"This is the best of times, and it's also the worst of times" – a familiar quote from the British writer Charles Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities. This is indeed a good time for fitness enthusiasts: gyms near the neighborhood, a wide range of fitness equipment, a variety of supplements, and it's easy to get the fitness knowledge you need over the Internet.
But it's also the worst of times: rapid technological progress has brought convenience to people's lives while also seriously polluting the environment, and some statistics say that since World War II, people have discharged more than 85,000 kinds of chemicals into the environment, and maybe you are not as concerned about the environment, air pollution, water pollution, carbon emissions and other topics as Greenpeace volunteers. But have you ever thought that the environment will also have an impact on your fitness career? I'm sure a lot of people don't realize it.
Charles Poliquin, a well-known coach, once said that veteran strength coaches have found a rule: it is more difficult to give weight to trainees now than it was 30 years ago. It's a frustrating fact, but we do have a harder time making progress in fitness than our parents. The reason is that the environment has changed.
We all know that testosterone plays an important role in increasing muscle and losing fat, and testosterone secretion is affected by many factors, in addition to exercise, rest, diet, etc., which are well known to bodybuilders, the environment is also one of the influencing factors. With the continuous intensification of environmental pollution, it will inevitably have an impact on testosterone secretion.
Let's start with a set of data: in 1940, the number of male sperm was 113 million per milliliter, and by 1990, this number had dropped to 66 million, and the normal sperm count had dropped from 60 million to 20 million. A health statistic for 1,350 sperm donors in Paris shows that over the past 23 years, the number of male sperm has decreased by 2% per year, while the sperm quality of young people has deteriorated.
The deteriorating quality of sperm is just the appearance, the root cause behind it is the decline in testosterone levels, compared with the health standards of 60 years ago, you will find that the normal testosterone level that is considered by medicine is also constantly being corrected, and it is getting lower and lower. This is not because the previously set standard is too high, but the human body's testosterone level is really falling too fast, if you do not lower the standard, always in accordance with the old standard to implement it, I am afraid that you will not find a few normal people!
In fact, you don't need me to list these numbers, you also have some experience: pay attention to the non-yun not yu clinic on the street is not quietly increasing? Are the number of people around you who are not yun also quietly increasing? All of this hints at the slippery slope of human physical fitness.
In the face of such an environment, we are not completely helpless, understanding the reasons for this phenomenon, formulating and implementing corresponding measures, we still have ways to alleviate or even reverse this decline.
Since pollutants are the main culprit in the decline in physical fitness, the first thing we can do is minimize exposure to pollutants, especially those that may interfere with testosterone secretion. Such substances are ubiquitous in modern life, and there are two main types of substances that are thought to interfere with testosterone secretion: bisphenol A and phthalic acid derivatives.
Bisphenol A (BPA) was first synthesized by researchers in 1891, and its results were published in the journal Scientific American at the time. In the 1930s, it was discovered that bisphenol A had an estrogen-like effect. At present, bisphenol A is widely used as a plasticizer in various plastic products, drinking water bottles and many food packaging applications.
People often hear a saying: talking about toxicity without dose is playing hooliganism, and even drinking too much water will cause discomfort in the human body. This sentence means that certain chemicals have to reach a considerable amount of doses to harm the human body.
But there is a lot of controversy about the safety of BPA, as an estrogen analogue, some people think that its "beyond the safe dose" is very easy, so easy that there is even no so-called safe dose. The human endocrine system is very complex, maintaining a delicate balance between various hormones, and any external disturbance will upset its balance and cause unpredictable consequences.
Unlike the body's own secretion of estrogen (i.e., endogenous estrogen), bisphenol A is an exogenous estrogen that carries greater health risks than endogenous estrogen. In addition to the action of resisting testosterone, studies have found a relationship between bisphenol A and insulin resistance.
While there are also studies that claim that BPA is safe, there are also revelations that studies that claim to be safe are funded by BPA producers or even published by the manufacturers themselves. Some people have estimated that the output value of the BPA industry can reach 100 million US dollars per hour! With such a serious stake, the reliability of its research cannot go unchallenged. Others have accused the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of accepting such research as a form of self-theft.
Daily life can be reduced by drinking less plastic bottled water, using water tools that do not contain BPA to reduce the chance of contact with BPA, if you must drink plastic bottled water, pay attention not to use bottles to hold hot water, avoid sun exposure, do not reuse. You can pay attention to the mark at the bottom of the bottle, generally the bottom of the bottle will have a triangle composed of curved arrows, marked with a number in the middle, if the number is 3 or 7, then it contains bisphenol A components, do not use this bottle.
After talking about bisphenol A, let's briefly introduce the phthalic acid derivative. There are traces of such substances in almost all everyday items. This kind of substance usually has a fragrance, so it is often used to make air fresheners, cosmetics, shampoos, etc., and there are also such ingredients in children's toys, paints and coatings, and even small toys that are used to help when the bed is happy.
Similar to bisphenol A, phthalate derivatives also inhibit testosterone secretion, creating insulin resistance. More troublesomely, it will also react with metal ions such as zinc and magnesium, resulting in a lack of zinc and magnesium and thus more adverse effects on health.
For example, Dr. Mark Schauss, author of Achieving victory over a toxic world, noted that autism began to appear in the 1970s, and the large-scale application of phthalic acid derivatives began during this period.
In addition, Dr. Mark Schauss also found that phthalic acid derivatives are not only toxic in themselves, but also have more serious consequences in synergy with other toxins that are abundantly present in the environment.
But there is no invincible road, and in such an embattled environment, we are not without a chance of victory. Some nutrients taken from foods or supplements can still protect against the interference of foreign toxins on testosterone secretion.
1. Glycine: Studies have found that glycine can bind to certain toxins and excrete them safely. And glycine is cheap, and a daily intake of 1 gram is enough for most people.
2. Vitamin C: 3 grams of vitamin C intake per day can help the synthesis of glutathione in the body and resist phthalic acid derivatives.
3. Glutamine: Glutamine can promote intestinal health, a healthy intestine helps to excrete foreign toxins in time, if you have leaky gut syndrome, you need to consume 5-10 grams per meal or 60-80 grams of glutamine per day, if not, at least to ensure a daily intake of 20-30 grams.
4. Taurine: Taurine helps activate detoxification in the body, it is best to take 1-3 grams per day after training or before bedtime.
5. Zinc: Zinc plays a very important role in the physiological function of testosterone, and 98% of the zinc in the human body is present in the prostate. Zinc deficiency can affect prostate function. It is recommended to consume 300 mg per day, and more zinc if the level of copper in the body is high.
6. Antioxidants: Organic butter is rich in vitamins A, E, D, and is a good source of antioxidants.
7. Resveratrol: This polyphenol substance is not only a good antioxidant, but also has anti-estrogen function. Relevant supplements may be taken appropriately.
In addition to food supplements and supplements, the sauna is also a means of detoxification, but care needs to be taken to use a sauna made of traditional high-quality wood, which only uses nails to connect wooden boards instead of glue, which emits toxic gases at high temperatures.
In the past 50 years, various new pollutants have begun to fill the entire environment, and it is certainly not easy to maintain or even improve the level of physical health in this environment. But improving the environment can also start with small things around you, such as consumption. There is no harm without buying and selling, and it is still inflicted on ourselves. We can refuse to buy products that contain suspicious toxins, refuse to buy products that pollute the environment during manufacturing, and if the information is not clear, it can be found on the website of the environmental protection organization.
Don't underestimate these moves, if everyone acts in unison, then manufacturers will have to consider stopping the production of these toxin-containing goods.
Although muscle gain and fat loss depend heavily on our own exercise and diet, a good environment can also promote our own health, so why don't we do something to achieve such an environment?
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