ensuring that dangerous sequences of DNA are “turned off.” For example, you want an increase in methylation on sequences that control cancerous cells. In most studies, the genomes in cancer cells are hypomethylated (low in methyls).

Certain lifestyle factors will cause DNA methylation of certain types of cells.

What factors affect health?

Diet, lifestyle choices, stress, and behaviors can all impact the expression of your genes. For example, smoking is proven to mutate your cells and impact the DNA expression of those cells. The chemicals found in cigarettes literally morph your cells, activating the “cancer” genes that were otherwise turned off.

Environment

Your environment directly impacts your health and wellness.

Air pollution especially has a direct link to epigenetics. Studies show that pollution might alter the methyl tags on DNA, which can increase the risk for neurodegenerative disease. Moreover, air pollution can cause or exacerbate asthma, which can be passed down to children.

This pollution also gets into the bloodstream, leading to chronic inflammation in the body. This inflammation has been associated with heart attacks, strokes, cancers, and other diseases.

But changing your environment can also change your genes. Removing yourself from a harmful or polluted environment is the first step. If you need to stay in that environment, regular detoxes and healthy eating is crucial. Certain supplements can also counteract the effects of the environment. For example, B vitamins may protect against epigenetic changes due to pollution.

The environment and air your cells take in has a direct impact on your health and genetic expression.

Diet

What you put into your body also directly feeds into your cells. For example, polyunsaturated fatty acids can promote free radicals and oxidative stress, which can cause your genes to be expressed in a different (mutated) way.

On the other hand, “antioxidants” can help deactivate cancer cell expression. Antioxidants help fight off oxidative damage and free radicals caused by environmental factors like UV ray damage or pollution. Foods like blueberries and kale are known antioxidants.

So, if you undergo some sort of environmental stress, your diet can actually help reverse the damage to your cells.


Some dietary compounds are now accepted to defend against tumors and act as “epigenetic modulators.” These consist of teas, garlic, herbs, grapes, and cruciferous vegetables. For example, one study showed that the diallyl-disulfide in garlic may help minimize colon tumor cells.

Polyphenols are a compound that also impacts an epigenetic expression. Some studies have shown that polyphenols can actually reverse malignant transformation of cancer cells. Soybeans are especially rich in polyphenols that inhibit DNA methylation of cancer cells. In fact, some data suggests that soy consumption is associated with a reduced risk of hormone-related cancers because of the impact of polyphenols on epigenetic expression.

The supplements you add to your diet also have an impact on your cells. Vitamin deficiencies can activate certain cell expressions.

Read: Why You Should Never Eat A High-Protein Diet If You Want To Build Muscle

Keep an eye on the Dr. Gapin blog for more about diet, supplements, and epigenetic expression coming soon!

Drugs & Alcohol

Addiction is hereditary, but how?

There may be a gene for addiction, but the reading or phenotypic expression is what actually manifests in addiction.

This means that addiction can be “turned off” and “turned on.” This is why addicts are often considered addicts “for life”—because it’s in their genes. But it’s also why these “for life” addicts can go 20 years without using.

An addict has the gene for addiction, but certain lifestyle changes can deactivate its manifestation.

Researchers are still studying to see whether genetics creates a predisposing factor to addiction or the expression of the addiction is a response to the use of drugs and alcohols. Ultimately, though, most scientists agree that if you don’t use drugs and alcohol, you are less likely to “turn on” that addiction gene, even if it runs in your family. They also believe that if you are already showing the phenotype (you already have an addiction problem), certain healthy lifestyle changes can deactivate this expression.

Exercise

Some research suggests that exercise can influence gene expression by manipulating the chromatin structure. Basically, exercise can minimize inflammation in the body by impacting DNA methylation. When exercise minimizes chronic inflammation, it helps “turn off” the bad cells and promote good cells.

Other studies have found a link between exercise and genes through the chemical beta-hydroxybutryate (DBHB). DBHB is a ketone that increases the BDNF gene—which is used for healthy production of protein. DBHB builds up in the brain due to exercise, creating an alternative source of energy and “turning on” strong genes in the sequence. It has also been shown to act as a class I HDAC inhibitor in other parts of the body. Basically, exercise increases DBHB, which helps keep the brain and body healthy.


Need more proof? One study had participants bicycle using only with one leg. That leg was obviously more powerful in the muscles, but the cells’ DNA showed an even more interesting finding. Researchers discovered that the genome of those muscle cells had new methylation patterns compared to the unexercised leg. Gene expression noticeably increased in the muscle-cell genes; this can impact energy metabolism, insulin response, and muscle inflammation.

The link of exercise and epigenetics is still being studied, but more and more research is proving that even light or moderate exercise can improve gene expression.

Stress

Your working environment and stress levels can also impact your cells and genetic expression. When we’re stressed, we release hormones called glucocorticoids. These travel throughout the body and impact the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis—which affects the brain, the hormones, and the adrenals. This is what makes you feel physiologically anxious.

Some studies have found that glucocorticoids can actually change DNA expression. Chronic exposure to corticosterone and glucocorticoids actually changes genetic variations, creating a “permanent” state of anxiety or even PTSD.

The reason this happens is interesting—and makes a lot of sense. If you have chronic stress, your body thinks that it’s living in a stressful situation.

Think back to original biological processes. Living in the wild, you’d likely experience chronic stress if you were living in bad weather, in a bear den, or you were low on food. Your body acknowledges that you’re in a stressful situation. So it literally changes its genetic expression so you are more equipped to handle stress. So if you live in a bear cave, you’re likely met with stress on a daily basis. Your body changes so that it becomes more adept at the fight or flight response to meet those daily struggles with the bear.

Now, though, we don’t have this same sort immediate need for fight or flight (on an everyday basis). Thus, it’s not useful or productive for our bodies to genetically express stress.

In fact, this genetic expression of stress can actually “turn off” healthy cells. This leaves room for disease-ridden or cancer-ridden cells to grow, because your body is so focused on the stress response.

Sleep


Studies have shown that sleep can increase DNA methylation levels. This can increase immunity and reduce risk of cancer. Moreover, sleep is necessary for our cells to have time to rest, relax, and rebuild. You need sleep in order for your RNA process to function; RNA methylation determines the speed of your circadian clock.

Basically, studies are finding that an imbalanced or desynchronized circadian clock leads to cancer progression because of the relationship between sleep and DNA methylation.

We’ll discuss this more in upcoming articles in the Epigenetic Series!

Read: 11 Ways To Increase Your Energy After Age 50

Aging

Even how you age can impact your genetic expression. Diseases become more prevalent with age, but why? It’s not because of the number of candles on your birthday cake… it’s because your cells start to change. Some studies are looking at how age can alter DNA methylation and RNA expression. As cells age, the chromatin landscape and DNA accessibility change, which can stop the natural progression of the cell cycle.

But epigenetic mechanisms like changes in lifestyle and environment may actually be able to restore or reverse genetic phenotypes to a more youthful expression.

That’s right—you might be able to reverse the process of aging with epigenetics!

Good news! We will be discussing these environmental factors at length in the Epigenetic Series! Stay tuned with the DRG blog for more info!

The Bottom Line

Epigenetics is showing us that genetic changes happen much faster than we expect. The type of lifestyle and health we choose today doesn’t have some distant, far-off consequences. Our choices impact our near future and the health and wellness of our children.

he way our genes are expressed determines our health and wellness.


Epigenetic factors, like lifestyle habits and environment, influence the way our genetic expression. Certain variables can alter the marks on DNA, determining certain health outcomes.

But if environmental factors can “turn on” the disease and cancer portion of cells… these same factors can “turn off” disease and cancer.

Epigenetics tells us that disease can be reversed with certain lifestyle choices and behaviors.

What if you could make a decision to change one thing about your life and drastically reduce your risk for cancer?

What if you could change one thing and never again worry about the Alzheimer’s or addiction that runs in your family?

In my Epigenetic Series, we will explore the different epigenetic factors that may activate or deactivate cells and certain genetic expressions.

Stay tuned on the DRG blog for more on epigenetic health and wellness! Learn more about how Epigenetics affects YOU with The G1 Performance Health Consult, a genetic-based report and private consultation that will give you the tools you need to achieve your maximum potential. Sign up today!