Most men are not even aware of this but their testosterone and blood sugar levels have an interconnection so much so that diabetes is often associated with low testosterone levels in your body.
Before I move any further, I think Testosterone or the predominant male sex hormone needs a bit of an introduction!
Testosterone is an anabolic steroid hormone that gives men their male traits. It is the hormone that converts boys into men and it is a spike in its production during puberty that leads to growth of facial and torso hair, deepening of the voice, and growth of external male genitalia.
Not just this, it is also the hormone that is related to aggressive behavior in men. The production of this hormone is at its highest level in your body during puberty or adolescence but it begins waning down when you hit the other side of 30.
This is when things start going downhill whether it’s muscle gains, libido, erection hardness, etc. Not just this, low testosterone also leads to mood swings and depression in men.
Getting back to the interconnection between blood sugar and testosterone, research has shown that low testosterone in men and high testosterone in women is linked with diabetes.
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Blood Sugar and Testosterone
High blood sugar levels in your body can affect testosterone production along with a lot more functions in your body.
When your blood sugar levels are consistently on the higher side, your pituitary gland tends to produce less Luteinizing Hormone or LH. This bears a direct impact on testosterone production since it is LH that stimulates the Leydig cells in the testes to produce testosterone.
It is clear that with not enough LH, your body is not going to produce testosterone in adequate amounts and this might lead to testosterone deficiency resulting in various health issues and problems, both physiological and psychological.
Testosterone and Insulin Resistance
Research has shown a deep link between testosterone and insulin resistance.
But what is Insulin resistance?
In layman’s terms, when your body does not respond normally to the insulin secreted by your pancreas, the condition is referred to as “insulin resistance”.
What happens next is that in order to maintain normal blood sugar levels, your pancreas works harder to produce more insulin and over time, it gets really hard for it to keep with your body’s demand. Naturally, over time, your blood sugar levels also increase.
Slowly but surely, your blood sugar levels keep rising and qualify as ‘pre-diabetic” and later turn into type 2 diabetes.
But things do not really stop here.
Another complication that arises is that you start gaining body fat and begin losing muscle mass. Now, this tends to become a vicious cycle by further increasing insulin resistance.
Let me explain the connection between your blood sugar levels and muscle mass….
The muscle in your body plays an important role in managing blood sugar levels and insulin resistance since it burns more calories even when your body is at rest. Now, the less testosterone you produce, the more muscle you tend to lose, and with loss of muscle mass more calories get deposited in your body as fat. This again tends to increase insulin resistance and blood sugar levels.
Basically, it’s a very complicated mix and everything seems to be interconnected. Any issue with your hormones is going to affect your blood sugar levels and vice versa.
Blood Sugar Levels and Male Libido
As I have already mentioned above that a spike in blood sugar levels leads to low testosterone. This obviously wreaks your sexual appetite but there’s another crucial effect of high blood sugar levels that needs to be looked upon.
It is robust blood flow to the penis that gives your a healthy libido and harder erections. High blood sugar tends to damage the blood vessels and nerve endings in your penis severely impacting the blood flow. Without enough blood getting into the penis, it is impossible to achieve or maintain a rock-solid erection. Thus, high sugar levels remain one of the causes of erectile dysfunction in men.
I must mention here that high blood sugar levels affect your body in ways more than one and it makes your body struggle to function at its full capacity.
Low Testosterone And Sex Drive
There are a lot of factors that can affect your libido or sex drive and some of these could be your diet, stress levels, sleep quality, depression and other lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise, etc.
One of the most accepted facts is that your libido tends to go downhill with advancing age.
Low testosterone is also supposed to be one of the major factors that can bear a negative impact on your libido or sexual appetite. Even though little is known how low testosterone can lower libido, it is a known fact that it does bear an impact.
Ways To Improve Your Testosterone Levels
Here are some simple and easy ways to help boost your testosterone levels:
Improve Your Blood Sugar Levels
As you have already seen above how blood sugar levels can affect your testosterone, it is important to maintain an optimum level of blood sugar in your body. This can be done through changes in your diet and through regular exercise. In case you need medication, you must consult your doctor who can prescribe suitable medicine after checking your condition.
Starting Working Out
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that any kind of exercise or training can help improve your blood sugar levels as well as insulin sensitivity. Over and above, exercise also helps a great deal in increasing testosterone production too. Strength training seems to be the best kind of exercise as far as enhancing testosterone is concerned. But something as simple and easy as a walk every morning or evening can bring about a lot of difference in your testosterone levels.
Improve Your Diet
Your diet plays a critical role in improving both your blood sugar and testosterone levels. If you are going to have sodas and junk throughout the day, you are going to wreak havoc on your testosterone levels. Thus, it is imperative that you take care of your diet and consume more protein, green veggies, and whole foods. You also need to avoid foods with simple carbs and sugars.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Binge drinking is one of the underlying causes of high blood sugar levels and increases insulin resistance in both men and women. Thus, it is important to control your intake of alcohol. By doing so, you should be able to increase insulin sensitivity and also testosterone production.
Get More Sleep
Lack of sleep is one of the most common factors affecting both your testosterone and blood sugar levels. If you are someone who has made it a habit of sleeping for just 5 hours every night in place of 7-8 hours, your body is going to respond by lowering your T levels and spiking up your blood sugar levels. It is known that sleeping for just 5 hours can lower your testosterone levels by as much as 10-15%.
Give Up Smoking
There are two ways in which smoking affects your sexual health. First of all, every time you smoke a cigarette, your arteries get restricted and narrower resulting in poor blood flow to the penis as well as to the rest of the body. Not just this, nicotine in your bloodstream tends to make your body more insulin resistant which tends to raise your blood sugar levels further decreasing your testosterone levels. Thus, if you want to raise your testosterone and libido, it is time to say goodbye to cigarettes.
Use a Natural Testosterone Supplement
Even though testosterone can be raised with the help of test shots, they are not really recommended since they have a lot of side effects. Testosterone supplements, on the other hand, are a far better option since they are safe and effective and do not have any side effects. They are made with all-natural ingredients and help your body stimulate its own natural testosterone production.
Check out the best testosterone boosters that can help you get a robust libido, more muscle mass, stronger bones, harder erections, etc., and that have been getting incredibly positive user reviews.
FAQs
Can I have testosterone if I have Diabetes?
As per a study published in Diabetes Care, men with Diabetes are likely to get significant benefit from Testosterone therapy. You must keep in mind that low testosterone is often associated with high blood sugar in men and by restoring testosterone levels, it may be possible to lower blood sugar levels.
Does Testosterone affect Insulin resistance?
Testosterone is the predominant male hormone and a drop in its levels tends to trigger a whole lot of issues including increased insulin resistance. Testosterone, thus, can help decrease insulin resistance and also LDL cholesterol in your body. This is the bad cholesterol and a high level of LDL tends to increase the chances of getting a heart stroke.
Conclusion
It is hard to think of men without testosterone. As you have seen from above, low testosterone levels can cause a lot of health issues and problems in men including high blood sugar levels, etc. Even though lifestyle changes can help restore your testosterone levels, they take time and a lot of effort. Combining such efforts with a good testosterone supplement such as Testogen can make your job easier.
