Stress, Testosterone and Longevity: The Guy’s Guide To Surviving and Thriving in a Topsy-Turvy World

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

Has the world got you in a tizzy? Has the economy, politics, terrorism, the threat of war, quartet of killer hurricanes, and now violence in Vegas rattled your cage? Even without the icy coating of current events, about ¼ of Americans feel extreme stress in any given month. Welcome to humanity.

But stress is a funny thing. Evidence now shows that in small doses, stress is actually good for us.  It’s known to sharpen the memory, improve the immune system, increase mental toughness and physical performance, and make life interesting. I’m sure that cavemen running from woolly mammoths were thinking about all this as they ran for their lives! It’s hard to imagine our stress as good medicine.

Cleaning House

One more fact: one of the most severe forms of stress—starvation—is proven to be healthy! And not only for humans, but for all living species from yeast to man. Thoughts are that calorie restriction replicates the nonlinear, less ordered existence that we led as cavepeeps not all that long ago, and it forces our bodies to recycle old proteins and clean up the hormonal and metabolic “junk” stored in our bodies. It’s a veritable biological housecleaning. To boot, it’s now clear that calorie restriction is good for longevity. But honestly, I can’t imagine how starving ourselves can be a stress-free path to a long and healthy life.

The Chosen Road

The better road to take here is to realize that stress is normal, it fluctuates, and that our bodies are built to handle it. Knowing this, here are some tips for dealing with stress in this topsy-turvy world:

  1. Control what you can. Simply knowing that stress is normal can help here. Fix the things you can and don’t worry as much about the things you can’t.
  2. Funnel the energy of stress constructively. Surf the waves of stress, don’t battle them. Turn the listless energy of stress into productive activity that gets things done.
  3. Reestablish rituals and rhythms. Keep walking the dog, listening to music, and watering the plants, as they are the stuff of life.
  4. Take great care of yourself. Eat well (and maybe less), sleep well, exercise and invest in you. That’s one thing that you can control.
  5. Engage with friends. Chances are someone you know understands your stress. Empathy helps to fight off stress. Hell, it’s the whole reason for the success of our Brosectomy® (group vasectomy) experience.

And guys remember that the more that stress lingers about and affects you, the lower your testosterone levels will be. And given that testosterone is the oil for a properly running engine (body), that matters for the long run. We can help you when it comes to testosterone with my bag of tricks but stress reduction is a better cure for low testosterone. What was that quote from LA Story? “Free your mind, and your body will follow.”