Testosterone and estrogen are sex steroids hormones on which you can impact the ratio to increase your well-being. Main hormone sources are ovaries for estrogen and testicles for testosterone. Estrogen level is high between puberty and menopause with variation during the period cycles while testosterone level is at its highest after puberty then loose 1% per year. Competition has a powerful influence on these hormone levels, no manner winning or loosing, and high testosterone reduces anxiety and promotes novelty seeking as well as competitive interactions. This is because testosterone binds to the amygdala and changes the threshold for stress that then leads to taking more risks/actions. High testosterone increases libido and desire to mate, this is why it peaks just before ovulation. On the other side, high estrogen increases receptivity to mate. Testosterone seeks, estrogen receives. However a male with too few estrogen looses libido. Having sex increases testosterone during the act itself and while ejaculation doesn't reduce testosterone levels, it raises prolactin levels that prevent male and female from having sex again. Abstinence increases testosterone even more. Soon to be fathers and mothers have reduced testosterone and cortisol (stress hormone) but more estrogen and prolactin, hence the weight gain, to prepare for the upcoming short nights of sleep. The more contact a parent has with the new-born, the more he'll have low testosterone high prolactin meaning less sex-seeking. Illness decrease desire for sex because it raises interleukin 6 that impact sex hormone receptors. Smells and pheromones have the most impact on new parents hormone changes. The presence of men influence women menstrual cycles (Lee-Boot effect), replacing a male by another during pregnancy can alter the fetus (Bruce effect), female puberty can be accelerated by the presence of a sexually competent male while the exposure to mature females will delay it (Vandenbergh effect). Apnea and under breathing reduce testosterone and estrogen. Nasal breathing improves many things like jaw cosmetics and carbo-dioxide exchanges while mouth breathing has many drawbacks. Nasal breathing positively impacts hormones, estrogen, and testosterone included, because it helps you sleep better thus generate more hormone. Nasal breathing leads better sleep leads to more hormones. Try to nasal breathe when exercising over time. Light influences animals fur colors and reproduction hormones. It is all linked to dopamine, and its precursor tyrosine coming from food, because high dopamine stimulates hormone releases. Tyrosine also comes prior to melanin responsible for hair and skin color changes, meaning many enzymes address both sex drive and pigmentation. This is why animals breed more and humans feel better during summer, because of the higher amount of sunlight. Increased viewing of sunlight through the eyes (not skin) increases dopamine levels in the brain but also increases melanin levels that increase both skin pigmentation and sex hormones levels with the latter resulting higher sex drive, higher well being and reduced anxiety. Get more sleep and sunlight in your eyes by getting 2-10mn early in the day and no bright during the night. Lack of sleep isn't the main problem, it's that it often comes with a lot of bright light as well. The third main element after breathing and light is cold. Cooling (cold shower or bath) causes vasoconstriction that is followed by rebound hyper-vasodilation sending more levels blood to our body through the vascular system resulting in more stimulation of gonads (ovaries and testicles) thus increasing estrogen and testosterone. You shut down neurons by cooling them. Cold causes constriction that is compensated afterward with hyper-vasodilation sending more blood to gonads. The nervous system asks for hormonal release when exercising with heavy loads not to failure (70%+ of max) for 1-2 days due to the engagement of neurons recruiting high threshold motor units. Working out too hard increases cortisol and reduces testosterone. Endurance activities prior to weight lifting decreases testosterone during the session compared to doing endurance after lifting. Lifting then cardio. Certain collections of nutrients are useful for promoting estrogen and testosterone production and avoiding their reduction: vitamin D, zinc, magnesium. Cold showers increase mood and boost metabolism for a few hours, it can even help fat loss (the metabolism spends more calories to heat), increase testosterone and reduce anxiety. To do so aim for 10 minutes per week of 10°C water exposure and let the body heat itself naturally afterwards. Focus brown fat zones (back of the head, neck, upper back). Our brain and body work worse when even slightly dehydrated. Dehydration leads to bad performance. At rest, an adult requires 0.25L of fluid (a can or glass) per hour for the first 10 hours of the day meaning 2.5L of fluid a day at rest. After our 10 first awake hours we're maybe less active, but it's because our kidney filters less efficiently after that period. When exercising, you need 2mL of water per kg of bodyweight every 15mn, so 0.15L every 15mn when weighting 75kg making that .6L per hour exercising. All tap water worldwide contains at least few things that are bad for our body. Minerals (magnesium and calcium, called hard water) are good and increase water's pH but the treatment applied adds DBP (Disinfection ByProduct) that impact the pH, mineral levels and fertility. Get your local tap water analyses and look for DBP level, especially fluoride (must be less than 0.5mg / L) as it impacts thyroid hormones linked with heart rate, mood, energy, metabolism, bone. Drink tap water only if fluoride level is low (< 0.5mg/L) to avoid thyroid and fertility problems. Brita-like filters work a bit but don't filter fluoride enough. Having 10-20 mg/L of magnesium reduces risk of cardiovascular mortality by 25%. Hard water (high pH with magnesium and calcium) are good for your body even if they taste bad.
Andrew Huberman