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Other unrelated studies on weight lifting and high intensity training put the differences at around 20%. I'd consider weight lifting and HIT/HIIT 3-5 times a we

Other unrelated studies on weight lifting and high intensity training put the differences at around 20%. I'd consider weight lifting and HIT/HIIT 3-5 times a week to probably be more effective at producing these results than a job, obviously depending on the job, so likely an upper bound of 20%. Obviously a big conjecture here. Other interesting results from various studies on improving testosterone also show around a 10-20% change in testosterone due to various stresses on the body: - higher carb diets (200+ grams carbs per day) produce ~20% more testosterone - vitamin D deficiency linked to ~20% reduction in testosterone - 5 hours sleep per night over 10 days linked to ~20% lower testosterone - excess cortisol due to stress linked to ~ 10% lower testosterone I got interested in this due to finding out I had pretty low testosterone levels. I am a chronically sleep deprived dad of 3 with a stressful job, so it wasn't a surprise. Working through that list myself and running some experiments to see if I can improve levels naturally, and if so, if the above list has any stacking effect, or if there's maybe just a 20% hit due to body stressors, regardless of the stressor.

LeftHandPath 4y ago
Dang. That actually explains a lot about why I feel good when I feel good. It's amazing that just doing what feels good and ignoring all advice - whether from online / media / friends - often leads to a better end result than studying up on everything. Can certainly land you in trouble too, but largely, the body's built-in feedback systems are better at telling me what I should do than the words other people create to explain how their body's feedback systems have worked.
- cullenking 4y ago
  I will also say that getting your own labs done, even if you are footing the bill, is relatively cheap. You don't need to go to the doctor and have them refer you. Check out ulta labs (obtuse, some learning curve) if you want to DIY, otherwise there's a couple services out there that make the learning curve shorter. One I see come up a bunch is Inside Tracker. Health and fitness is a fun little side hobby that you can turn into a fairly intellectual exercise. Get hooked on Peter Attia's podcast, read a bunch of studies, get labs done, put together an exercise and nutrition plan and then get DXA scans to watch body composition change. It can easily replace other intellectual hobbies :)
  - LeftHandPath 4y ago
    Absolutely! I came out of a long period of depression / anxiety (triggered by a specific event, not just chemical imbalance) by starting to go for walks a few years ago. That turned into more and more intense hikes (doing 10-20 miles in a single day). The difference of being indoors and sedentary vs outdoors and active was night and day. Recently moved into an apartment with a 24 hour gym and started doing basic strength training with weights as well - quickly learned that my body prefers that to cardio, and now I do 2-4 miles of walking a day and 20-40 minutes in the gym. It's amazing. Wish I'd been doing it for years. I'll give that podcast a look

LeftHandPath 4y ago

Dang. That actually explains a lot about why I feel good when I feel good. It's amazing that just doing what feels good and ignoring all advice - whether from online / media / friends - often leads to a better end result than studying up on everything. Can certainly land you in trouble too, but largely, the body's built-in feedback systems are better at telling me what I should do than the words other people create to explain how their body's feedback systems have worked.

cullenking 4y ago
I will also say that getting your own labs done, even if you are footing the bill, is relatively cheap. You don't need to go to the doctor and have them refer you. Check out ulta labs (obtuse, some learning curve) if you want to DIY, otherwise there's a couple services out there that make the learning curve shorter. One I see come up a bunch is Inside Tracker. Health and fitness is a fun little side hobby that you can turn into a fairly intellectual exercise. Get hooked on Peter Attia's podcast, read a bunch of studies, get labs done, put together an exercise and nutrition plan and then get DXA scans to watch body composition change. It can easily replace other intellectual hobbies :)
- LeftHandPath 4y ago
  Absolutely! I came out of a long period of depression / anxiety (triggered by a specific event, not just chemical imbalance) by starting to go for walks a few years ago. That turned into more and more intense hikes (doing 10-20 miles in a single day). The difference of being indoors and sedentary vs outdoors and active was night and day. Recently moved into an apartment with a 24 hour gym and started doing basic strength training with weights as well - quickly learned that my body prefers that to cardio, and now I do 2-4 miles of walking a day and 20-40 minutes in the gym. It's amazing. Wish I'd been doing it for years. I'll give that podcast a look