Transcript Of Today's Episode
Dr. Martin Jr: 00:03 You're listening to the Doctor Is In Podcast from martinclinic.com. Although we share a lot of practical, and in our opinion, awesome information, what you hear on this podcast is not intended to diagnose, cure, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes. So enjoy.
Dr. Martin Jr: 00:25 Hello, I'm Dr. Martin Jr.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 00:27 I'm Dr. Martin Sr.
Dr. Martin Jr: 00:28 And this is the Doctor Is In Podcast and this is episode 158. Today, we want to talk about testosterone, especially the epidemic that's happening today in men all across North America and that is the fact that some estimate as much as 90% of men experienced symptoms of low testosterone. I'm now just gonna share with you a couple of interesting studies. We made a video about this the other day, but we wanted to share this here as well.
Dr. Martin Jr: 00:59 What is fascinating, and I mean it just goes along with what we're seeing, they measured a bunch of people for testosterone levels over a long period of time, not the same people. And what they found is when they took, for example, the measurements of a 65 year-old man back in 1987 and then a different 65-year old man in 2002, they found a 15% difference in testosterone levels across the board.
Dr. Martin Jr: 01:31 If you go back and you look at these studies that chart testosterone levels, I mean they're declining like crazy. In fact, that's one study I found interesting. Another one found that same thing. I'll read you the conclusion because I found this interesting. This study says here, "The interesting thing that we've discovered was that on average when we measured the testosterone in the blood of a 60-year old in 1989, it was higher than that of a different 60-year old measured in 1995."
Dr. Martin Jr: 01:59 So, one of the things that's absolutely happening is there's decrease in testosterone levels across the board. And there's a lot of reasons for that. But there's no question today, men have lower testosterone levels and men have a tremendous amount of symptoms as a result of it. I also heard this, and we talked about this over lunch, we found this interesting, the average 50-year old male are the average 60-year old male, the average 45-year old male has testosterone levels, half of what they used to have in their 20s and they have higher estrogen levels than their wives.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 02:37 That is shocking. Because one of the things that we talked about so much on this podcast is estrogen and that everything looks like estrogen today, Xenoestrogens and whatever. You would absolutely think that there'd be yeah, a lot of estrogen, especially in women. We know that's a big, big problem with estrogen, but imagine that men, on what planet would you think we're living on that men would have higher levels of estrogen for women.
Dr. Martin Jr: 03:10 A lot of women have estrogen dominance, but that's a relative term because when it comes to estrogen dominance, they're basically comparing it to progesterone, so a lot of the times these women have estrogen dominance because their progesterone levels are so low and their estrogen levels are … they're much higher than progesterone.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 03:30 It's always in [crosstalk 00:03:30].
Dr. Martin Jr: 03:30 It's a relative thing in a sense, but yeah, the average guy now as they age has testosterone levels that are way too low and they have high estrogen levels. And we'll talk about why that's a problem, why that's a major problem in a second, but one of the misconceptions, and it's been repeated so many times.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 03:50 That you think it's the gospel.
Dr. Martin Jr: 03:52 That you think it's true is that men are supposed to lose a ton of testosterone as they age, right? You're getting older and people say that all the time. Well, it's, hey, I'm in my fifties. I'm in my forties. I'm in my sixties. It's only natural that my testosterone levels should have fallen off the table. However, that's not true. Studies disagree with that. In fact, studies are saying that it's more likely that your drop in testosterone is due to either a behavioural or health change than it is because of aging, so they may fall a little bit when you're aging, but it's not supposed to be as drastic as we're seeing today.
Dr. Martin Jr: 04:31 At the end of the day, men have an epidemic of low testosterone levels, and so what you're seeing is this, what you're seeing are men who, for example, have low energy, especially in the evening. A good sign of low testosterone is a guy after supper is just tired, right? He just wants to lie on the couch, watch TV. Doesn't feel like going out and playing a sport or he doesn't have the energy or the desire, the drive to do that.
Dr. Martin Jr: 05:01 That's a good indication that their testosterone levels have fallen below where they should be. So, fatigue is a factor. That's a big factor as well in men, but you need testosterone as a guy for everything. So, not only are they tired, their brains, which is interesting, testosterone actually boost dopamine levels in the brain. So, a guy with low testosterone, they have lower dopamine levels. They could feel depressed, they don't have the same drive that they normally have and they don't have the same satisfaction in life in a sense because their testosterone levels have fallen too much, right?
Dr. Martin Jr: 05:37 I mean, there's a lot of symptoms that go along with that and let's talk about a couple of other symptoms because it's such a common thing.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 05:43 Well, sexually too, in men, that's a huge issue. Testosterone and it has to be high for a man. Again, when you think of that estrogen going through the roof in the men, their sex drive goes right down.
Dr. Martin Jr: 05:56 Yeah, their libido is finished yet, right? It's so much lower than it used to be. They'll also notice they feel … a lot of men with low testosterone, they just feel weaker than they used to feel. They don't have that strength or that stamina that they used to have. I mean, it's so common nowadays. One of the problems, as we've mentioned, is that when their estrogen levels increase and their testosterone levels decrease, it's like a double whammy. One of the things that happens you … there's an enzyme called aromatase, which basically converts testosterone to estrogen, right into estrogen, right?
Dr. Martin Jr: 06:32 So, that enzyme, the more you have of that enzyme, the more you take your testosterone and he converted into estrogen. That enzyme is released for a lot of different reasons. Men, for example, we're surrounded by Xenoestrogens. We're surrounded by estrogen and everything. Plastics mimic estrogen. A lot of the drinking water have plastics in it.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 06:57 Chemicals.
Dr. Martin Jr: 06:57 Yeah, so our estrogen levels are being affected all the time. And the more contact we come with estrogen, the more aromatase we have, the more we also take the testosterone we have and convert it into estrogen. And the more fat cells, because estrogen is also released with fat cells, the more fat cells you have, the more estrogen you secrete. The more estrogen you secrete, the more estrogen you make. Then it takes your testosterone, so you can see the effect that this is having on men.
Dr. Martin Jr: 07:27 So, the average man has low testosterone, high estrogen, they have all the symptoms of low testosterone, and they also have some of the symptoms of high estrogen, which is like man boobs, belly fat, and they also have … and estrogen is like a … and we talked about this as well before, but I find this interesting. The two biggest growth hormones in a sense, I mean, insulin is the biggest growth hormone it makes.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 07:51 Yeah, that's the food hormone.
Dr. Martin Jr: 07:53 Yeah, it makes things grow. So, an insulin problem or somebody who has high circulating insulin, different parts of their body can grow from fat cells to prostate on and on. Estrogen has a similar effect. So, estrogen can cause the male prostate to grow. People are surprised to hear that. Probably in men, the two biggest causes of prostate growth is high insulin and high estrogen.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 08:18 For sure.
Dr. Martin Jr: 08:19 And then. you can't have high estrogen and have high testosterone at the same time. It doesn't work that way. So that person, that man has high estrogen, high insulin and low testosterone and they don't feel good. They have no energy and their prostate's growing. It's a significant issue. We get a lot of men asking us about testosterone, questions about it. We get a lot of women who asked because of their husbands. They'll tell us their husbands are more tired than they used to be. They don't have any libido left, on, and, on and on. It is a major-
Dr. Martin Sr.: 08:52 When you look at a lot of times, and we've talked about this a little bit before, but when you look at erectile function, right? When you think of the little blue pill, they'd gotten very, very popular 10, 15 years ago. But a lot of that people didn't realize in a functional way what was happening to men. Why is that? Well, insulin, we know the drastic effect it has on nitric oxide-
Dr. Martin Jr: 09:19 Yeah, kills your blood vessels.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 09:21 Yeah, it kills your blood vessels and blah, blah, blah. But the other one, and again, it works that way too, is your testosterone. It's such an important hormone. Look, women need some testosterone, but men live on testosterone. Even heart, right? You talk circulation, you talk heart.
Dr. Martin Jr: 09:40 Yeah. Because testosterone gets a bad name because of steroids, right? People just assume it's a steroid, but it's a hormone that your body needs, especially for a guy. Women need it as well, and women have a lot of symptoms of low testosterone as well, and sometimes women actually have too much testosterone also sometimes because of hormonal imbalances.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 10:03 Yeah, especially their estrogen, if it's … Again, when we talk estrogen, we're always talking about in a woman in balance with that testosterone.
Dr. Martin Jr: 10:10 As a guy, if you have low testosterone, your heart isn't healthy. It isn't. It's impossible to have a healthy heart if you have low testosterone, especially over a period of time, it's very hard to do. As we mentioned, your brain relies on testosterone big time, so it's hard to have a healthy brain without healthy levels of testosterone. How many men end up with dementia and Alzheimer's because of a long standing issues with insulin and low testosterone? I mean you can only imagine how many that would affect.
Dr. Martin Jr: 10:43 You need it for your memory, healthy testosterone levels for your memory. People are unaware of this, but you need healthy testosterone levels to prevent osteoporosis. So, that's a big aspect as well. Also, testosterone has a direct effect on inflammation, so a low testosterone person tends to have more inflammation and when your testosterone levels are normal it's an anti-inflammatory to a certain extent as well.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 11:10 Anti-aging, obviously.
Dr. Martin Jr: 11:11 Anti-aging, absolutely. It's possible to grow muscles without healthy levels of testosterone and you'll lose muscle mass actually. And same thing as well. We talked about libido, so a lot of the men's health issues … Well, we've said this before. Men's health is a lot more simpler than women's health. Men, it always boils down to pretty much two issues; insulin and testosterone. Women, is definitely more complicated than that.
Dr. Martin Jr: 11:40 They have more hormones, cortisol and estrogen and progesterone and all these things can get out of whack. Then they have insulin as well. But men, when it comes to hormonal issues, it's insulin, it's testosterone. And then testosterone as a byproduct is the estrogen issues and all that kind of stuff that goes along with it. But that's an interesting thing. Again, part of the reason for the low testosterone is the environment that we live in, the foods that we consume.
Dr. Martin Jr: 12:08 We're going to end in a few minutes talking about some of the best tips to raise testosterone naturally and we'll kind of in a few minutes, we'll talk about that. But there's a few things that across the board. So, not only are we surrounded by Xenoestrogens, like we mentioned, even phthalates, people don't realize phthalates will block the production of testosterone. So, that's everywhere. You got Xenoestrogens everywhere, you got phthalates everywhere, and so phytoestrogens, you got phthalates. And then another big one as well is stress.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 12:39 The Cortisol.
Dr. Martin Jr: 12:40 Yeah, somebody who has elevated levels of cortisol as a guy, if they're stressed and the bodies in that fight or flight, the body is not concerned with testosterone. Testosterone is not a hormone you need in an immediate stress situation. So, it shifts the body away from that. Somebody who's sitting at work stressed or they're at home stressed and they're in a stressed state more than they should be. Their testosterone levels are getting killed. So, there's a lot of men who have low testosterone levels, again because of elevated cortisol and thus feeling the effects of that and it's killing their testosterone level.
Dr. Martin Jr: 13:16 So, those are some of the big three reasons why there's so many issues with testosterone that we see, and we'll list a few more as well, but I just wanted to mentioned stress because we cannot downplay the effect that stress has on a man's testosterone levels. You can't downplay that. Women cortisol effects every hormone they have in their body. It kills the thyroid. It kills the adrenals. It kills everything. Men, it kills their testosterone. It does. It kills their testosterone.
Dr. Martin Jr: 13:50 Think about what you picture a real stressed person. They tend to gain weight. Their brain gets foggy. Every symptom of low testosterone they end up getting is because they end up with low testosterone as a result of it. Again, just interesting stuff and it's so common nowadays that it's becoming a problem. So, let's talk about, for the last part of this podcast, let's talk about some of the best natural ways to boost testosterone. Let's talk about that. Well, first of all, this one is not one that guys like to hear, but alcohol, specifically, beer kills testosterone. Kills it. It absolutely kills it.
Dr. Martin Jr: 14:31 The hops in beer, they act as a phytoestrogen, which is why you get a beer belly man boobs and low testosterone. It's hard to optimize testosterone if you're drinking too much beer. Again, guys, I've mentioned this before on the podcast when I used to treat sports injuries. When a guy came in with elbow pain, like really elbow pain and when I asked them, "Hey, what brought you in?" Because this has been going on for a long time. They say, "Well, I can no longer drink a beer."
Dr. Martin Jr: 14:58 So, we understand how important it is for some guys to be able to drink their beer. But I mean not only can it cause … how many times in the clinic have you seen guys with bad digestive system? There's fungus everywhere, and because they're drinking too much beer. Not only can it kill your gut and kill your …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 15:16 The brewer's yeast.
Dr. Martin Jr: 15:18 All that stuff. The hops-
Dr. Martin Sr.: 15:20 The alcohol, of course, in itself.
Dr. Martin Jr: 15:23 That's right. Sterile, but the hops in the beer can … phytoestrogens, it can … definitely, it's hard to optimize your testosterone levels if you're drinking a lot of beer. I mean, that's the first one. We have to get that out of the way. Guys don't like hearing that in general. They'd like to hear that it actually boosts their testosterone level, but that's not the case.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 15:43 Yeah, they might talk a big game with drinking lot of beer, but they're not playing a big game.
Dr. Martin Jr: 15:47 No, that's right. It's a double whammy because alcohol can lower testosterone and beer specifically can raise estrogen levels. And here's a study, we showed this in a video when we did that video presentation, but a study. What they did is they took basically 36 people, well, they took 72 in total. They took 36 people in one group and 36 in the other. And they had 36 drink beer and they had 36 drink wine and they did this for a while and then they basically took their blood and they were measuring testosterone.
Dr. Martin Jr: 16:19 What they found across the board, it didn't matter if it was beer or wine, both groups had depressed testosterone levels and their estrogen levels were significantly elevated in both groups as well. So, it's funny. But the more they drank, the more their estrogen levels went up. At the end of the day, that could be a problem. A lot of guys are killing their testosterone just because they drink too much. There's no question. The second thing is, so we'll talk about things you should be limiting or cutting out and then we'll talk about things that you can add or do.
Dr. Martin Jr: 16:50 The second thing you want to absolutely cut out as sugar. Sugar and crappy carbs. Research has shown a strong correlation between levels of insulin and testosterone levels. So the more elevated insulin levels are, the lower your testosterone levels. They know that. Studies have shown, there's an interesting one where they had people drink a glucose solution and they found, it didn't matter, and this is the key here. It didn't matter if they were diabetic or pre-diabetic or they had normal glucose tolerance. So, they were completely normal.
Dr. Martin Jr: 17:21 When they consume the sugar, their testosterone levels decrease by as much as 25%.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 17:26 Imagine that.
Dr. Martin Jr: 17:27 Yeah. Think about even the effect that this would have even from an athletic standpoint. A lot of people will eat a crappy carb or high carb or high sugar without realizing the effect that it has.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 17:40 But even those sports drinks, when you think of it. When you're too sweet, whether you're working out or not.
Dr. Martin Jr: 17:47 They drank a glucose solution in this study and a lot of those, especially the sugary ones, it'd be the same thing. If you're a guy and you have low testosterone, cut out sugar, cut out the crappy carbs, there's no question. One more thing here as well, we mentioned to cut out our vegetable oils. Vegetable oils like canola oil, corn oil, grape seed oil, all those crappy, crappy oils will lower your testosterone. It's an indirect pathway, inflammation, all those kinds of things, but you definitely don't want to be consuming too many of those things.
Dr. Martin Jr: 18:26 Good old fashioned real oil, real good fat. For example …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 18:32 Avocado.
Dr. Martin Jr: 18:33 Avocado is like good …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 18:34 [inaudible 00:18:34].
Dr. Martin Jr: 18:34 Olive oil, all those kind of things.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 18:38 Coconut oil.
Dr. Martin Jr: 18:39 There was a study done that was interesting. Again, they did a bunch of things and then they … with the purpose of measuring the effect it has on testosterone in men. And what they found was this, that men who consume a low dietary fat and low saturated fat had the lowest levels of testosterone and free testosterone because you need fat to make testosterone, specifically, you need cholesterol to make testosterone.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 19:06 Isn't that [crosstalk 00:19:07].
Dr. Martin Jr: 19:08 Cholesterol is a precursor to … You can't make testosterone without cholesterol, which is why a lot of guys, as in aside, who are taking these cholesterol lowering medication [inaudible 00:19:17] have low testosterone, which makes it even harder on their heart. Here you have people taking stands for cholesterol to protect … I'm doing the air quotes to protect their heart. It's lowering their testosterone which is hurting their heart as well.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 19:31 And brain.
Dr. Martin Jr: 19:32 And brain. Again, you need fats, healthy fats. And when we say healthy fats… and that's another thing. People are like healthy fats, unhealthy fats or bad fats, good fats. The bad fats are crappy, processed fats.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 19:49 The cookies, the crackers, all of-
Dr. Martin Jr: 19:50 Yeah, all the processed oils.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 19:52 Yeah, the processed oils. Going to middle aisle or grocery stores.
Dr. Martin Jr: 19:56 All that stuff.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 19:56 And the reason is those things are launched a year. You don't have to throw them out. Now.
Dr. Martin Jr: 20:02 The oil never goes bad. At room temperature, it can sit like that forever
Dr. Martin Sr.: 20:07 Yeah, it's been hydrogenated. It can last forever.
Dr. Martin Jr: 20:11 All right, so let's talk now as well about a couple things that you can add that will help out tremendously. Vitamin D3.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 20:17 Vitamin D3. Here we go with another vitamin D3. I know there was somebody on Dr. Oz because someone of my patients [inaudible 00:20:24] it out. Well, be careful with vitamin D. Now the pushback is on, right? The pushback is on against vitamin D because Oh, it's not good for you, and you don't need it, and you get it in your food, and you hear all the traditional stupidity in my opinion because we just … is there anything in terms of a vitamin that is more essential than vitamin D?
Dr. Martin Sr.: 20:53 No, because it just affects every area of your body, including testosterone.
Dr. Martin Jr: 20:58 Yeah. There was a study done and I'll share with you the study because it's an interesting study. They took 209 diabetic men and basically they divided them into two groups. One group received a little over 3,300 IUs of vitamin D for a year and the other group got a placebo, so they didn't get vitamin D. And they basically measured a whole bunch of stuff including testosterone levels. So, they checked their blood levels of D, of course the one group went up, obviously.
Dr. Martin Jr: 21:26 But here's what they found. The group that got the vitamin D, they had a significant increase in total testosterone levels. And here's the thing, in comparison, the placebo group, they had no change in testosterone. They had no elevation whatsoever. And that's just one of many studies. But I find that one interesting. What I liked about that studies, they gave a better dosage better than just the …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 21:47 Yeah, the normal one thought or 400 IUs of the vitamin D.
Dr. Martin Jr: 21:50 Yeah, they gave a better dosage, but there's no question that optimizing your vitamin D levels has a …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 21:57 Well, what the sun does.
Dr. Martin Jr: 21:59 Yes. Well, we talked about that before, how a sun is like superman, that it's the source of his strength. Whenever he's in trouble, he just flies close as he can to the sun and he just reenergizes himself. So, it is interesting, but that's the reality is again, vitamin D and a lot of men, a lot of men are very deficient in vitamin D, just like women. And it's hurting their testosterone levels.
Dr. Martin Jr: 22:23 Definitely it's something that they want to look at as well. Here's another one, a big one as well as zinc.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 22:28 Zinc, big time.
Dr. Martin Jr: 22:31 You absolutely need zinc to make testosterone.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 22:33 Now, from a nutrition standpoint, where do you get zinc? Eggs, meat and cheese.
Dr. Martin Jr: 22:38 Yeah. Eggs it's like the super food, right? Eggs are like a testosterone booster.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 22:42 They go, "Dr. Martin." They go out of my office and they go, "Did he say eggs, meat and cheese again?" I said, "Yeah, that's what I said. Eggs, meat and cheese, if you liked them. If you don't like, but that's where zinc is found." Isn't that amazing?
Dr. Martin Jr: 22:57 A lot of men do well when they start to supplement with a little bit of zinc.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 23:00 So good for your prostate too, right?
Dr. Martin Jr: 23:02 Tremendous for prostate. Magnesium as well is crucial for testosterone. Again, people are deficient in D3, they're deficient in magnesium, they're deficient in zinc, which is again, why we see such chronic problems in testosterone levels. We always recommend another tip for testosterone. Men, avoid soy. I can't think of one reason why a guy should be taking, consuming soy. Soy milk, soy beans, soy protein, just until I'm convinced otherwise, I just can't see any benefit from a guy that he can't get from something else consuming soy.
Dr. Martin Jr: 23:37 A lot of women's should not be consuming soy also.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 23:39 Not in this estrogen dominant world.
Dr. Martin Jr: 23:42 No, that's why-
Dr. Martin Sr.: 23:43 The world has changed. We live in estrogen today and we live in like insulin. I mean, like I would tell people, "Look, you don't live in the 1950s, you live in 2018." I'm limiting the carbohydrates and people sometimes are looking at me, "Why?" I say, "Well, we don't live in the same world. Insulin's gone crazy today, so as estrogen. So, lower those. Anything that will up your estrogen levels, don't take it. You don't need it.
Dr. Martin Jr: 24:12 And here's another tip for boosting testosterone. Lift weights. Lifting weights helps with testosterone. Lift weights. I mean lift weights for anything. It doesn't matter what it is, lift weights, but lift weights again. Lifting weights will help you with your testosterone. Another massive thing here is, and it's a circle in a sense, it's kind of a double whammy, but sleep. I'll just read you quickly because we're running out of time.
Dr. Martin Jr: 24:38 One study found this that various disorders of sleep including abnormalities of sleep quality, so you're not sleeping as good as you should, long duration circadian rhythm disruption. So, you are sleeping, but something's affecting you to go through those different circadian rhythm disruption or Sleep-Disordered Breathing. How many men have apnea? If you have sleep apnea, you have low testosterone.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 24:59 Yeah, 100%.
Dr. Martin Jr: 25:00 And they found so any of those things-
Dr. Martin Sr.: 25:01 And high insulin.
Dr. Martin Jr: 25:03 That's right. High Insulin is a cause of sleep apnea for a lot of people. It's not the cause 100% for everybody, but for 80% probably, but if you're not sleeping, your testosterone levels are low as a guy. So, one of the things you want to do is make sure you're getting enough sleep, but if you can't sleep and you want to fix your sleep because you're gonna struggle with testosterone levels until your sleeping is better, and it makes sense as well. I mean, at nighttime is when you release human growth hormone and so it is interesting there. And then again, stress, stress, stress.
Dr. Martin Jr: 25:32 You have to deal with the effects of stress. If you're guy and you're stressed, you have to deal with that. You have to find a way to lower that cortisol, which again, we have stuff that we use in our clinic that's amazing for that, but you have to learn how to breathe.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 25:49 That's why I like vitamin E, exercise.
Dr. Martin Jr: 25:52 Yeah. It's harder than stress when you exercise.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 25:55 It really is. I think it's almost impossible. So, going to the gym or going for a walk or doing some weights. It's amazing how much better you feel and that cortisol comes right down.
Dr. Martin Jr: 26:03 You know what's funny is I wear an apple watch and I have it set to track my pulse. I got a little pulse generally. It's generally around 60 beats per minute, but I have it track of my breathing and everything and so it'll send me an alert, for whatever reason, and it's always right. I can sense it. My watch will send me alerts, so just breathe.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 26:27 Breathe because you're uptight.
Dr. Martin Jr: 26:28 Yeah. And sometimes I'll get mad at my watch. It's a funny thing, but it is right.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 26:34 You're uptight because I made a mistake on the computer or something and you're mad at me.
Dr. Martin Jr: 26:39 Well, and it's funny because my watch like something will get going and I know it and my watch at the same time it's telling me to breathe. So, it is a funny thing.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 26:48 I don't think I want one of those.
Dr. Martin Jr: 26:50 No, but it is a good indication though even … I don't consider myself a stressed person, but even then in the daytime, it's amazing, you don't even perceive it, but my heart rate elevated and my breathing got more shallow. Just all consistent with your body is stressed. So, it is a funny thing. Sometimes I'll argue with my watch and it looks kind of funny because it's telling me to breathe and I'm like, I'm not breathing right now. It is a funny thing, but all of this definitely as a guy, testosterone levels fluctuate so much in a day.
Dr. Martin Jr: 27:24 I've seen studies of men who use shampoo that smells like a real feminine smell and their testosterone levels lowered after. Our levels fluctuate quite a bit and that's normal. Let's end with this because we're out of time. People always ask us, "Hey, what should my levels be? I got my levels tested. They say they're normal, but I'm having these issues." And our answers to that in our answers to any other thing all the time when it comes to levels, people ask about thyroid, people ask us about vitamin D levels. Our answer to that is …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 28:04 Who cares?
Dr. Martin Jr: 28:05 Who cares what the numbers are? Because the number one question is how do you feel? Some guys need a much higher number of testosterone. Their levels have to be 800 or 600 for them to feel good. And if they come back they get it tested, it's 300, the doctor says it's fine. But they need to be much higher than that.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 28:24 For them to feel good.
Dr. Martin Jr: 28:25 For them to feel good. We're all different. We're all absolutely different.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 28:31 Well, look at the ranges. The ranges of testosterone or what? From 100 to 1100 or something like holy molly.
Dr. Martin Jr: 28:39 And higher, the better for most guys. Guys do better when their-
Dr. Martin Sr.: 28:41 Yeah, for sure.
Dr. Martin Jr: 28:42 … levels are up, but that's what's crazy is that they'll come back …
Dr. Martin Sr.: 28:45 And that's normal. Those are normal.
Dr. Martin Jr: 28:47 It's anything between, I think it's 20. I think it's anything between 20 and 1100 is normal. Yeah, I know it's a wide range and that's the thing. And again, so the number one question, when people ask us all time, what should my level be? Our question is, well, how do you feel? Because if they start listing off symptoms and they sound eerily like low testosterone, who cares what the numbers say? Who cares? Optimize them.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 29:16 Optimize them-
Dr. Martin Jr: 29:17 Bring them up. Take some steps nutritionally to raise your testosterone levels. Take some steps to boost it naturally. Optimize your levels, you'll feel better. You'll feel better. It doesn't matter if the doctor says, " My numbers are normal." Your numbers are good. They don't feel good. We see this with thyroid. It's the same thing with thyroid. Your levels are good. Meanwhile, they pretty much just literally read the Merck manual definition of thyroid, hypothyroidism, and their numbers are good.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 29:44 You got every symptom.
Dr. Martin Jr: 29:46 That's right. Doctors stopped treating symptoms. They started treating strictly lab-based numbers and that's created a mass issue, especially hormone. More than anything hormones numbers can be a joke. How do you feel? Do you have symptoms of low testosterone? Now, we have a quiz that we are going to have on our website. I think it might be up there now where you can go, we have a quiz on low testosterone symptoms. Just if you're guy, go take it.
Dr. Martin Jr: 30:17 And based on the symptoms alone, see how you score.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 30:21 There you go.
Dr. Martin Jr: 30:22 And see how it comes across and again, they're just a simple questionnaire based on testosterone symptoms and it's amazing how many guys have low testosterone. So, if you're a guy and you're tired, you're a guy and your sex drive is falling off the table, you feel weaker. You don't have the same drive that you used to have. Optimize your testosterone levels, you'll feel better. All right, well, we're out of time. Definitely. So thanks for listening and have a great day.
Dr. Martin Sr.: 30:49 Thanks for listening to the Doctor Is In Podcast from martinclinic.com. If you have any questions, you can reach us at info@martinclinic.com. If you're not a newsletter subscriber, you can head to our website and sign up for free. We also have a private Facebook group that you can join. It's a community of awesome people. Finally, I do a Facebook live every Thursday morning at 8:30. Join us again next week for a new episode.