As a man, you’ve probably heard a lot about testosterone.

It’s your main sex hormone. It’s the almighty of manly hormones. It’s what makes you a man and without it (or with less of it), you’re somehow ‘less manly.’

Well, not exactly, but low levels of testosterone can lead to some challenges.

Just like everything else becomes a little bit more difficult with age, balancing hormones follows suit. Hormones are changing throughout your entire life and unfortunately, once you hit a certain age, keeping levels elevated is increasingly more work.

But before you think about injecting yourself with testosterone, we think you should know how testosterone is produced and how it changes with age, what contributes to low testosterone, and what you can do about it.

Testosterone and Aging

Testosterone levels are under tight control by your hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. The hypothalamus secretes gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which triggers the anterior pituitary to produce luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). LH then stimulates Leydig cells of the testes to produce testosterone 1.

And while this process happens throughout your entire life, after about 40 years old (50 for some lucky ones) it starts to slow down. Similar to how women go through menopause, men go through what’s called “andropause,” which describes age-related changes in male hormone levels, specifically testosterone.

According to research, andropause is a little less drastic than menopause. Testosterone levels start to decline by about 1% per year after the age of 40, but the decline comes at a pretty steady pace as opposed to a stark drop2.

So, for a male around 50 years old, you can expect levels to be a little lower than they were twenty years ago. 

According to research, “average” levels of testosterone in healthy men look something like this: 3

Age

Total testosterone

Free testosterone

Bioavailable testosterone

40–49

252–916

5.3–26.3

101–499

50–59

215–878

4.2–22.2

80–420

60–69

196–859

3.7–18.9

69–356

70–79

156–819

2.2–14.7

41–279

Total testosterone is your levels of both free and bound; free testosterone floats around unbound to proteins, and bioavailable testosterone is bound to albumin.

What typically happens for men over 50 is that testosterone binds to two proteins: tightly to sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and weakly to albumin. However, as men age, levels of SHBG increase, which means more testosterone binds.

And because only free testosterone or albumin-bound testosterone levels are measured, levels may show up low even though testosterone levels are normal — the majority of it is actually bound to SHBG and therefore not bioavailable.

What contributes to low testosterone?

Aging is a huge thing that contributes to declining testosterone, but it’s by no means the only thing.

There’s also:

  • Hypogonadism
  • Obesity
  • Stress (mental or physical)
  • Medications
  • Lack of physical activity
  • Poor diet

And when testosterone levels aren’t where they should be, you may experience 4:

  • Low energy
  • Difficulty gaining or maintaining muscle mass
  • Poor physical performance
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Low sex drive
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Hair loss
  • Bone loss
  • Infertility
  • Poor concentration and memory
  • Fatigue
  • Mental fogginess

The 50s are kind of like your golden age, and the last thing you want is to have to be dealing with low testosterone.

So, if there’s a natural way to boost them, you’d want to know about it, right?

How you can maintain proper levels

Similar to how women go through hormone replacement therapy, testosterone shots are an obvious fix for low levels of T, but there are also loads of things you can do to boost your levels of testosterone naturally:

Exercise

Resistance training can be super effective in boosting hormone levels. One study found that exercise has a greater effect on increasing testosterone levels than diet in overweight people 5.

Manage your stress

High cortisol (your stress hormone) can interfere with testosterone production, so practicing stress management techniques is key to keeping cortisol levels in check.

Diet

Eating enough, and eating enough of the right foods, is important for testosterone production. Healthy fats and cholesterol are the basis of testosterone, so ensuring you’re eating enough protein, complex carbs, and healthy fat is key to maintaining levels.

T-booster supplements

Vitamins and minerals are important for supplying the building blocks of testosterone. Testo Lab Pro is one of the cleanest and most effective natural testosterone boosters on the market. It’s testosterone production support plus a full-spectrum boost for everything that makes you a man.

By boosting things that increase testosterone and fighting things that kill it, Testo Lab Pro® unleashes a synergistic 2X surge in T and masculinity.

Final thoughts

Obviously, things start to change as you get older. Joints ache a bit more. Physical activity isn’t as easy as it was 30 years ago. Hair starts to thin. And of course, testosterone starts to decline.

And while people tell you that testosterone levels are bound and determined to decline as you age and there’s nothing you can do about it - there is.

If you’re making proper diet and lifestyle choices to support testosterone production and supplements with things that actually work, levels can stay pretty high well into your 50s, 60s, and even 70s.

References

  1.  P Dandona, MT Rosenberg. A practical guide to male hypogonadism in the primary care setting. Int J Clin Pract. 2010;64(6):682-696.
  2.  HA Feldman, C Longcope, CA Derby, et al. Age trends in the level of serum testosterone and other hormones in middle-aged men: longitudinal results from the Massachusetts male aging study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002;87(2):589-98
  3. Barrett-Conor E. Male Testosterone: What is normal? Clinical Endocrinology. 2005;62(3):263-64.
  4. A Katelaris. Testosterone up. A case of disease mongering? Med J Aug 2012;196(10):611
  5. H Kumagai, A Zempo-Miyaki, T Yoshikawa, T Tsujimoto, K Tanaka, S Maeda. Increased physical activity has a greater effect than reduced energy intake on lifestyle modification-induced increases in testosterone. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2016;58(1):84-89.