Health

The Impact of Stress on Hormone Imbalance in Men

While you consider yourself to be a guy who thrives under pressure, too much stress on a regular basis can take its toll on your body in many ways. One of the most common is creating a hormone imbalance, which can lead to problems in the bedroom and beyond. Since stress is something you can control, it’s also possible for you to take steps to negate any hormone imbalance you may be experiencing. If you’re wondering how stress does lead to hormone imbalances in men, here are some facts to keep in mind.

Adrenal Fatigue

When you are constantly under stress in your professional or personal life or perhaps both simultaneously, the hormone imbalance that results can lead to what is known as adrenal fatigue. Should this occur, it means your body’s adrenal glands begin to lower the amount of cortisol they produce. While you may think this is good, it’s not. Since cortisol is your body’s stress hormone, you need a certain amount of it to help you deal with stressful situations. 

The problem of an imbalance comes when you are under too much stress. Your body doesn’t know when to stop producing cortisol, meaning that while the amount of cortisol produced may be lower, it will constantly be pumping throughout your body, which is what may have you feeling fatigued, depressed, and even lacking your usual desire for sex.

Sexual Problems

When you’re under stress, you’ve got plenty of things on your mind that tend to consume your thoughts day and night. As a result, sex is often something that falls by the wayside. As your stress levels continue to rise, you not only have adrenal fatigue going on but also a decrease in your testosterone. Unfortunately, this will begin to show itself through a variety of sexual problems that will become embarrassing and frustrating the longer they exist. The most common ones you may encounter include:

  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Lack of sex drive
  • Performance anxiety

Many men tend to have not just one of these problems but often all three. This leads to a vicious circle of not having a desire for sex out of fear you won’t be able to get or maintain an erection, which leads to your performance anxiety. Fortunately, there are ways to boost your testosterone naturally.

Learning to Relax

A cortisol imbalance can result in higher blood pressure, a weakened immune system, difficulty concentrating, and bone and muscle loss. To prevent these health issues that can turn serious in a hurry, it’s important that you learn how to boost your testosterone naturally through various ways of relaxation. One of the best is meditation, which takes only 10-15 minutes per day and can be done in the mornings or evenings, even if you have a busy schedule. 

Other relaxation techniques you may want to consider include practicing yoga or tai chi, beginning an exercise program such as jogging or cycling, or turning your attention to a hobby you can enjoy in your spare time. As your mind and body become more relaxed, it gets easier for your hormones to get back into balance, helping you overcome your sexual issues or other problems you may have been dealing with recently.

Premature Aging

The last thing you as a man want to see happening to your body is the signs of premature aging, such as gray hair, wrinkles, or a sharp loss of muscle mass with an equally sharp weight gain. When your hormones are out of balance due to stress, this is exactly what can happen. While stress in small doses will give you what is needed to overcome challenges you may face along the way, too much stress will wear you down physically, mentally, and emotionally, eventually impacting your health in more ways than you care to imagine.

Bottom Line

If you are a man who has the belief that you should be able to carry the heaviest of burdens without bending or breaking, you are setting the stage for a hormone imbalance brought on by too much stress. Rather than ignore the warning signs, talk to your doctor to find out how you can naturally boost your testosterone and keep stress to a minimum.