Sex hormones: Testosterone, LH, FSH

Sex hormones: Testosterone, LH, FSH

That rock-hard erection you’re so proud of?
Thank your hormones—specifi cally, testosterone,
the key ingredient for normal sexual
health in men. Its production is prompted by something called luteinizing hormone (LH),
while the follicle-stimulating hormone
(FSH) helps produce the actual sperm.
When you’re aroused, your adrenal glands
pump out epinephrine and norepinephrine,
raising your heart rate and moving blood
into your muscles, brain, and penis. Then
the hormone dopamine increases your sexual
appetite and communicates with the
hypo thalamus to orchestrate your erections.
Are your hormones in tune? Elevated estrogen
levels can eclipse your testosterone, zapping
sex drive. Yes, men have estrogen too. “In
fact, the most widely spread hormone receptor
in the body is the estrogen receptor,” says
McLachlan. When a man is exposed to estrogenic
chemicals—such as bisphenol A (BPA),
the endocrine disruptor found in plastics and
food-can linings—he can experience erectile
dysfunction and weight gain.
Your best defense against an estrogen
invasion is to lose weight and build muscle.
“Fat converts your testosterone to estrogen,”
says Jack Mydlo, M.D., chairman of the
department of urology at Temple
University school of medicine.
Dropping
pounds will
improve your
testosterone-to-estrogen
ratio, which improves your sex
drive as well as your erections. And when
you’re actively building muscle, you become
more sensitive to insulin, which means you
can push more glucose into the muscle, says
Dr. Fonseca. This produces more fat-burning,
libido-boosting energy.