The Roots of Our Modern Epidemic of Low Testosterone

What they don't want you to know...

Unless you live under a rock (or you watch CNN and read the New York Times), you're aware that we are facing an epidemic of low testosterone. Jim Laird and I recorded a webinar on testosterone optimization on Saturday, June 24th.

We recorded this webinar when working together in Florida, but Jim and I have since moved onto new ventures.

Jim is running a men’s health group called Vitality Brotherhood that you should check out. Find it here.

If you’re a man and would like to book a consult to get to the roots of your health issues, book a consult at my practice here.

The clear decline in men’s testosterone levels explains why America has become so weak. It is why America is now a place where women are leading the charge to protect children from the depredations of transgenderism and forced-vaccination, while many men sit on the sidelines.

This is a major societal problem, for which a solution must be found. The causes of this crisis must be eliminated swiftly and decisively from our society.

Most of the notions I see out there regarding the causes of low testosterone are half-baked at best. The low testosterone band-wagon is a convenient one for health influencers who have never actually measured a testosterone level, let alone treated it. I salute them for their desire to help, but I am frustrated by how much they get wrong about this matter.

Today, we're going to dive into what's REALLY causing low testosterone levels.

They are (in no particular order):

• Artificial light

• Environmental pollutants

• Lack of sunlight

• Poor diet

• Lack of exercise

• EMF

• Emotional abuse

• Traumatic brain injury

In this post, I only have time to cover the first few of these.

Artificial Light

The number one way that artificial light destroys testosterone is by destroying sleep. This destruction is a gradual wearing down of the quality of sleep until it is no longer restful or restorative. This is accompanied by a general decline of hormones, including testosterone.

I believe the public is being fooled into thinking that a) sleep problems are normal and b) sub-standard sleep quality is actually good sleep quality. I have had patients report sleep scores in the high 90's with the right supplement protocols who had previously lived in the "good" range of 80 to low 90's.

As one ages, the effects of artificial light compound. Young people can get away with much, much more because with youth comes an abundance of what we call physiologic reserve.

I am also wary of the types of content that people are consuming via artificial light. One cannot go far on social media without encountering people who are practically naked, and I wonder how the widespread availability and consumption of outright pornography and almost or practically or nearly pornographic material is altering our hormones. I am not just talking about the naked human body either. I wonder if being able to browse through dream homes (house porn), cabins (cabin porn), food (food porn), and things I'm sure I haven't even considered (porn) are changing the human mind. We've never been so able to feast our eyes on such a wide and exotic variety of things as we can now.

What is this doing to our hormones? I don't know, but I'm doing my best to stay in the control group of this massive global experiment. I recommend you do the same.

Environmental Pollutants

Environmental pollutants are now getting a lion's share of the press regarding what causes low T. I see everyone from crunchy moms to battle-hardened special operators posting about the dangers of endocrine disrupting compounds. Everyone is becoming aware of these dangerous chemicals.

What is often missed about these chemicals is that they have paradoxical effects at different concentrations. For example, a lower concentration might have a worse effect than a higher concentration. As in, a more dilute poison might be worse than a more concentrated one. This illustrates just how interesting our hormonal systems are.

Most people probably think it strange that this could be the case, but when you consider just how strange quantum biology really is, it doesn't seem so strange after all. I no longer believe in the "lock and key" mechanism of receptor activation that I learned in medical school. I look at receptors as antennae and hormones as signaling molecules that resonate with them. Take a look at this blog post if you want to know more:

What quantum medicine is really about...

The toxic compounds I am most concerned with are heavy metals, petroleum toxins, and mold toxins. These are the things I see in patient labs (or homes) on a regular basis.

The real problem with toxins isn't that they are omnipresent in our lives or that they are dangerous in small quantities, but that they accumulate within our bodies such that past exposures can lead to present or future health problems. You may not yet have paid the final price for your past chemical exposures. This is a serious problem not just for individuals, but for society, as it allows polluters to get away with death and destruction that is decades in the future.

How do chemicals cause low testosterone levels? They gradually infiltrate and poison the regions of the brain responsible for hormone production. Perhaps the best studied example of this is hemochromatosis, when iron is the toxin. Yes, iron, that thing that you are told is just another nutrient you need more of. Iron-overload is quickly becoming a major public health problem. Yours truly has one of the genes for hemochromatosis and has to dump blood to keep his ferritin levels in an appropriate range. Chemicals may also "mimic" testosterone (or other sex hormones) and disrupt normal signaling that controls production and secretion of hormones.

All of this ties back into light. What is the molecule responsible for regulating mitochondrial redox? Melatonin. What does mitochondrial redox determine? Glutathione production. What does glutathione do? It helps you to eliminate toxins.

This is why toxic burden is made significantly worse by artificial light. This is why I love blue blockers (my favorites are here) and low-blue light lightbulbs (here).

Sadly, environmental pollutants are now being used as yet another means to advance a "green" agenda (ESG) to destroy economies and impoverish the global citizenry. We are going to have to find a way to both cleanse our environment of these toxins and avoid further pollution of our environment with them. This doesn't mean "fighting global warming" or any other such nonsensical progressive agenda.

Lack of Sunlight

Sunlight drives our circadian rhythms. Almost a century ago, Fritz Hollwich, MD, demonstrated that hormone and neurotransmitter levels were proportional to the intensity of light hitting the retina. His findings and their full implications were never properly appreciated by his colleagues.

Raising hormones and neurotransmitters starts with light for this reason alone. But it goes much deeper than this. The red and infrared light in sunlight structures water in cells and helps them to increase energy production. I believe this energy can be carried around the body within the blood, such that infrared and red light absorbed by the blood in the skin can then be transmitted to the brain (where testosterone production starts).

Seasonally breeding mammals base their breeding on sunlight. They time their copulation so that their offspring enter the world when red and infrared light are most abundant in the environment. Prior to mating, the testicles of many species will literally engorge and descend from their bodies in preparation. This is driven by light. Is it so strange to think that red and infrared light might have similar effects on human testicles?

I can't point to an article in the literature documenting that red and infrared light directly increase testosterone production in the human testicle, but I am 100% sure that they do. Red and infrared light increase cellular energy production. Production of anything within the cell hinges upon availability of energy and the health of mitochondria.

How does this tie into artificial light and environmental pollutants? Sunlight is the antidote to artificial light. The red and infrared light in sunlight heals the body. What most people don't realize is that artificial light with a high proportion of blue and green light creates much of the same damage that we see with UV light - it just doesn't cause a burn. People are unwittingly destroying their bodies with blue and green light, particularly their skin. Sunlight is the antidote to artificial light.

Sunlight, specifically red and infrared light, triggers melatonin production in the skin and the eye. Melatonin controls mitochondrial redox and glutathione. Glutathione controls detoxification. So how can you detox without sunlight? If you said, "sauna, red light therapy, and vitamin D," you are at least getting things partially right.

The sun is the ultimate circadian regulator and detoxifier. This is a big part of why sun exposure reduces all-cause mortality, regardless of its effect on skin cancer.

Watch the webinar above to find out more about:

• Poor diet

• Lack of exercise

• EMF

• Emotional abuse

• Traumatic brain injury

And how they can tank your testosterone levels.

If you’re a man who is ready to get to the root causes of his health problems, schedule a consult at my practice today.

Until next time, be well,

Dr. Stillman