The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns us that 20% of school-aged children are already obese. The latest statistics on adult obesity in the United States show that more than 90 million are obese. That’s almost 40% of the adult American population.
The problem with obesity is that it ruins so many things for you. Your overall health, your self-esteem, and confidence, as well as your sexual health all suffer when you’re struggling with such burdensome weight issues. If you think your sex life is doing fine even if you’re obese, continue reading to learn more about how obesity can actually destroy your sexual function.
Obesity and Your Testosterone Levels
If you’ve noticed that your testosterone levels became lower the more you gained weight, that’s actually because your androgen levels do decrease when you’re overweight, especially when you have excess visceral fat.
Several studies have already established that obesity is closely associated with abnormally low testosterone levels, and that also contributes to the decline of your erectile function. On top of that, when your total serum and free testosterone levels are low, that usually results in low libido, which also negatively affects your sex life.
The more excess visceral fat you have, the higher the activity of aromatase. Within your fat tissues, testosterone is being metabolized into estrogen through the actions of aromatase. Hence, the more fat you have, the more you secrete aromatase, and the more your androgen becomes converted into estrogen and other metabolites.
To address the problem of having low testosterone levels, you can try to lose some of your belly fat. Not only will that lower your aromatase secretion and improve your testosterone levels, but it will also help lower your risks of other obesity-related diseases and improve your physique as well.
Obesity and Erectile Dysfunction
Although obesity by itself does not automatically make you impotent, it does increase your risks of numerous diseases that greatly increase your chances of developing erectile dysfunction. Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, for example, are highly prevalent among those who are either overweight or obese.
There’s also obesity-related hypogonadism to worry about. Since your testosterone levels generally tend to drop when you’re obese, you are also at risk of developing hypogonadism.
This means that both your fertility and sexual function will be affected since you really need testosterone for both to be at normal levels. Not only that, but when you have obesity-related hypogonadism, your risks of developing cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and erectile dysfunction greatly increase.
As studies have shown, obese men who lost weight either by following a strict diet or through supervised exercise tend to experience great improvements in their erectile function, following a huge increase in their testosterone levels.
This means that if you haven’t developed diabetic neuropathy or atherosclerosis yet because of your weight problem, there’s a good chance that you may be able to restore normal testosterone levels and erectile function by losing weight.
Of course, even if you lose weight, you can’t really expect your erectile function to be restored immediately, which is why it would be a good idea to try alternative natural means of improving your erectile function.
Natural Erection Boosters
For men who are struggling with seemingly insurmountable weight issues, fenugreek is an excellent natural supplement. For one, fenugreek is associated with increased weight loss. That’s because the herb is full of dietary fiber, and it can help reduce your appetite, increase your metabolism of fats, as well as lower your cholesterol levels.
On top of helping you manage your weight, fenugreek also helps prevent diabetes, which is a disease that is very much common among overweight people. By increasing your sensitivity to insulin, fenugreek helps your cells absorb glucose from your blood more efficiently, thus leading to controlled blood sugar levels.
Perhaps the best benefit you can gain from taking fenugreek supplements is that it helps inhibit the activities of aromatase. As most men may already know, aromatase is the enzyme that makes estrogen out of your testosterone. If your aromatase activities are high, you may end up having too much estrogen and too little testosterone.
By inhibiting aromatase, fenugreek helps ensure that your free testosterone is left available for you to use and not converted to estrogen. This also means that your sex drive may also increase as your free testosterone levels rise. Of course, the higher your testosterone levels are, the better your erectile function will be.
However, fenugreek is not the only herb that can help obese men regain their lost libido and erectile function. There are actually several herbs that not only help increase your testosterone levels but also improve your erectile function and protect you from various diseases that are typically associated with obesity.
Tribulus terrestris, for instance, is known to be beneficial for those with diabetes. Horny Goat Weed, on the one hand, is good for protecting you against atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.
Tongkat Ali also benefits diabetic people because it can help lower your cortisol levels when you’re stressed. Cortisol actually makes your blood sugar go up, so by reducing your cortisol levels, Tongkat Ali helps you manage your blood sugar levels.
Of course, these are not the only benefits you can gain from taking supplements that contain Tongkat Ali, Tribulus terrestris, and Horny Goat Weed. These three awesome herbs are actually well known for their sexual health benefits.
Not only do these three impressive herbs raise your testosterone levels, but they also improve your erectile function. Horny Goat Weed inhibits PDE5, while Tribulus terrestris helps with your nitric oxide production and Tongkat Ali helps you maintain your erection by preventing penile detumescence.
On top of their erection-boosting effects, Tongkat Ali, Horny Goat Weed, and Tribulus terrestris also help improve your semen parameters. Your fertility is actually affected when you’re overweight or obese, so it’s a good idea to take natural supplements that can boost your sperm count and improve your sperm quality.
