Steroid Hormones: Everything You Need to Know to Produce More Naturally
What comes to your mind when you hear the word "steroids"? Most people will picture a bodybuilder injecting exogenous testosterone; however, steroid hormones are produced in your body naturally and we all need a healthy balance of steroids. Before you ever even consider exogenous injection, we recommend going the natural route.
What Are Steroid Hormones?
So what exactly are steroid hormones?
Simply put, steroid hormones are naturally occurring steroids that act in the body as a hormone. They can be grouped into two classes:
- Corticosteroids, which are generally made in the adrenal cortex
- Sex steroids, which are made in the gonads or placenta
According to Fillipo Acconcia “ Within those two classes, there are five types according to the receptors to which they bind: glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids (both corticosteroids) and androgens, estrogens, and progestogens (sex steroids)."
Let’s take a look at each of the five major steroid hormones:
5 Major Classes of Steroid Hormones:
1. Testosterone / DHT
Testosterone is the principal male hormone responsible for a whole host of health and developmental changes in the male body. It is also present in the female body, however in comparatively lower amounts. High levels of testosterone in the body are linked to benefits like improved mood, muscle size, blood circulation, and energy levels. However, a small amount of testosterone in the body is converted to DHT via the 5a reductase enzyme, and DHT is a far more potent androgen. Healthy levels of DHT in the body are linked to benefits like increased leanness, physical strength, beard growth, and during puberty is linked to broader shoulders and stronger jaw, and facial structure.
2. Estradiol
Estradiol, alongside progesterone is the primary development hormone for women during reproductive years. Like all steroid hormones, estradiol is a cholesterol derivative. Estradiol is responsible for maintaining the proper environment in the ovaries and is also responsible for the development of breasts and female secondary sex characteristics. Unfortunately high amounts of estrogen in the body can amplify our bodies stress response and lead to depression, weight gain, and even breast cancer.
3. Progesterone
Progesterone is arguably the most protective steroid hormone the body produces. It is the main hormone produced by the ovaries, and is necessary for fertility and maintaining a healthy pregnancy. Interestingly enough it is also linked to a variety of health benefits. According to Dr. Ray Peat “ Progesterone relieves anxiety, improves memory, protects brain cells, and even prevents epileptic seizures.”
4. Cortisol
Cortisol is the primary stress hormone. In small amounts cortisol is actually very necessary for functions in the body such as waking up in the morning & your body's stress response. However in large amounts cortisol can wreak havoc on the body, and can be catabolic (break down tissue in the body).
5. Aldosterone
Aldosterone is a steroid hormone that is produced in the cortex of the adrenal glands. It plays a key role in the regulation of blood pressure.
How Are Steroid Hormones Different From Other Hormones?
Steroid hormones are different from other hormones because they are produced from lipids, while non steroid hormones are derived from proteins.
The specific lipid that steroid hormones are produced from is called cholesterol. Thus you can think of cholesterol as the main building block of steroid hormones.
How to Increase Natural Production of Steroid Hormones:
Diet
Diet is one of the most important factors for bringing your body to a state of hormonal balance, and increasing steroid hormones. Many of us are walking around today severely deficient in key micronutrients.
Our supermarkets are full of highly processed foods that are void of vitamins and minerals, and are loaded with compounds that cause stress and inflammation in the body. The best thing that we can do is start to consume whole food based, Thermo-approved food sources that cover each major macronutrient group.
Fats
Since we know that Cholesterol is the main building block of steroid hormone production, consuming foods such as eggs, butter and other saturated fat sources is an amazing way to upregulate steroid hormone production. It’s important to note that the quality of our fat sources matter here. Getting saturated fat from conventional dairy and beef is going to be highly counterproductive due to the many antibiotics, and endocrine disrupting preservatives that are often found within them.
Carbohydrates
Next, I recommend consuming Thermo-approved carbohydrate sources for the bulk of your carb consumption. This will do wonders for your thyroid, are packed with key micronutrients your body needs, and lastly the neurons that are responsible for causing the release of gonadotropin hormones are actually dependent on steady blood glucose levels.
Protein
When it comes to proteins, I recommend getting high quality saturated fat from grass fed beef and bison sources. These proteins are also incredible at providing the body with magnesium and zinc, which can cause low testosterone.
Exercise
Exercising properly is the second biggest thing you can do to positively impact your natural steroid hormone production. For years, I would structure workouts that I thought were healthy, but were actually completely taxing my central nervous system, and upregulating my cortisol levels.
Avoid Endurance Training
If you are someone who often feels stressed out when they exercise, and yet have accepted it as normal.. This one's for you. Chronic endurance exercise is not your friend when it comes to the healthy production of androgens. In fact long bouts of running, biking, and other forms of cardio are known to drastically spike cortisol levels and suppress testosterone, DHT and GH.
Short and Intense Workouts
Luckily for you, there is a better way. Structuring your workouts to be relatively short and intense, with ample amounts of rest is crucial to your health and steroid hormone production. The best way that I have found to accomplish this, is to structure my workout to be no more than forty five minutes to an hour, while focusing on compound movements that challenge me week to week. I also make sure to avoid overtraining because that will once again spike my cortisol levels and hammer my CNS.
Focus on "Work"
This principle asks us to do a high amount of “work” done explosively, activating a large amount of muscle tissue while staying under a stress threshold. For this reason weighted calisthenics can be an incredible asset. You can accomplish this relatively simply, and continue to drive progressive overload week to week.
Progressive overload is the last factor of exercise that will allow your body to continually release steroid hormones. If your body is used to the stimulus it simply won’t signal a large amount of androgens to be produced.
Lifestyle
This one really comes down to a few main factors, getting high quality sleep, doing our best to avoid toxins from getting into our bodies, and mitigating psychological stress.
Avoiding Toxins
In the kitchen, we recommend stopping usage of teflon and aluminum cookware, which are notorious for containing chemical estrogens and endocrine disrupting chemicals. Replace these with cast iron or stainless steel cookware. Glass or steel water bottles are also good alternatives to plastic.
In the bathroom, we recommend stopping usage of toxic soaps, toothpastes and deodorants. Instead, opt for oil-based soaps and aluminum/paraben-free deodorants.
Mitigating Physiological Stress
You may find yourself worrying about your job, or your health and that of your loved ones. However, the best thing you can do in those moments is breathe and get present. Thus, some form of mindfulness practice is crucial to helping combat the effects of psychological stress.
Many of us don’t quite enjoy sitting down each day to meditate though, and that’s ok! Yoga and movement practice are also phenomenal ways at getting out of our heads and into the present moment.
Get Better Sleep
Many of us simply don’t get enough sleep, even though it is absolutely critical to our health. The majority of our androgens production is actually done while we are sleeping, and it was even found that men who slept an average of eight hours or more per night had double the amount of serum testosterone as men who slept four to six hours per night.
There are a few habits you can do daily to start sleeping better. These include going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day, sleeping in a dark, cool and quiet place and avoiding use of electronics within 1 hour of going to sleep.
Strategic Supplementation
This one is pretty simple, but the best testosterone booster there is Testro-X. We touched on this in the diet section but the human body functions optimally when it has all of the raw materials it needs for various metabolic processes, including hormonal function. A high quality supplement like Testro-X is great at filling in the gaps.
I also recommend supplementing with a stress reducing supplement like Cortigon, as well as a supplement that will help with your blood flow and the transport of these steroid hormones like Redwood.
It's Time to Choose the Natural Route
The word "steroid" has a certain negative connotation to it - with many men choosing to stymie natural production of testosterone in favor of injecting an outside source.
Before choosing the artificial route, try stimulating the production and healthy balance of your own steroid hormones naturally using the tactics above and strategic supplementation with Testro-X.