10 Ways To Increase Your Testosterone

Testosterone is often considered the very essence of manliness: it’s brewed in your balls, puts hairs on your chest and drops a Barry White on your vocal chord around the age of 12.

Aside from symbolic virility, this male sex hormone has other bodily benefits. Not only is it proven to tackle depression, testosterone can also reduce body fat, increase muscle mass and keep your bones strong (in both your pants and your skeleton).

However, levels steadily decline at the rate of about 2 per cent each year from around the age of 30. Though this is unlikely to cause any problems, there are safe, proven ways of staying topped up.

Trim The Fat

To put it bluntly, lose weight. Hormone researchers at the Endocrine Society concluded that overweight men are likely to have less testosterone, which means less energy and increased susceptibility to depression.

Exercise is essential to any weight loss programme, but there’s also an added bonus to a workout: it’ll briefly up your T-levels. In the long run, shedding fat will reignite the body’s natural production of testosterone.

Zinc Twice

Research has shown that supplementing your diet with zinc for as little as six weeks can improve testosterone levels. According to the National Institutes of Health, 45 per cent of us aren’t getting enough of the stuff.

Protein-rich foods like meat and fish are packed full of zinc, along with raw cheese, beans and natural yoghurt. MyProtein Zinc, available at

MyProtein, priced £5.49.

Sweet Nothings

In addition to causing you to pile on the pounds, sugar can also wreak havoc on testosterone production. Regular intake of the sweet stuff can cause insulin to spike, which is a factor leading to low levels of testosterone.

To counteract the effect, simply limit your sugar intake – the overall health benefits far outweigh a quick dopamine hit from a soft drink.