Have you noticed that your energy isn’t what it used to be? Are you struggling with weight gain, reduced motivation, lower libido, or difficulty building muscle despite your efforts? While many men assume these changes are simply part of aging, low testosterone may be an underlying contributor. Testosterone plays a critical role in energy production, metabolism, muscle maintenance, mood, sexual health, and overall vitality.
What Is Low Testosterone?
Thirty percent of men aged 40-70 have testicles that underproduce testosterone, a condition known as hypogonadism. While the typical age-related decline in testosterone, about 1% yearly, is known as andropause, it can be abnormally accelerated by several factors.
Common Symptoms of Low Testosterone
With low testosterone or low “T,” the symptoms often appear rather vague, non-descriptive, and can look like other typical conditions. For this reason, I maintain a low threshold for testing testosterone levels in men.
Symptoms of low testosterone:
- Generalized fatigue
- Declining motivation
- Mood changes like sadness and irritability
- Loss of libido
- Erectile dysfunction
- Sleep disturbance
- Loss of muscle mass and decreased strength
- Increase in body fat
- Decline in bone density
- Premature aging
- Diminished sense of well being
- Anemia
- Increase cardiovascular risk
The most common symptoms my male clients notice is less stamina and motivation, and less drive to participate in their usual activities. Other commonly reported symptoms I hear are increased body fat, shrinking muscles, and just no longer feeling like their usual confident selves.
What Causes Testosterone Levels to Decline?
Age is the most important cause of low testosterone. Most often low levels of testosterone have somewhat related causes such as obesity, metabolic dysfunction, diabetes, and endocrine dysfunction for industrial pollutants. But other factors are known to accelerate the normal declines in testosterone and are prevalent. These factors include:
- Excess body fat and obesity
- Metabolic imbalances like insulin resistance and diabetes
- High levels of prolactin, secreted by the pituitary gland
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Stress
Several medication classes and medications lower testosterone:
- Beta-blockers
- Statins
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
- Serotonin reuptake inhibitors
- Corticosteroids
- Opioids
- Spironolactone
- Cimetidine
And environmental toxicity from many common industrial exposures.
How Environmental Toxins Contribute to the Testosterone Crisis
Toxins such as MEHP or mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, a metabolite of one of the most widely manufactured plasticizers, the “forever chemical” known as PFOS or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, associated with a long list of heath harms, and PDBE, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, a highly stable and ubiquitous class of flame retardants, which also happens to be an endocrine disruptor and carcinogen, are just a few examples of toxins linked to declining testosterone levels.
Of all causes of declining testosterone, I find environmental toxins to be the most insidious and disturbing. That is because doctors do not widely consider the role toxins play in hormonal dysfunction or testosterone deficiency. And two, there is no better explanation than the burden of industrial pollutants in humans and generational declines in testosterone values. For example, a 10% increase rate of hypogonadism was seen in men 20 years younger according to longitudinal studies on aging and testosterone values. Another example saw testosterone values in two different groups of 40-year-old men drop on average from 520mg/dL to 450mg/dL when measuring from one decade to another.
Most low-T clinics talk only about testosterone injections
Few discuss:
- PFAS (“forever chemicals”)
- Phthalates
- BPA
- Pesticides
- Heavy metals
- Endocrine disruptors
Environmental medicine recognizes that many industrial chemicals interfere with hormone production, hormone signaling, and reproductive health. These substances are often referred to as endocrine-disrupting chemicals because they can mimic or block normal hormonal activity within the body.
Why Testosterone Testing Matters
Men experiencing unexplainable symptoms like generalized fatigue, loss of motivation and drive, increased body fat storage and muscle loss, uncharacteristic mood changes, an increased difficulty getting a good night sleep or sexual dysfunction should seek a comprehensive hormone evaluation and testing. Younger men should be sure to have their blood drawn in the morning for more accurate results.
Natural Approaches to Supporting Healthy Testosterone Levels
If lifestyle medicine strategies like optimal nutrition, fitness, and detoxification are not enough to bring testosterone to suitable levels or to improve symptoms, testosterone replacement therapy is an effective way to aid in health restoration.
Men throughout Upland, Claremont, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, and the surrounding Inland Empire and Los Angeles seeking treatment for low testosterone, erectile dysfunction, low libido, fatigue, or hormone imbalance can benefit from a comprehensive evaluation focused on identifying and addressing the root causes of their symptoms.
Don’t Ignore the Signs
If you have been experiencing fatigue, loss of motivation, weight gain, declining muscle mass, reduced libido, erectile dysfunction, or other symptoms associated with low testosterone, a comprehensive evaluation may help uncover the underlying cause.
At Inland Naturopathic Wellness Center, we evaluate hormone levels alongside metabolic health, nutrition, environmental toxin exposure, stress, sleep quality, and other factors that affect your vitality.
Our goal is to provide and comprehensive and personalized treatment plan.
Call 909-981-9200 to schedule a consultation and learn if low testosterone is affecting your health.
Dr. Ayo Bankole
Ayo Bankole is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor treating persons with heart disease, diabetes, inflammation, and other environmental and lifestyle related conditions. He also possesses advanced training in environmental medicine and uses IV nutritional therapy, detoxification and chelation therapy.
He is a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine www.a4m.com, American Academy for the Advancement of Medicine www.acam.org, the and the California Association of Naturopathic Doctors www.cand.org.
To learn more about our approach to treating heart disease call 909-981-9200 to schedule your FREE DISCOVERY CALL.