This post about zinc was written back in 2016 when I was still lifting weight rather than training to fight. I was wondering for a while what I was going to write about since my departure from the self-development industry (you can read all about it here: part 1, part 2, and part 3). It quickly struck me that I have a lot of knowledge about nutrition, training,… My main conclusion was that I can solve people’s problems when it comes to low- testosterone, fat loss, muscle building,… I might as well put it to use. So without further ado, here’s how since can boost your testosterone and improve your sleep.
Introduction: A lack of Zinc? You think?
Since the New Year started I was lacking some good sleep. I had trouble falling asleep and woke up in the middle of the night to wake up tired in the morning. This was hell, suddenly I was less energetic and I knew I was going to pay the price for this in the long run.
I suddenly lost a lot of strength in my legs when I was working out, I wasn’t able to push the heavy weights I used to. I was wondering what could be the cause of this and consulted Google.
After searching for a while, I ended up empty-handed and frustrated.
Two weeks passed by and suddenly I felt a horrible pain in the back of my shoulder while I was performing a heavy dumbbell shoulder press. I knew I had to stop right away and I was wishing this would heal by rest and cold therapy.
After four weeks of only being able to walk and ride a bike, I decided to see an osteopath. This guy performed a miracle when I suffered a knee injury. He did what no doctor ever could in a two year period and made sure that I was injury-free.
He soon figured that my injury was due to zinc deficiency.
So I was short on zinc, big deal….
Yeah, it’s a big deal! Let’s dive into the relationship between zinc, testosterone, and sleep.
Zinc is an essential mineral
Zinc is one of the 24 essential minerals and your body can’t synthesize it on its own. So the body stores it? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no, so you’ll need to get zinc from food and/or supplementation.
Zinc is important for the body because is involved in multiple actions in the body like:
- Maintaining a sense of smell and crucial for healthy eyesight
- Triggers enzymes
- Support healthy growth
- Helps with DNA synthesis
- Help with the immune system
- Help your body communicate by functioning as a neurotransmitter
- Helps to recover from injuries
So eating a zinc-rich diet can help me get rid of the deficiency? Yes and no, the more natural foods you consume, the more absorbable the zinc you can get from it. The only downside is that we can absorb 30% of the zinc from our diet. This suggests that not even the most mineral-rich foods can help us with our zinc deficiency.
I’m a big believer in natural food sources but sometimes you’ll need a quality zinc supplement to help you get back on track. Now that we’ve solved the issue only one question remains…
How can we get a zinc deficiency? Mostly it’s the combination of eating the wrong foods and not absorbing the necessary amount of zinc. This combination can easily lead to a deficiency. It’s important to recognize the symptoms of a deficiency.
What are the symptoms of a zinc deficiency?
- Problems with sleeping
- Producing larger amounts of dandruff
- Your wounds will heal slower
- Hair loss
- Diarrhea
- Fertility issues
- Lack of sex drive
- Problems with taste and smell
- Decreased ability to remember things clearly
- A decrease in appetite can lead to dramatic weight loss or eating disorders
As you can see a deficiency in zinc isn’t something that comes without problems.
(source)
Luckily it becomes better
Zinc can boost testosterone but don’t buy a giant stock of zinc supplements yet. There’s a big but in the case of zinc, more on that later.
Zinc can inhibit the aromatase enzyme so it reduces the conversion from testosterone to estrogen.
Explaining the “big but”
What’s the catch with zinc? Well, zinc only increases testosterone when you’re in a depletion of it.
You can only know this by going to a doctor and get your blood check or go to an osteopath.
If you eat at least 30 mg of zinc every day you should be fine.
Here are some foods that are rich in zinc: (source)
| Food | Zinc per 100 grams (mg) |
| Cooked Oysters | 78.6 |
| Beef and Lamb | 12.3 |
| Spinach | 0.8 |
| Cashews | 5.6 |
| Beans | 1.5mg |
| Mushrooms (Cooked White Mushrooms) | 0.9mg |
If you’re an athlete you should monitor your zinc because it evaporates when you sweat. Yes, you’ve read it correctly; you lose zinc when you sweat. Of course, you can supplement with it in case you really need it. I have found an amazing version of a zinc supplement on Amazon. It contains ginger (read more about ginger here), turmeric (read more about that here), vitamin C, and zinc of course. You can buy the supplement here.
The science: zinc and testosterone
Study 1
Scientists tested the effect of zinc on the level of sex hormones of males on hemodialysis. In a period of six weeks, these subjects had to intake 250mg of zinc every day. They measured hormones in the beginning and at the end of these six weeks. They found that there was a significant increase in serum testosterone levels, LH, and zinc (no shit Sherlock, you had to take it). There was no significant change in the levels of FSH and prolactin.
Study 2
So why did they take the male subjects on hemodialysis? Well, this has two reasons, when your kidneys aren’t functioning properly anymore you can suffer from ED (erectile dysfunction). This occurs very commonly with these patients. The second reason is that hemodialysis patients have significantly lower zinc levels.
The uptake and activity of estrogen receptors go up by 57% when you’re deficient in zinc. This means that zinc plays a role in inhibiting the well-feared enzyme aromatase, meaning that it blocks the conversion from testosterone to estrogen. This is another reason to check if you’re zinc deficient, this enzyme causes gynecomastia and no guy wants to have little boobs.
Study 3
Zinc deficiency is something that occurs around the whole world. Hypogonadism is already linked with severe and moderate zinc deficiency. Scientists investigated the relation between cellular zinc concentrations and serum testosterone levels in 40 normal men between the age of 20 to 80. They measured zinc serum testosterone levels in four normal young men (around the age of 27) before and during a marginal zinc deficiency. The deficiency was induced by restricting dietary zinc intake. They also measured the serum testosterone levels in nine elderly men (around the age of 64). These men were zinc deficient before and after three to six months of supplementation with zinc; they used supplementation with zinc administered as zinc gluconate. The conclusion was that zinc is correlated with serum testosterone levels in normal men. Marginal zinc deficiency will result in a drop in serum testosterone levels while zinc supplementation raises the serum testosterone levels in men with a mild zinc deficiency. Long story short: zinc represents an important determinant of serum testosterone levels.
What I personally suggest and do in regards to Zinc.
What I like to do is taking Zinc and Magnesium 30- 45 minutes before bed since it improves my sleep and recovery. I will do that for 30 days and then go zinc off for 30 days. I use magnesium daily since I sweat a lot here in Thailand (read more about magnesium here) plus Muay Thai training is pretty intense on the body. But I prefer to use magnesium oil rather than pills and I suggest you do the same. Magnesium oil absorbs better since it’s sprayed on the skin. I mostly spray it on my legs and traps. The reason being is that the legs are a huge muscle group and the traps will get sore when you have a lot of stress.
You can buy quality magnesium oil here.
You can buy a quality zinc supplement here
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