How to Increase Testosterone: What Works, What Doesn't, and When to Get Tested

If you’re wondering how to increase testosterone, the most reliable ways are losing excess body fat, sleeping enough, training regularly, cutting back on heavy drinking and reviewing medications such as opioids with your doctor. These changes raise testosterone modestly, and they help most in men who are overweight, short on sleep or inactive. They won’t fix true hypogonadism, where the testes or the pituitary gland aren’t working properly. If you have symptoms, start with a morning blood test, so you know the number and the cause before you decide whether lifestyle changes alone are enough.

Our approach is simple: find the cause before treating. This post covers what the research supports, what it doesn’t, and when it makes sense to get your testosterone checked.

How to increase testosterone naturally: what works

The changes below run roughly from strongest evidence to weakest. Most of them work by removing something that’s holding your own production down, which is why the men who gain the most are usually the ones with the most room to improve.

1. Lose excess body fat

This is the strongest lifestyle change you can make. Fat tissue converts testosterone into estradiol, and obesity weakens the signal from the pituitary that drives the testes. A meta-analysis of 24 studies by Corona and colleagues (2013) found that weight loss raised total testosterone in men with obesity. Diet alone produced a modest rise, bariatric surgery a rise roughly three times larger, and the amount of weight lost was the best predictor of how much testosterone went up.

If your waistline is growing, steady fat loss is the most useful thing you can do. Belly fat also feeds into metabolic syndrome, which is closely linked with low testosterone.

2. Protect your sleep

Most of your daily testosterone is released while you sleep, which is why levels peak in the morning. In a small study in JAMA (Leproult and Van Cauter, 2011), 10 healthy young men who slept about five hours a night for a week had daytime testosterone 10% to 15% lower than when they were well rested.

Aim for 7 to 9 hours on a regular schedule, and keep alcohol away from bedtime. If you snore, wake up unrefreshed or nod off during the day, sleep apnea may be part of the picture. It’s common, underdiagnosed and linked with low testosterone. Our posts on sleep and testosterone and sleep apnea in men go deeper.

3. Lift weights and stay active

Training helps testosterone mostly through what it does to body fat, insulin sensitivity and sleep. On resting testosterone by itself, the data are mixed. A 2019 meta-analysis of 22 studies in men aged 60 and older, by Hayes and Elliott, found that short-term resistance training didn’t significantly change baseline testosterone, while endurance and interval training produced small increases.

That’s not a reason to skip the weights. Lifting protects muscle and bone as you age, helps with fat loss and tends to improve sleep and mood. Just treat it as one part of the plan rather than a testosterone fix on its own. Our post on weight training and testosterone, written by Dr. Russel Williams, makes the wider case for lifting.

4. Cut back on heavy drinking

Heavy, long-term drinking lowers testosterone. A 2023 review by Smith, Lopresti and Fairchild concluded that drinking large amounts of alcohol is linked with lower testosterone, likely through stress hormones, inflammation and oxidative stress. Alcohol also breaks up sleep and adds calories, so it works against fat loss and sleep at the same time.

Anabolic steroids are a separate problem. They shut down your own production, the effect can last after you stop, and they can affect fertility. Our post on fertility after testosterone treatment explains why.

5. Manage chronic stress

Long-term stress keeps cortisol up, and stress hormones are one of the ways researchers think alcohol lowers testosterone. Direct evidence that stress management raises testosterone is thin, so treat it as a supporting habit. Most of its effect probably comes through what stress does to your sleep, eating and drinking.

6. Eat enough, and get enough protein

Crash dieting and hard training on too little food can suppress hormones. The 2023 International Olympic Committee consensus on under-fueling in sport describes hormone disruption in athletes who don’t eat enough, and names low libido and fewer morning erections as early warning signs in men. Aim for steady fat loss with enough protein, not the biggest calorie deficit you can stand.

7. Review your medications

Some medications lower testosterone, and it’s one of the most overlooked causes. Long-term opioid use is the clearest example. A 2018 review by Coluzzi and colleagues reported opioid-related testosterone deficiency in 19% to 86% of patients on opioids, depending on how deficiency was defined, and noted that it can be reversible. Steroid medicines such as prednisone, and anabolic steroids, can also suppress testosterone.

Never stop or change a prescribed medication on your own. Bring a full list, supplements included, to your visit so your provider can look for a cause that can be reversed. Our page on what causes low testosterone covers the rest of the list.

Evidence at a glance

Not sure whether lifestyle changes will be enough? A morning blood test shows where you stand and helps us find the cause. See what a low T evaluation involves

Vitamin D, zinc and other nutrients

Nutrients only help testosterone if you’re actually low in them. Taking more than you need doesn’t push levels higher.

• Zinc. In a very small study in Nutrition (1996), cutting zinc lowered testosterone in four young men, and zinc supplements raised it in nine older men who were mildly zinc-deficient. That supports fixing a deficiency, not taking extra zinc when your levels are normal.
• Vitamin D. A 2026 meta-analysis of randomized trials by Paez-Allendes and colleagues found no clear effect of vitamin D supplements on total testosterone, with low certainty of evidence. Vitamin D still matters for bone and general health, so testing for and treating a true deficiency makes sense.

Ask for these to be checked alongside your hormone labs rather than guessing. Our page on comprehensive hormone testing explains what a full panel can include.

What doesn’t work

Most over-the-counter “testosterone boosters” aren’t backed by good evidence. A 2020 study in the World Journal of Men’s Health looked at 50 booster products. 90% claimed to boost testosterone, but fewer than 25% had any data behind the claim, and some contained vitamins and minerals above the recommended upper limits. The FDA doesn’t approve supplements for safety or effectiveness before they’re sold. Spending that money on a blood test usually tells you more.

When lifestyle isn’t enough

Lifestyle changes are the first natural low T treatment and worth making for your health either way, but some patterns point to a medical cause that needs a proper look:

• Low testosterone symptoms such as low libido, erectile problems, fatigue or muscle loss that stick around after better sleep, training and weight loss
• Low testosterone in a lean, active man who sleeps well, which points to a problem in the testes or pituitary rather than lifestyle. Our page on secondary hypogonadism explains one common pattern.
• Past anabolic steroid use, a testicle injury or long-term opioid use
• Trying for a baby, since some low T treatments affect sperm production

The only way to confirm low testosterone is a blood test. Guidelines from the American Urological Association and the Endocrine Society define deficiency as low levels plus symptoms, confirmed on more than one early-morning test. A commonly used cutoff is total testosterone below 300 ng/dL on two separate morning draws. When low levels are tied to weight, sleep or other reversible factors, it’s sometimes called functional low testosterone, and fixing those factors is part of the treatment.

Medical options when you need more

If testing confirms low testosterone and lifestyle changes aren’t enough, a provider can walk you through medications that increase testosterone. Each one needs an in-person evaluation, labs and ongoing monitoring.

Enclomiphene prompts the pituitary to send a stronger signal to the testes, so they make more of their own testosterone, and it may help keep sperm production going. It’s generally considered for men whose pituitary and testes still work. It isn’t FDA-approved, which your provider should discuss with you. Our guide to enclomiphene for men covers it in detail.

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) supplies testosterone from outside the body. It can relieve symptoms in men with confirmed deficiency, but it suppresses sperm production and needs regular monitoring. Our TRT page explains how it works and who it’s for. If you want to protect your fertility, our page on natural testosterone therapy covers options that keep your own production going.

For the bigger view of how hormones, weight and metabolism connect, see our overview of men’s hormone health.

Testosterone testing in Houston

You can get a morning testosterone test and a full evaluation at either of our clinics: Memorial on the Katy Freeway or The Woodlands on Medical Plaza Drive. Many of our patients come from Sugar Land and Spring, and our locations page shows the closest office to you.

Bring your medication list, a rough sense of your sleep and drinking habits, and any past lab results. That gives your provider a head start on finding the cause.

Before you change your routine or spend money on supplements, find out where your testosterone actually stands. Book a low T evaluation