15 Best Ways To Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels

Testosterone, the so-called “manliness hormone”, is something a lot of people today, men especially, want to improve on and get more of, due to its countless purported benefits.

Some of them include a better mood, energy, focus and feeling better in general, muscle development, performance, body composition/leanness, weight loss and bone density, increased sex drive and fertility, hair growth among many more.

And in this post we’ll explore the very best ways of increasing your testosterone levels naturally, meaning no TRT used (or needed).

How To Increase Your Testosterone Naturally

Because why not explore and make use of the best and completely natural ways of doing it first, the way nature intended it, avoiding lots of potential side effects and negative health effects of artificially tampering with your hormone levels?

Sure, if you’re actually too low on testosterone from having tested it and you’ve already exhausted the natural options, perhaps then a case can be made for trying some TRT, but, not before that (and with these proven natural testosterone boosting methods it may be unlikely that you’ll need it anyways).

And the great thing with these methods is that they improve much more than just your testosterone, and thus you can get a much improved overall health in the process, with all the additional benefits that that comes with as well.

“More test is often for the best.”

Either way, let’s move on now to how to actually boost your testosterone levels the right way:

15 Best Ways To Naturally Increase Your Testosterone
Other Potential Test Boosters On Which The Studies And Science Are Split
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15 Best Ways To Naturally Increase Your Testosterone

And we’re starting with:

1. Exercise, particularly strength/resistance training and HIIT

Exercising may very well be the best and most accessible way to quickly get a bump in your testosterone levels (as well as boosting a lot of other things and your health in general).

In particular, strength training and HIIT are the ones to include for more testosterone in particular (*,*,*) (keep in mind that a mix of cardio and strength training is still best for your overall health, although HIIT can be counted as an effective type of cardio as well).

You can get this from either doing bodyweight or dumbbell exercises at home (a pair of good adjustable dumbbells, yoga mat and a pull-up bar are highly recommended for this), going to the gym or doing HIIT workouts at home or in a group (can be sprinting, squat jumps and burpees, cycling, swimming and so on where you push yourself for shorter periods of time with rests in between, sprinting is definitely my favorite among these however for general growth hormone, testosterone and muscle building).

In general, the more intense your workout, the better the effects on your testosterone (*,*), but even lighter exercise and movement such as walking can have a positive impact as well(*).

Don’t overdo it though, since overtraining can lead to the complete opposite effect and lower your testosterone instead, so allow for proper recovery time and listen to your body to know how much it can handle.

Functional exercises are the best and what you should stick to whenever you can (also great for improving your posture).

“Do intense strength training and HIIT for maximum effects on your testosterone.”

2. Eat healthily and balanced, including enough protein, healthy fats and carbs

Eating healthy can have lots of implications on your testosterone, simply because there are lots of foods and nutrients that can affect it either positively or negatively.

Overall however, you want to eat as healthy and balanced as possible, reducing processed foods (ideally, cut out all seed and vegetable oils and as much of the added refined sugar as you can) and making sure you get enough of both protein and healthy fats (low-fat diets can lower testosterone [*]).

“Eat well.”

3. Incorporate some testosterone-boosting foods into your diet

As an extension of the above point of eating healthily overall, you can also incorporate some proven testosterone-boosting foods into said diet.

These include foods with specific compounds or phytonutrients that can boost testosterone, such as onions and garlic, fenugreek, extra virgin olive oil, ginger, pomegranates, honey, foods with flavonoids, cacao products and cabbage (above links go to recommended foods/food supplements of these).

But they also include foods rich in certain testo-boosting vitamins, minerals and fatty acids (the main ones being vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, boron, selenium, vitamin C and omega-3 [links go to good supplements of these] but extends to many more for increasing testosterone levels if you’re actually deficient in them beforehand, which can often affect testosterone levels negatively).

You can also effectively supplement these nutrients (they’re all included in the supplements I recommend you take for optimal health since they can improve much more than just your testosterone, and the best supplements for them are also listed further down on this page), which can be a more convenient option for a lot of people.

Either way, testosterone-boosting foods richest in these nutrients include animal products such as seafood, meat, dairy, eggs (oysters stand out for their incredible zinc content), and plant-based foods such as nuts, seeds and legumes (brazil nuts stand out for selenium), whole grains, leafy greens and certain fruits and mushrooms (depending on the nutrient in question).

Read more in-depth about foods that can boost your testosterone and what foods to eat for what specific test-boosting nutrients here. (link and article coming shortly).

“Certain foods can increase test way more than others.”

Again then, this seems to come back to just eating really healthy in general while keeping some of these foods and food groups in mind in particular (and/or supplementing correctly), for the sake of your testosterone, which brings us to:

4. Take testosterone-boosting supplements

This may very well be one of the most convenient, yet potentially very effective, ways to boost your testosterone naturally.

And the supplements to get the job done for you are as with the foods a mix of those containing foods, compounds or phytonutrients that boost it, or other nutrients such as important vitamins, minerals and fatty acids that do.

The best ones then, are (many of them mentioned above) vitamin D (get it from the sun however, if you can), zinc, magnesium, boron, selenium (best through brazil nuts), vitamin C, fish oil for omega-3 and a good multivitamin to make sure you correct any potential deficiencies in other essential nutrients.

They’re best in as natural forms as can be.

I love these above ones based on common essential nutrients we are often deficient in because you should be supplementing with them anyway, for the sake of your health.

But then we have other very promising ones that include shilajit and ashwagandha (both seemingly very effective), DHEA, pregnenolone, ginger, garlic or onion supplements, saw palmetto, fenugreek seed, forskolii root/coleus forskholii, mucuna pruriens (also a dopamine booster), Malaysian ginseng/tongkat ali, grape seed extract, quercetin, L-arginine and button mushroom.

Now, some of these work by increasing testosterone or production of it directly, while some slow down its breakdwon (aromatase inhibitors) and thus make it available for longer.

Among the above ones (click those links for good respective products), the best of them to try first I’d say are the nutrient-based ones of vitamin D, magnesium, boron, fish oil and a good multi (you can get some zinc, selenium, C and much more from this one, which is why I don’t mention zinc in particular here) as well as possibly shilajit, ashwagandha, some garlic, ginger and DHEA.

There’s also resveratrol, tribulus terrestris and D-aspartic acid, but the studies are more mixed on these three for testosterone in particular.

“Supplements can be a very effective and convenient way to boost your testosterone.”

And next we have:

5. Get good sleep

Getting a good night’s rest can do wonders for your testosterone levels, meanwhile poor sleep can significantly reduce them (*,*), and this is another thing that’s about so much more than just your testosterone, so do it for your test, and do it for your health.

Get as much sleep as you need (optimize for and prioritize sleep) and address potential sleep-apnea or other sleep disorders if you know or suspect you might have them.

Read: 20 Proven Tips for Better Sleep At Night

“Sleep is crucial for optimal testosterone levels.”

6. Minimize stress and cortisol levels

Stress and high cortisol can directly and negatively affect your testosterone.

Stress increases cortisol (*,*) and the increased cortisol lowers testosterone (*).

So, doing some things daily to reduce these is a good idea for health in general and for improving your testosterone.

It can lead to overeating and putting on unhealthy weight (also bad for testosterone).

Exercising, eating and sleeping well and earthing can all help with cortisol and stress, but some great and more targeted things include meditation, mindfulness, just resting and yoga, so, try some of those and you might find yourself a lot calmer as well in the process!

“Stress and cortisol can lower your testosterone, so, minimize and fight those best you can!”

7. Lose some weight/maintain your ideal one

Obesity and carrying additional weight in the form of fat can negatively affect your test levels, so do put some focus on this if it’s needed.

The good thing however is that eating healthy, that’s great for your test already, is also the best way of losing weight (especially avoiding the seed oils and the foods with them).

Intermittent fasting should probably be a part of that for maximum results.

Exercise can help too but it really takes the backseat compared to your diet.

“Losing some weight if needed is a good idea for testosterone status.”

8. Get plenty of sunlight

Getting plenty of sunlight can definitely improve your T-levels along with a lot of other goodies (such as dopamine receptor density), and it’s likely at least mainly to do with it being the best natural source of vitamin D (one of the important nutrients for testosterone, remember?) and that a lot of us are deficient in this today.

So, get out in the sunlight some more, perhaps while exercising, to reap those golden benefits!

Read: Get More Sun And Natural Daylight, Here’s How And Why (Benefits)

“Sunlight will give you a lot of natural vitamin D, which can improve your T-levels.”

And next up are some things to avoid, rather, to gain more total testosterone (since they can reduce it):

9. Drink less alcohol (or at least not too much)

Too much alcohol can quickly have a negative impact on your testosterone levels (*,*), so, drink in moderation or less/not at all to optimize for those.

“Don’t drink too much alcohol, for optimal test.”

10. Avoid these foods that can lower testosterone

Some of the main foods to avoid and that can lower testosterone include

Trans fats
Licorice and licorice root
Mint and mint tea
Possibly flax seed in excess and soy products (although the research is a bit mixed here and seems to be somewhat debunked, so I wouldn’t worry at all with smaller amounts of these two as long as it’s not your main dietary staples).

“Some foods can actually lower your testosterone, and thus can be wise to avoid when looking to increase it.”

11. Avoid certain additives and preservatives, plastics and environmental toxins

BPA in plastics and microplastics can mess with your testosterone levels (*), and so can parabens (common preservative in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products [*]), xenobiotics, phtalates, organophosphates (used in many herbicides and pesticides) and estrogen-like compounds and environmental toxins in general.

To best avoid much of these, use glass or metal as opposed to plastic as much as possible, go organic where it makes sense and make sure you rinse your produce well, and stick to as natural hygiene products and cosmetics as possible.

Do some detox if you feel the need and that you’ve been overexposed to these to quicker flush them out from your body.

“Avoid unnatural toxins as much as you can, and do some detox from these if needed.”

12. Avoid certain medical conditions and medication

Certain medical conditions can spell bad news for your testosterone levels, including obesity as we’ve touched on, but also things such as diabetes, pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

These are however also best dealt with by eating properly healthy and including some intermittent fasting with that, while some exercise won’t hurt either.

As for medications, opioid pain medications such as morphine can be bad for your testosterone, so avoid those as well if you can.

“Take good care of your health in general to avoid some common and testosterone-lowering medical conditions and medications.”

And then for the last thing to avoid or minimize your exposure to wherever you can:

13. Minimize EMF exposure

EMF, or electromagnetic fields/radiation, can also affect your testosterone levels negatively, and the bad news is that these are everywhere today.

From the phone in your pocket to your wifi-router, electrical cords, microwave and wireless technological products, you’re getting electromagnetic radiation.

The strength of this radiation is proportional to the distance to the source of it as well, so some quick things you can do to reduce your exposure are to:

Put your phone away (at least 1,5 metres or so) when at home and not using it.
Put your wifi-router as far from where you spend the most time as possible and turn it off at night and when not in use.
Keep some distance to your microwave when it’s on as well as electrical cords and appliances when possible.
Limit your use of wireless products such as wireless headphones (especially bad since they’re right next to your head for extended periods of time) and stick to the more old-fashioned ones with a wire.

“EMFs are bad for your test.”

And last but not least we have two fairly interesting ones!

14. Use nofap, sexual abstinence or just less sexual activity to bolster testosterone and increase androgen receptors

Although of particular interest and effect for men, the nofap movement and sexual abstinence, be it just reducing it and doing it a bit less frequently (especially when it comes to masturbation, since sex tends to be a lot healthier for you), can actually both somewhat boost your testosterone but more importantly, boost the density of your androgen receptors, meaning the testosterone that you already have will have more pronounced effects and simply work better.

This then has a very similar effect to straight out raising your T levels, and thus even better when done in combination with just that.

A few days, such as 3 days to a week, can be enough for a decent effect on these (*), with even longer periods probably having an even larger effect, but, find your balance!

As for it raising your actual T-levels, on day 6 and 7 of sexual abstinence men get a significant boost in their testosterone level (146% of serum baseline on day 7 [*]), which then quickly goes back to around baseline.

So if you were to say go 7 days in between any action on the regular, your overall or average test levels in the long run would be higher due to this day 6 and 7 peak, on top of having more receptors for said testosterone.

“Although some sexual abstinence can increase your test, androgen receptors play a big part as well in actually utilizing all that testosterone (and that happens to be a reliable way of increasing those).”

There’s still something to be said for sexual arousal and sex also increasing testosterone at least immediately/very short-term.

But either way, interesting stuff, huh?

And next we have another potent effect, called:

15. Use the winner effect to your advantage

Testosterone levels actually rises both in anticipation for competition and from winning, and in turn also gets lower after losing (*,*).

This effect is pretty considerable and means in terms of your testosterone levels that you want to compete and be stacking up wins as much as possible whenever you do so.

This could be achieved by trying harder to win when you do and also competing in the stuff you’re actually good at (this is not an excuse to just avoid trying out new things or shunning anything you’re subpar in, but can be an interesting thing to keep in mind, still).

Past wins and their effects (higher testosterone among them) also make future wins more likely, so it can have a sort of snowball effect.

Even winning in gambling has this effect (*).

“Winning more will increase your testosterone.”

I do suspect though that even smaller “wins”, where there’s no actual competition with others involved, can have an impact as well, such as completing tasks from a list you need to get done or getting things done that you at least subjectively deem as productive, but the jury’s still out on this one.

Other Potential Test Boosters On Which The Studies And Science Are Split

Some other potential test boosters where the science has been mixed, some studies stating a positive correlation, some a negative and some no difference at all, include cold showers, intermittent fasting, nicotine/tobacco and posture and power poses.

“More test or not, don’t cower from a cold shower!”

But because of this reason, I wouldn’t ever pick them over the above listed and main ways to increase your T.

Some of these are still highly recommended for reasons other than testosterone though (intermittent fasting, improving posture, anyone?).

And with that, I leave it to you to now naturally improve your testosterone levels, and obviously you’ll want to combine as many of the above methods as possible for the best results!

Is there anything I’ve missed? Leave it in the comments.

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