Ah, testosterone: Everyone’s favourite hormone. Or at least you might think that, given all the fuss everyone—from influencers to the U.S. government—is making about maintaining and boosting testosterone levels.

The intense focus isn’t totally unwarranted. At around age 35 or 40, testosterone in the body begins to slowly drop off naturally, according to Dr. Harsha Moole, an internal medicine physician scientist, and the founder of FindMyDirectDoctor.com. The effect is relatively mild until age 70, when the drop becomes more pronounced.
 

Even gradual drops can have pretty noticeable effects on your body. One of the most common symptoms is a loss of sex drive or erectile quality, Moole says. You might also notice a drop in your mood and energy levels, or a slow reduction in muscle mass. 
 

But it’s not all bad news. While there’s a ton of junk science out there about testosterone, there are also a bunch of simple (and sometimes free) ways to maintain your health and possibly stabilize your T levels. Here’s what you should consider and, just as crucially, what you should avoid. 
 

Things you can do to boost your testosterone

Before you even start on a path to boosting your testosterone, you should probably pay a visit to your doctor to make sure there’s a real problem worth fixing. That’s because symptoms of low testosterone such as low energy can easily be caused by other health issues. You want to make sure you’re solving the right problem with the right tools.
 

Dr. Sean Arora, co-founder and CEO of Arora Health & Aesthetics, says this can be an easy win for people on PrEP or in HIV care, because they’re already connected to a provider. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms, and ask if monitoring testosterone levels makes sense. (If you’re HIV-positive, low testosterone is more common, Arora says, and so it’s especially worth discussing with your provider.)
 

Moole says diagnosing testosterone deficiency can be a bit tricky. At his practice, he relies on a combination of blood tests and symptom consistency. He says at least two blood draws are necessary, to account for wild swings in T levels that can occur throughout the course of a day. Along with tests, he talks to patients about their symptoms, and tries to rule out other potential causes—maybe excessive alcohol use or sleep deprivation, for example, are to blame.

If you go through these steps, and your healthcare provider has reason to believe that your testosterone levels are low, you can move on to trying some of the following solutions.

Prioritize sleep, food and exercise

You might roll your eyes, but the best things to try first are the ones that are free or simple. 

Moole is quick to recommend that his patients get more sleep: Getting too little can cause significant drops in testosterone, he says, and ensuring you sleep for at least seven hours can bring those levels back up.
 

“It’s the most underrated hormone treatment there is,” Arora seconds.
 

The same goes for diet and exercise. Resistance training along with cardio workouts are proven ways to increase testosterone levels. Plus, “well-rounded diets full of healthy fats, proteins and nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables support healthy testosterone production,” according to Jennifer Fisher of Harvard Health Publishing.
 

Moole also sees promise in a couple of herbal supplements. Ashwagandha, for example, has been shown to increase testosterone levels in men, while fenugreek has shown similar promise in scientific studies. The effects are unlikely to be as strong as T-replacement therapy, but they can offer modest increases, Moole says. 
 

Consider your body weight

For patients who are overweight, it might be worth considering a weight-loss strategy. That’s because fat deposits in the body convert testosterone into estrogen, which can work against the actions of testosterone, Moole and Arora say.

If you reduce the fat deposits in your body, you reduce the amount of testosterone being converted into estrogen, which in turn increases overall testosterone levels. Moole has seen patients that lose 20 or 25 pounds get a boost in their T with no other intervention.
 

Take a medical testosterone replacement

If all else fails, you might consider a direct form of hormone replacement. These come in a few different forms.

One popular option is an injectable, intramuscular medicine that’s taken once every two weeks. Some versions of this are longer-acting, with shots every couple of months, Moole says.
 

There are also transdermal hormone replacements, which are usually gels or patches on the skin that need to be replenished every day or every few days. 

This medicine also comes in the form of a twice-daily pill.
 

What doesn’t work 

Anything that’s not on the list above is probably not a science-backed way of boosting your testosterone, Moole says. There’s a whole market of products and interventions that claim to help in this area that have very little—if any—evidence supporting them. 

While some supplements have performed well in studies, most have no significant effect. Some people take zinc to boost T, but Moole says this generally doesn’t work. And supplements allegedly designed for augmenting hormone levels don’t either. “Most ‘testosterone boosters’ have little to no real evidence behind them, and some have been found to contain ingredients that aren’t even on the label. You’re paying for marketing,” adds Dr. Arora.
 

Recently, something called D-Aspartic acid (D-Asp) has become popular as a purported way of increasing T levels, but Moole also warns against it. Some studies show that the acid can indeed give men higher hormone levels, while other studies show no effect, or even a decrease in testosterone. 

Some spas, gyms and wellness influencers have claimed that cold showers and ice baths help. While these might indeed cause a jump in T levels, the effect is fleeting, and doesn’t translate to a consistent or long-term increase.
 

And those internet hacks? Also a no-go. Arora says things like testicle tanning, red-light gadgets and cutting out soy are not worth your time. “Some of this stuff is harmless, some of it is ridiculous and none of it replaces sleep, fat loss and lifting,” he says.