Can detoxing help with testosterone?

Toxins can really mess up your hormones

Testosterone, like every other hormone in your body, is directly affected by the chemicals, heavy metals and other environmental toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis. These toxins can prevent hormones from being produced, keep your body from using them properly and even take the place of hormones in your cells.

This can cause a whole cascade of issues. When your body can’t convert enough testosterone for example, your metabolism will slow and you will tip your hormone balance to being more estrogen-dominant, which means you’ll lose muscle mass and add fat.

Toxins in your endocrine organs (like your testes) can impact your sperm production and quality as well, making it more difficult to start a family.

Those are just a couple of examples of how environmental toxins impact your testosterone levels, and therefore your overall health. Toxins in our environment (mostly in our homes, clothing and personal care products) can throw off our hormone balance and make it hard to achieve our health goals.

One of the best ways to start balancing your testosterone levels is to swap out items in our lives that contain hormone-disrupting chemicals for cleaner, less toxic versions.

These kinds of easy swaps aren’t just for what you eat, they can be a really simple way of getting environmental toxins out of your system as a way to help balance your testosterone.

Toxins like phthalates or bisphenol, chemicals like Atrazine and Glyphosate, Chlorine, DDT and heavy metals are in our food, water, air, clothing, furniture, decor and personal care products.

And all of those toxins can do a serious number on your hormone balance and testosterone levels.

Yeah, I get it, that’s basically everything in your house. But that’s why you chose one thing to swap at a time.

A great rule of thumb is to start with the things that you are in contact with the longest or most often. So for example, you wear underwear and contact lenses pretty much all day, but maybe only drink out of a water bottle when you work out, so you can prioritize swapping out your underoos.

Here’s a few things you can work on changing out to bring down your toxin load:

Opt for natural fiber underwear. Your boxer briefs are against your nuts literally all day. And if they’re made out of polyester or some other synthetic material, those chemicals are leaching through your skin into your testicles, which is where most of your testosterone is made. Swap out synthetic materials for natural fibers like bamboo or hemp.

Try laser eye surgery or wear glasses. If you wear contacts every day, you may be exposing your eyes to large amounts of PFAS, or “forever chemicals”. These chemicals that are found in most plastics are serious endocrine disruptors and can block testosterone receptors. If you are a candidate, think about laser eye surgery or at least opt for wearing prescription glasses more often to give your eyes a break.

Find cleaner deodorant or go “au naturale”. Believe it or not, your deodorant contains a ton of hormone-disrupting chemicals, including phthalates, and most antiperspirants contain aluminum. There are a number of “cleaner” deodorant brands out there, and you can look up the best on the Environmental Working Group website. (aim for a rating of 3 or below.) Also, while it may not be your partner’s favorite choice, you can pass on applying deodorant all together once in a while. Give your pits a rest!

Lose the plastic and pick up a metal or glass water bottle. I get that plastic water bottles are super easy and convenient, but think about it this way: As your water sits in that thin plastic bottle, it warms up and chemicals from the plastic leach into the water. It doesn’t have to be super hot, either. Those water bottles contain PFAS, phthalates and other toxic chemicals that not only don’t biodegrade, they also disrupt your hormones and make it hard to make or process testosterone. So instead of drinking plastic tea, snag one of the many amazing brands of metal or glass water bottles and keep it filled with fresh, filtered water (maybe with a pinch of salt).

Add an air filter to your bedrooms. The air in your house is actually full of particles of dust, old skin cells, hair, as well as the gasses and microplastics from your carpet, paint, and furniture. Don’t freak out, it’s not as bad as it sounds. But all the synthetic materials and finishes that were installed inside the walls of your house release gasses, and also break down into tiny particles. There’s really no where for all that stuff to go. Bring in HEPA air filters to at least all the bedrooms to help clean the air you breathe while you sleep.

So look, here’s the challenge: Choose one of these swaps to make and see how it goes. How do you feel wearing hemp underwear? Do you notice a difference in how well you sleep after you start using an air filter?

These are all small steps you can take to begin removing toxins from your environment, and letting your body detoxify and regain balance. Pulling out toxins is a HUGE step in getting your testosterone back on track.