Your Stress Resiliency and Management May Predict How Long You Live

Everyone deals with stress. But the way you respond to that stress can either grow you or kill you. That’s not an exaggeration. Your “stress resiliency”—how well you cope with short- and long-term stress—is actually a consistent predictor for health, wellness, and mortality.

Research has shown that the response to stress has a greater impact on health and longevity than the stressor itself.

Let’s take a look at why stress is unhealthy, what stress resiliency is, and how you can enhance your stress resiliency to effectively handle stressors to maintain your health now and for many, many vital years to come.

Health problems of stress

Stress takes a toll on your health. There’s no question about it. You’ve likely felt the physical effects of stress before.

You’re dealing with a stressful project at work, but that stress doesn’t stay at work. You start to get anxious, and your mind is racing a million miles a minute. Your heartbeat is faster and your blood pressure is higher. You wake up in the morning exhausted and you’re tired all day, but you still have trouble sleeping at night. Your stomach hurts, your muscles are weak, and your brain is foggy. And that motivation to finish that project has flown out the window.

We often think of stress as a mental thing associated with anxiety and depression. It is, in part, mental. But it’s also entirely physical as well. Stress shows up in your body in a lot of serious physical manifestations. Trying different treatment plans could be the way forward to help you get this stress under control. 

When faced with a stressor, your sympathetic nervous system activates and releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This sets off the “fight or flight” response, used as a survival technique against the stressor. Physical signs of this response include:

  • Rapid heart beat and breathing
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Pale or flushed skin
  • Dilated pupils
  • Enlarged blood vessels
  • Digestion stops (blood rushes to muscles, away from stomach)

The fight or flight response can be incredibly useful when the stressor is an immediate threat to life, like if you run into a bear in the woods or your child is choking. Your body senses the stress and physically prepares to run or act. Your body actually has this response to help you react; for example, your pupils dilate so you can see more of the environment to respond to any incoming bear attacks.

But the fight or flight response was meant to be acute (short-term). It’s not supposed to last for more than 60 minutes. These hormones put your body into overdrive, literally changing how your breathing, blood, and organs function. After the stressor is gone, the parasympathetic system takes over to pull down the response and bring your body back to homeostasis.

The modern-day man is facing a unique biological challenge, though. Most of our stressors aren’t acute or life threatening. Oftentimes, in fact, our greatest stressors are fabricated in our heads. We’re stressed about being embarrassed or rejected. We’re stressed about things that are over and done with or things that haven’t happened (and may not happen).

We stress in a long-term, less tangible way. Stress is no longer: see bear, run or fight bear. Now, stress is: I have to do a presentation, but I don’t have all the information I need because Joe didn’t get it to me, and what if I pick the wrong slides, or what if I sweat through my shirt, and what if they don’t like me or I fail, and what if we lose the entire account because my ideas are no good, oh and by the way, I’ll have to run to my son’s soccer game but I forgot to pack his team snack, and my wife and I aren’t on the same page about saving our finances, and dang, I really want to go on vacation.

Did that inner monologue sound familiar? Maybe you even got stressed out reading it.

We all have stressful thoughts. But spiraling into a “stress monologue” can actually alert your sympathetic nervous system and put you into a perpetual fight or flight response. So, you put your mind and body into overdrive long-term, which is can cause serious health concerns.

Short-term impacts of stress include:

  • Headache
  • Fatigue
  • Anxiety
  • Sadness or depression
  • Restlessness
  • Lack of motivation or focus
  • Muscle tension
  • Irritability or anger
  • Appetite changes (overeating or under-eating)

Long-term health impacts of stress are linked to:

There’s no doubt that stress is a serious health problem. Stress can even alter the expression of your genes, putting you at risk for disease and illness.

But it’s not actually the stressor that’s causing your health problems. Stress is completely internal. We can either let stress seep in and impact our health… or we can choose not to. If we don’t spiral into that stress monologue, our bodies won’t have that physical response.

Introducing “stress resiliency.”

What is stress resiliency?

Stress resiliency refers to how well you can respond to and cope with stress. It says whether you freak out or laugh it off. It determines how long you feel stressed, what you think about the stress, and how you handle people and situations around you.

Stress resiliency is the top predictor for mortality. Basically, if you stress more, your risk of dying early increases drastically. If you acknowledge stress and let it go, you’re more likely to live a healthier, longer life.

“Stress resiliency” has four main factors:

  1. The stressful event
  2. The external coping resources available to us
  3. The inner coping resources we’ve learned
  4. How we mentally mold the stress

(Psst… The final two factors are the greatest predictors for mortality and longevity. You’ll see why.)

  1. Stress event: Some stressors are more “stressful” than others. For example, the loss of a spouse is probably more stressful than running late for a work meeting. In general, long-term, “heavier” stress generally puts the individual at a higher risk for health complications.

Regardless, no matter the type of stress, the impact on health comes down to your personal coping mechanisms to respond to that stressor. If you easily get stressed every day, you’ll have worse health than someone who can grieve or stress in an effective way.

  1. External coping resources: Research shows that having strong social support can enhance stress resiliency. In opposition, poor social support can actually worsen your response to stress. In fact, a lack of social support may even modify the epigenetic expression of your genes! The feeling of loneliness can actually enhance stress and worsen the ability to respond to everyday stressors, often leading to psychiatric disorders like depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and Alzheimer’s disease.
  2. Internal coping resources: However, stress resiliency is not really about what others can do for you. Studies show that how you internally manage your stress is more important. Typically, these internal resources are learned mechanisms that you’ve gathered throughout your life.

For example, Joe sees his parents handle financial stress by fighting about it. Alex sees his parents handle stress by going on vacation for the weekend (leaving Alex with the grandparents). Joe is taught that arguing is the only way to cope with stress, but Alex sees a weekend away as the solution. They’ll likely take these coping mechanisms into their adult years as well.

But it’s not all about your childhood and parents, either. Throughout your life, you’ve handled stress in different ways. Some ways have worked for you. Others haven’t. The coping mechanisms you’ve been “rewarded for” start to get engrained in your brain.

A lot of us don’t have strong internal coping resources. That’s where a major part of the problem comes in. We’ve been (accidentally) taught that we should respond to stress with anger, frustration, sadness, or other negative emotions. We’re taught that stress is evil, so we have to respond by curling into a ball to protect ourselves from it.

That’s where the fourth factor comes in. Changing the way we view stress can improve and enhance our internal coping mechanisms.

  1. Mental molding: This is my favorite part about stress resiliency. The way you view stress is actually the most important factor in how you’ll respond.

Everyone experiences stress. But the people who embrace it, rather than ignore it or let it overcome them, actually see the greatest response. Individuals who see stress as a challenge, not a threat, are actually more productive and motivated.

Here’s the proof that this matters:

  • A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that people who believed stress had a negative impact on their health had a 43% increased risk of death. Those who experienced stress but didn’t see the effects as negative were least likely to die compared to others in the study.
  • A study published in the European Heart Journal found an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in participants who perceived stress as negative. Repeated results in another study.
  • A two-part study looked at adults’ “affect reactivity” to stress (how they respond to stress). The results showed that negative affective reactivity—an inability to respond positively to stress—had a significant association with mortality risk, more so than even experiencing the stress itself.

Where does this link come from?

Researchers aren’t exactly sure yet why a negative response to stress increases mortality risk while a positive response to stress may actually decrease it.

The two theories to answer this question involve sleep and energy movement.

First, people who don’t know how to handle their stress generally have a worsened quality and quantity of sleep. The brain is consciously and subconsciously worrying and stressing, which interrupts the calmness that’s required for sleep. When sleep goes awry, so does everything else. Your body uses sleep to reset everything including the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems.

But people who know how to handle stress are more likely to have effective coping mechanisms. They might meditate or workout or indulge in fun hobbies to release some of the stress. These healthy stress relievers can improve calmness, regulate hormones, and encourage quality sleep—all of which contribute to improved health and wellbeing. Certain coping mechanisms, like working out, actually make you healthier too!

The second theory is the way energy is translated. Stress creates a buildup of energy in your body. That agitated, restless feeling you get when stressed because your hormones are surging and your blood is racing. This physical response of energy can actually be productive if channeled effectively.

If you think this energy is negative, it will have nowhere to go—so it’ll start to eat away at your health. But if you see this energy is positive, you can actually use it to be more productive, creative, and action-oriented. You can utilize that energy for work or exercise, for example, to actually enhance your results.

Basically, stress can be incredibly useful and can even improve your health—when you think it’s useful.

How to enhance stress resiliency

Let’s go backwards through the four factors of stress resiliency to deepen and develop your response to stress from the inside out.

1. Train your brain.

Stress resiliency is about embracing and managing stress, not about avoiding or reducing it. So step one is training your brain to view stress as healthy.

Every time you have a stress response, it leaves an imprint on your brain so you can handle that stress in the future. This is called “stress inoculation,” where you get a mental vaccine to that stressor. Your brain actually grows and changes from the experience.

That’s why astronauts, athletes, emergency responders, and Navy SEALs all have to go through rigorous stress training. They’re put through physical and mental stress, because it hardens them to other stressors they might see in the field.

It’s time to recognize that stress isn’t against you. It’s there to help you grow. So when you start to feel that anxious, stressed out feeling, take control of your thinking. Follow this mindset process:

  • Where is the stress coming from? What is the stressor?
  • Why are you feeling so stressed out? Are you anxious about the past or future?
  • Where is the stress in your body? Do you feel it in your head, your heart, your stomach? (This brings you into the physical sensation of the stress.)
  • What can you do right now to calm those nerves? Think about your coping mechanisms.
  • Consider what you could learn from this stressor. Why is this challenge put in front of you, and how can you grow from it?

Remember- the only people without stress are under ground!

2. Develop healthy stress management habits.

Now that you’re training your brain to see stress as positive, it’s time to update your internal coping mechanisms. It’s important to develop healthy reactions to stress, so you can have easy go-to methods to calm your brain and body when amidst the chaos.

For example, you may have built up resiliency to the daily stress of your job, but you don’t know how to mentally handle the death of your beloved pet. You want to stress management tools in your belt that you can utilize when new, unexpected stressors arise.

Remember that stress is still physical. So even if you’ve got the mental side down to a science by embracing stress, you’ll still want an arsenal of healthy internal coping mechanisms that can help regulate your stress hormones.

The best internal coping resource is actually laughter. Social studies show that people who can “laugh off” tension generally have a higher resiliency to stress. This isn’t always easy to do, and it often requires a major mindset shift. When you run into a traffic jam, look for the silver lining (like you’ll miss the first five minutes of that super boring meeting). When you and your partner are in a fight, drop the anger and get a little playful. Focusing on fun can help you redirect how your brain naturally responds to stress.

By the way, throwing a smile on your face actually makes you happier. Even if you’re not feeling amazing, smiling signals your brain to release “feel good” chemicals, so you’ll actually start to feel better!

Other ways to manage stress include:

If you are struggling to figure out your internal coping mechanisms, consider talking to a professional. Therapists are trained to figure out what makes you tick, so you can find stress management tools that will work for you.

3. Get social support.

You want to surround yourself with people who care about you, support you, and love you. Interestingly, though, “social support” isn’t actually what it might sound like. You shouldn’t surround yourself with people who are just there to make you feel better or let you wallow in your stress. You want “support” in that they push you and challenge you. Your social support should give you tough love and encourage you to channel your stress into something positive.

There’s another type of social support that works well: giving social support. One study looked at the link between stressful events and assisting others. They found that going through a major stress event increased a participant’s risk of death by 30%. But there was no increase risk of death in participants who frequently helped others or gave to their community—even if they dealt with high levels of stress. The researchers concluded that helping others could actually reduce stress and mortality rates.

The goal here is to get out of your own mind and into the beauty of relationships. You want to surround yourself with people who will comfort and challenge you, while being grateful for the people you have in your life. You also want to channel your stress to become a beacon of light for others. Giving is the best way to receive.

4. Know your stressors.

The first factor of stress resiliency is just the stressor itself. Different people have different stressors that elicit different reactions. For example, you might get really stressed by traffic but not by being late. Or you might be constantly stressed about your kid or your boss or your weight, but your wife is always stressed about money.

It’s important to acknowledge what makes you stressed, so you can learn to embrace these moments. It’s not about avoiding traffic or quitting your job. You just want to understand where your stress comes from, so you can start to focus your energy on how to better embrace those areas of your life. You can then direct your internal coping mechanisms effectively.

5. Focus on your health.

There’s a fifth method to consider… your health! Stress can worsen your health—but poor health can also stress out your body. If your hormones are out of whack, it’s easier to let stress seep in.

For example, low testosterone can actually worsen stress. The symptoms of low testosterone include fatigue, insomnia, irritability, anxiety, depression, weight gain, and a loss of muscle mass. These symptoms can all make your mind and body more stressed, which can send you into a “stress spiral.”

For example, if you’re not sleeping, your body doesn’t have time to produce testosterone and clear our cortisol—so you end up with an even worse imbalance of low T and high cortisol. The higher your cortisol, the more you’ll feel those physical effects of stress. Check out these 5 easy ways to balance your hormones.

Pregnenolone is the “building block” hormone. It’s the hormone used to create all other hormones—including both testosterone and cortisol. When the pregnenolone isn’t being used to create testosterone, there’s more available to create cortisol. So keeping your testosterone high is also a great way to keep your cortisol to a minimum. Oh, and by the way, some research shows that strong testosterone levels are linked to longer lifespans. Get more info about testosterone here.

You are resilient

Stress resilience is a direct predictor of mortality. How you respond to stressful situations has a greater impact on your health and mortality than even exposure to stress on its own. A negative view of stress can lead to a number of health problems in both the short- and long-term, eventually leading to early death. But seeing stress as an exciting challenge to overcome may actually improve your mental and physical health.

So how do YOU see stress?

Is your stress going to make you or break you? Are you going to grow or perish?

Are YOU ready to transform your health?

With our high performance health program, I use testing and analysis to look at your genetic makeup and epigenetic expression to understand exactly how your body is working today. Together, we then create a personalized lifestyle plan, one variable at a time, to bring your body into its peak state.

Want more tips to optimize your health and testosterone?

Listen to the latest podcasts. Click HERE

Tracy Gapin, MD, FACS – Board Certified Urologist in Sarasota, High Performance Health Expert and Founder of www.GapinInstitute.com

Does Exercise Boost Testosterone?


Strap in, because I’m about to completely change your idea about what “healthy” workouts look like.

It’s true that working out can help raise your testosterone levels if you’re suffering from low testosterone. But not the workouts you might imagine.

You don’t need to workout every day to boost testosterone.

You don’t need to workout more than 30 minutes to boost testosterone.

You don’t need to run marathons to boost testosterone.

In fact, it’s not that you just don’t need to—you shouldn’t actually work out every day, workout too much, or run long distances.

Instead, you should be focusing on strong bursts of resistance training.

In this article, I’m going to give you the specifics about how to exercise to boost your testosterone levels and get back on track to ultimate sexual and overall health.

Does exercise boost T levels?

In short, the answer to this question is, yes. Exercise can boost testosterone levels—if you exercise correctly. Testosterone is the hormone that controls muscle synthesis and energy, and it also helps regulate weight. Since exercise is also important for muscle and weight, the two go hand-in-hand to lend towards overall health and wellness.  

Research shows two major impacts of exercise on testosterone levels: short-term and long-term.

Firstly, testosterone spikes 30 minutes after a training workout. However, testosterone returns to resting levels after about an hour. This means that there’s only a short-term spike in testosterone during the day.

But that doesn’t mean that short-term spike isn’t helping long-term. In fact, research shows that the more frequently men experience this quick T spike, the greater their resting testosterone level.

This means that exercising boosts testosterone levels most significantly in the short-term but most profoundly in the long-term. If you consistently workout to raise T levels, your resting T levels will start to raise methodically and permanently.

Working out also has an indirect relationship with testosterone due to the impacts of exercise on body fat, stress, and sleep.

Body fat

Working out helps reduce body fat, especially around the midsection. Maintaining a healthy body weight is important to healthy levels of testosterone. Visceral fat can actually raise cortisol and estrogen, which in turn lowers testosterone.

If you want high levels of testosterone, you need a healthy weight.

If you want to lose weight, you need to be moving and exercising consistently.

Stress

Exercise is a proven stress reducer. It releases endorphins that make you happier while reducing anxiety and depression.

When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol (the “stress hormone”). Cortisol and testosterone have an inverse relationship. High cortisol equals low testosterone and vice versa.

This is because cortisol and testosterone are both made from the same “base” hormone called pregnenolone. If the body has to use more pregnenolone to make cortisol, it won’t have enough left over to make testosterone. This is called “cortisol steal” because it steals away the building blocks of necessary T production.

Sleep

Getting enough sleep is an important part of testosterone production. Studies show that sleeping too few hours can drastically lower testosterone by boosting cortisol to exorbitant levels.

Working out can help you sleep better. It uses up extra energy and trains your muscles, so you’re more likely to get a higher quantity and quality of sleep. Exercise also lowers cortisol, so you can have a more restful night’s sleep. and Plus, since working out reduces your stress, you’ll be in a better mental state to help fall asleep.

Still don’t believe that exercise boosts testosterone?
Check out the scientific proof:  

What kind of exercise boosts testosterone?

Not all exercise is created equal when it comes to raising testosterone levels.

Resistance training (lifting weights) is the best way to raise testosterone. Studies show that strength training can actually induce the release of growth hormone and testosterone regardless of age.

In reverse, research shows that long-distance running can actually lower testosterone levels. In fact, one study found that the long-distance runners had lower T levels than even the non-athletic group. This is because running for long distances over-stresses the body. This stress releases cortisol, aka the “stress hormone,” and leads to cortisol steal (as discussed above).

For the same reason, you want to avoid overtraining or over-exerting your body during workouts. Working out too hard can release cortisol that reduces the production of testosterone.

So yes, I’m telling you not to overdo it with your workouts if you want to see T-raising benefits!

When to workout

There are two schools of thought with regards to when you should work out to best boost testosterone.

The first is that you should work out in the late afternoons or early evenings.

Testosterone is naturally highest in the morning. Testosterone is actually one of the hormones that helps you wake up in the morning with energy and vigor. (That’s why men with low testosterone often feel fatigue, low energy, and low interest.)

T levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day, but they steadily decline as the day progresses. This is one of the reasons you might find that you start to lose some of your energy in the middle of the day.

The second school of thought is that you should work out in the mornings.

Studies show that working out on an empty stomach has the greatest fat burning benefits. Burning fat can help raise testosterone levels. Lifting weights on an empty stomach can also help increase metabolism and muscle synthesis, which can further boost testosterone.

My suggestion? Workout whenever it fits in your schedule! If you workout in the mornings, don’t eat beforehand and you’ll see greater fat burning benefits. If you workout in the evenings, drink a cup of coffee to improve your energy and performance.

How to workout

There are three things you need to focus on in your workout in order to boost testosterone levels:

  1.    Compound exercises
  2.    Fewer reps at higher weight
  3.    Longer rest periods

Most experts refer to this kind of workout as “high intensity interval training (HIIT).” Basically, you’ll want to push more muscle groups, with heavier weights, for short intervals.

1. Compound exercises

Compound exercises work a number of muscle groups at one time. Research shows that testosterone levels are correlated with the amount of muscle tissue that’s stimulated during a workout. The more muscles you work, the greater the T boost. You want to avoid isolation exercises, which have no proven impact on testosterone.

The ideal workout would consist of three compound exercises. This includes one upper body pull, one upper body push, and one lower body exercise.

Examples of upper body pull include pull-ups, dumbbell rows, and chin-ups. Upper body push includes push-ups, chest presses, ring dips, and shoulder presses. Lower body compounds include body weight squats, weight squats, lunges, and reverse lunges.

Before you get into your compound movements, you want to warm up your muscles. I recommend 30 seconds of skipping rope and 30 seconds of jumping jacks. This gets your heart rate up while also moving the muscle groups you’ll need for your compound movements.

Do 30 seconds of rope skipping, 30 seconds of jumping jacks, and then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat three times, and you’ll be warm and ready!

2. Fewer reps, higher weight

Studies show that you’ll see the best results if you use a higher weight with fewer reps as opposed to more reps at a lower weight. This is because higher weights exert your body at a greater rate, which helps build muscle and set off testosterone production.

You want to get through 6 to 8 reps at a high weight. This ensures you don’t injure your muscles by overexerting, but you’re still pushing your body just enough.

Remember—you see the greatest results in the last rep that you “can’t do!” Power through it.

Repeat for six sets. By the end of the sixth set, you’ll be exhausted and ready for an extended rest period.

3. Longer rest periods

You want to rest at least one minute between sets and five minutes between exercises. This gives your body the chance to recuperate to take on the next set.

The five minutes between each exercise helps relieve your central nervous system so you don’t start to release cortisol (and end up with cortisol steal and lower testosterone levels).

You also want to rest 48 hours between each workout.

That’s right—you don’t want to workout like this every day! Doing so can actually overexert your body and damage your T levels.

You don’t want to be sitting on the couch and eating potato chips on your down days, though. You should still get up and get your body moving for at least 30 minutes each day. I recommend light cardio, like walking or swimming. This will help you burn calories and stay active without stressing your body.

When boosting your testosterone levels, recovery is especially important!

Pulling it together

Altogether, you want to train large muscle groups, lift heavy, and rest long.

You have three compound movements: 1 upper body pull, 1 upper body push, and 1 lower body compound. Do each movement with 6-8 reps for six sets. Rest one minute between sets and five minutes between each workout. This brings you to about a thirty-minute workout.

This kind of HIIT workout is what we call “explosive resistance training.”

I love this kind of training because it’s quick but mighty. You only need a half-hour to see amazing results in your testosterone levels, muscle growth, weight loss, energy levels, and overall health.

HIIT has even shown significant results in the bedroom. It can actually help boost your stamina and make you a better lover. Score!

Benefits of using exercise to boost testosterone

Working out:

Raises testosterone, which leads to higher libido, greater energy, and improved wellness.

Burns fat, which reduces the risk of disease and raises self-confidence.

Enhances stamina, which allows for improved workouts and sex sessions.

Reduces stress, which lowers the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) and other serious diseases.

Improves sleep, which helps produce more testosterone and other hormones.

Overall, exercise creates a cycle of sexually invigorating testosterone production!

Conclusion

Does exercise boost testosterone? Heck yes, it does! Working out one of the most natural and effective ways to overcome low testosterone and bring back optimal health. Resistance training is one of the best ways to get your T level back to where you want it to be.

The benefits of exercise are immense. But we all have our excuses. We don’t have time. We don’t have a gym nearby. We’re too busy.

It’s time to stop making excuses. There’s no better time to take control of your health than RIGHT NOW!

You can find thirty minutes every other day to improve your health, can’t you?

You just need to start. You need someone to help you.

That’s what I’m here for.

Do you want specific, in-depth exercise plans that can help you raise testosterone this month?

Are you looking for more ways to boost your testosterone?

Then it’s time to sign up for The Male 90X program!

This genetic-based report and analysis will give you everything you need to know about low testosterone levels and any sexual health concerns. You’ll also get a private consultation to address an individually-tailored plan that will put you on the track to success.

It’s time to invigorate your sexuality and enliven your vitality! 

Schedule a Call

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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?

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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.

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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 

13 Ways To Increase Testosterone Naturally


If you’ve been experiencing symptoms like diminished sex drive, low energy, difficulty losing weight or erectile problems, it’s time to consider some ways you can increase testosterone naturally.

What is testosterone?

Testosterone is widely known for its “manly” effects on boosting competitiveness and desire for power, but it plays a much bigger role in the body than that. It’s crucial to the health of male sexuality and reproduction by increasing libido, sperm count, and sexual pleasure.

Testosterone even improves the sex drive in females—it’s the ultimate libido-boosting hormone! But testosterone has a significant role in overall health and well being as well. It affects muscle mass, hair growth, bone density, and red blood cell development.

Normal levels are critical for normal cognitive function, mood stability, exercise endurance and energy. A low testosterone level can be associated with a variety of symptoms, including decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, depressed mood, weight gain, reduced lean muscle mass, difficulty with concentration, poor memory, diminished cognitive function, arthritis, and an increased risk of heart disease.

You can have your T level tested by your doctor if you have any of these symptoms to determine if they may be a result of lowered testosterone levels.

Why increase testosterone naturally?

Since testosterone (T) plays such an important role in your sexual health and overall well-being, you want to ensure you’re doing everything you can to naturally maximize your testosterone level.

There are hundreds of products, supplements, and beverages on the market claiming to boost testosterone and improve sex drive. Many (most) of these products don’t work, and studies show that many of these supplements can actually have long-term, negative side effects including liver and kidney damage, hormone imbalances, loss in bone density, and more.

What you consume to help your health shouldn’t harm it. So I’ve created a list of 13 easy, dependable, natural ways to increase testosterone and boost your sexual health and overall vitality.

1. Exercise.


The first thing that often comes to mind when most people think of increasing testosterone is exercise. They think of huge, muscular men lifting 400lb dumbbells at the gym. And this isn’t entirely wrong.

Studies show that high-intensity exercise boosts testosterone both in the short- and long-term. Short intervals of high-intensity training prove to be more beneficial in producing natural testosterone than prolonged exercise, aerobics, or running.

Strength training can have this high-intensity interval effect on testosterone if it’s intense enough. The way to do this is to increase the weight being lifted, and lower the number of reps. Push yourself harder, for a shorter period of time.

Also, focus on exercises that work a large number of muscles at once to further increase the intensity.

Who knew deadlifts and squats were actually natural ways to increase testosterone? Push yourself as hard as you can for 30 seconds, and then rest (without slowing down your heart rate). Even 20 minutes a day of high-intensity interval training will boost your testosterone and start to build healthy, lean muscle.

Interval training exercise can also help you lose weight, which further increases testosterone levels, according to the Endocrine Society.

2. Eat good fats.

The idea of a Ron Swanson “manly” burger may have some truth behind it. Healthy fats are a natural way to increase testosterone quickly and effectively.

However, not all fat is good fat. Studies suggest that saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) are the best predictor of testosterone escalations, while poly-unsaturated fatty acids can actually lower testosterone.

A study by the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that men who ate more than 100g of fat per day for 2 weeks had significantly higher levels of free testosterone. This is because fats reduce globulin, the hormone that binds to, and reduces T.

Ask your doctor about finding the right mix of fats in your diet.


Here are some natural ways to increase testosterone by consuming healthy, delicious fats:

Meat

Grass-fed beef is the number one source of testosterone-boosting protein with just the right amount of healthy fats. Make sure the beef is organic, because pesticides and insecticides can lower your testosterone.

Eggs

Eggs are considered the perfect protein because they have all vitamins and amino acids for human needs (except vitamin C). They have mostly SFA and MUFA, and the yolk contains high levels of cholesterol, which is a precursor to testosterone creation.

Coconut

One of the most comprehensive, natural ways to increase testosterone is consuming coconuts or coconut oil. Coconut is a saturated fat that generates healthy cholesterol while reducing body fat, boosting metabolic rate, and improving cognitive abilities—all of which can help ease symptoms of low testosterone.

Olive oil and argan oil

Cooking with and adding extra virgin olive oil to your food are natural ways to increase testosterone. Olive oil is an anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants, but it also contains elevated levels of oleuropein, a testosterone-loving bitter.

One study found that Moroccan men who added olive oil to their diets saw an increase in testosterone levels by 17%. This study also substituted Argan oil for olive oil, and the testosterone levels increased by about 20%.

Add either—or both—to your daily consumption for a quick (and tasty) boost of testosterone.

3. Consume zinc.

Supplementing your diet with zinc for as little as six weeks can have marked improvement in testosterone levels. Because zinc is a metal, concentrated supplements can have severe side effects on the body. Instead, opt for natural ways to increase testosterone by consuming zinc-rich foods:

  • Raw milk
  • Raw cheese
  • Beans
  • Kefir from raw milk
  • Sardines
  • Anchovies
  • Cashews
  • Wild Salmon
  • Yogurt
  • Oysters

Oysters are so rich in zinc they can actually boost your testosterone in minutes. No wonder oysters are a sultry (and salty) aphrodisiac!

4. Increase your vitamin D level.

Vitamin D is crucial for the development of the sperm cell and maintenance of high sperm count and quality. A lot of men who suffer from low testosterone symptoms discover that they are deficient in vitamin D as well.

The best way to get vitamin D is by getting some sun (make sure to use sunscreen so you’re not at risk for skin cancer, though). Yes, I am saying that going for a swim, playing basketball, and taking a vacation are amazingly natural ways to increase testosterone.

If it’s cold or you have a tendency to burn, though, there are other natural ways to increase testosterone with vitamin D, like consuming fatty fish (salmon, trout, tuna, and mackerel), fortified milk or juice, and egg yolks (back to those healthy fats).

5. Reduce stress.

When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol. A University of Texas Austin study found that cortisol blocks the production of testosterone. This can lead to long-term, low T levels, putting the body in a vicious cycle of stress and diminished testosterone.

Lower your cortisol by managing stress through relaxation techniques, like deep breathing or meditation. Make time to have fun with your family and friends, and find the relaxing methods that work for you.

Consuming garlic can help lower cortisol, because it contains the stress-relieving allicin, which allows the body to effectively continue producing testosterone. Pure pomegranate juice can also lower cortisol levels and enhance testosterone by 24% on average.

6. Consume probiotics.

Probiotics are good bacteria that your gut needs to function properly, leading to digestive health and overall well-being. Recent studies have shown that probiotics may increase testosterone levels, testicular size and weight, and even prevent age-related testicular shrinkage. The reason for this may be that probiotic microbes convert stress-related cortisol into testosterone derivatives, as found by Phillip Hylemon at Virginia Commonwealth University. Fermented foods tend to have probiotics, like yogurt, sauerkraut, and blue cheese. A blue-cheese burger sounds good right about now.

7. Eat more ginger and onion.


Ginger and onion may be the hidden gems of these natural ways to increase testosterone. Ginger improves nitric oxide count and blood flow, which puts your body in the “mood.” In a University of Tikrik study, consuming ginger raised testosterone by 17%. Another study found that adding onion juice to rodent feed increased testosterone levels by almost 200%. There aren’t any studies of the effects of onions on human hormones, but with such significant effects in rodents, it’s worth adding to your diet.

8. Limit sugar intake.

Not feeling sexy after a big slice of cake? That may be more than just your belly talking. Sugar leads to higher insulin, and insulin leads to lower testosterone. The more you cut high-sugar items out of your diet, the higher your testosterone will be.

9. Limit alcohol intake.

Alcohol has been found to have a negative effect on testosterone levels as well as raising estrogen and cortisol levels. Drinking alcohol stimulates the transformation of testosterone into estrogen, which can further lower your bone density and libido. If you tend to drink heavily, this may be a hidden cause of your diminished sex drive. The hops in beer are highly estrogenic—so much so that it is being studied as a treatment for menopausal women. Limiting sugar and alcohol are natural ways to increase testosterone by making simple lifestyle changes that will also improve your overall health and quality of life.

10. Caffeinate.


Although a highly debated fact, one cup of coffee a day has been proven to have health benefits. As far as raising testosterone levels, coffee stimulates the nervous system by boosting cAMP levels, which leads to increased testosterone production. One of the most deliciously natural ways to increase testosterone is to drink a cup of coffee before you workout. Caffeine brings your exercise routine up a notch, so you get better effects from your high-intensity interval training—for the same amount of work!

11. Try intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting has been found to have a profound impact on testosterone levels in non-obese men. There are a number of approaches to intermittent fasting, but all include fasting for 24 hours or less as a sort of ‘metabolic reset”. I’ll detail the physiologic effects about this in another article, but for now, consider skipping breakfast as a fairly simple approach to intermittent fasting and a quick way to boost your T level.

12. Sleep.

Sleep gives your body time to produce testosterone and other hormones. A lack of sleep, on the other hand, produces cortisol—the arch nemesis of testosterone. There is a direct correlation between hours slept and testosterone changes, so get to bed!

13. Have sex.


Now that you’re in bed… Sex can help increase testosterone naturally!

Testosterone gives you a higher sex drive, but the reverse is true too. A higher sex drive also helps to boost your testosterone. Sex is one of the best natural ways to increase testosterone, with so many other added benefits:

  • Improved cardiovascular health
  • Increased immunity
  • Reduced stress and pain
  • Increased blood circulation
  • Better sleep
  • Improved fitness

So, if you boost your testosterone levels and sex drive, your vibrant sex life will, in turn, boost your testosterone, relieve stress, and reduce symptoms of low testosterone.

It’s a win-win-win cycle of natural ways to increase testosterone!

Natural and smart nutrition and lifestyle adjustments can drastically raise your testosterone levels and optimize your sexual health. With these 13 natural ways to increase testosterone, you are sure to find healthy solutions that enhance your sexual drive and enrich your well-being.

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