I learned that eliminating carbs from my diet resulted in lower testosterone and adding carbs together with fat and protein increased testosterone. I explored how diet changes influenced my level of free testosterone. This included various blood and micronutrient tests. Ask questions and help others by sharing advice and knowledge about self-tracking tools and methods. Posts on self-tracking culture, tools, and methods.
For example, this can be one of the primary reasons behind daytime sleepiness. Disturbances such as wake-ups, get-ups and restless time during your sleep can have a big influence on your sleep quality, resulting in less restorative sleep. You can then grab your sleep metrics in easy-to-read format and visualizations from the smartphone app, along with guidance on what the different metrics mean, and on ways to improve your sleep quality within time. For instance, eating a heavy meal, drinking alcohol, or exercising too close to bedtime can postpone the timing because they all speed up your metabolism and elevate your RHR, which in turn delays your recovery, increases your sleep needs and lowers your Readiness score.
Hemoglobin measures the total amount of the oxygen-carrying protein in the blood, which generally reflects the number of red blood cells in the blood. Red blood cell (RBC) count is a count of the actual number of red blood cells in a person’s sample of blood. Low fasting insulin can be a crucial market for longevity and indicates an important variable called "glycemic variability", which is basically how often your blood sugar levels fluctuate throughout the day. Ultimately, while the anecdote above sums things up pretty thoroughly, recommended levels of IGF can vary widely – but in a very eye-opening hormone replacement therapy podcast interview I conducted with anti-aging physician Dr. Richard Gaines, he recommended IGF-1 values between approximately 80 and 150 ng/ml. You can delve into even more resources on the link between testosterone and longevity in this helpful article by Dr. Jeffrey Dach, which includes links to optimal testosterone levels. In addition, low testosterone can also drastically affect the quality of your life as you age, as symptoms reported by these men included decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, loss of strength, decrease in bone density and decreased muscle mass. A basic lipid panel measures fats and fatty substances in the blood that indicate current and potential heart health, such as LDL, HDL, triglycerides and total cholesterol, while a full lipid panel goes far and beyond typical blood tests, and includes a particle size measurement.
There are of course a host of additional studies on this ratio, including this study that shows triglyceride/HDL ratio predicts coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease risk mortality as well as or better than does full-blown metabolic syndrome. It has also been shown that CRP levels predict repeat coronary events among patients who already suffer from heart disease and that the outcome of patients immediately after a heart attack is tightly linked to CRP levels. Over two dozen research studies have proven that baseline levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) in healthy men and women are highly predictive of future risk of cardiovascular ailments – including heart attack, diabetes, stroke, sudden cardiac death, and the development of peripheral arterial disease. Interestingly, when women are treated with exogenous estrogens, the decrease in bone mass and increase in bone turnover can be reversed, suggesting that estrogens have a potent bone protective effect. Bone tissue is essential for structural support and locomotion in the vertebrae and critical for hematopoiesis (red blood cell production) as one ages. Estrogens also play a key role in the regulation of bone mass and strength by controlling the activity of bone-forming osteoblasts and inhibiting activity of bone-resorbing osteoclasts.
In contrast, the standard 24-hour urine collection many physicians use reflects your total hormone output in a 24-hour period. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) is a calculation of the average concentration of hemoglobin inside a single red blood cell. Hematocrit measures the percentage of a person’s total blood volume that consists of red blood cells.
To investigate this we infused a 340 pmol/L solution of D5 testosterone in 40% (v/v) methanol/water directly into the mass spectrometer to give a constant background signal. The ratios of analyte peak area to internal standard peak area were plotted against testosterone concentration in pmol/L. About 15 mL of venous blood was drawn from an antecubital vein to give 3 x 2.5mL aliquots of serum (in cryovials for storage at -80°C).
Several commercially available swab collection devices were evaluated but showed poor testosterone recovery due to non-specific binding (results not shown). Medical conditions and any medications (including hormonal contraceptives and hormone replace therapy) were recorded. We report here on the first study to systematically validate Sal-T measurement in both adult men and women.
A complete blood count with differential, also known as a CBC, is often used as a broad screening test to determine an individual’s general health status. My friend Dr. Joseph Mercola recommends "a normal fasting blood insulin level…below 5, but ideally… below 3". The trick is not to eliminate insulin altogether, but to keep insulin levels within control. Furthermore, high insulin levels can predict cancer mortality, even when controlling for confounding variables such as diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.