Tools for Hormone Optimization in Males | Dr. Kyle Gillett

**Andrew D. Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. Kyle Gillett. Dr. Kyle Gillett is a dual board certified physician in family medicine and obesity medicine, and an expert in hormone optimization. He is an MD, that is a medical doctor, and he treats patients with a variety of backgrounds, ages and goals. Today, we discuss male hormone optimization. We discuss behavioral tools, nutrition based tools, supplement based tools, prescription drug based tools, and their interactions in determining overall levels of testosterone, free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estrogen growth hormone, thyroid hormone, and many other hormones that impact mood, libido, well-being, strength, cognition, and various psychological factors. We've covered hormone optimization in both men and women in previous episodes of the Huberman Lab podcast. But today's discussion is different. Dr. Kyle Gillett offers very specific recommendations for people with different goals and of different ages. And we get deep into the weeds of, for instance, how does one know whether or not their testosterone is optimized or not? How often to test for specific hormones such as testosterone and other hormones? And really how to gauge how good one should feel. This is something that's often overlooked in discussions about hormone optimization or health optimization of any kind for that matter. For instance, people will talk about reduced libido and discuss whether or not testosterone levels are to blame. But how does one calibrate their libido in the first place? That is, how does one know whether or not their libido is normal, too low, or too high? We also discuss, for instance, whether or not hormone optimization should be pursued continually throughout the year, for instance, whether or not you should cycle on and off supplements and or prescription drugs geared towards hormone optimization. And we discuss the behavioral foundations of optimal hormone function. These are things that every male should be doing and various things they should actively avoid if their goal is to have healthy hormones and to quote unquote, optimize their levels of every hormone from growth hormone to testosterone at any stage of life. And while today's discussion is about male hormone optimization, I want to emphasize that we discuss all the various ages for male hormone optimization. So for those of you that are parents, for those of you that are young, those of you that are middle-aged or old or teenagers, we explore adolescent, puberty, teen and late teens, early adulthood, adulthood and into the late geriatric ages. So regardless of your age and whether or not you are male or female, today's episode ought to be of interest to you. I should also point out that we will soon also be hosting an expert guest on female hormone optimization. One thing that I'm certain people of all ages and biological sex will enjoy about today's conversation is that we also get into descriptions of how psychology and life events impact hormones and how hormones impact our psychology and the way that we show up to various life events. So today is really a broad overview that goes all the way down to find details about male hormone optimization. And I'm certain that by the end of today's episode, you'll have an immense amount of new information about how this endocrine, that is hormone system in your body works and how it interacts with your brain and other tissues and many, many actionable tools that you can pursue, regardless of stage of life. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Element. Element is an electrolyte drink with everything you need and nothing you don't. That means plenty of salt, magnesium and potassium, the so-called electrolytes and no sugar. Now, salt, magnesium and potassium are critical to the function of all the cells in your body, in particular to the function of your nerve cells, also called neurons. In fact, in order for your neurons to function properly, all three electrolytes need to be present in the proper ratios. And we now know that even slight reductions in electrolyte concentrations or dehydration of the body can lead to deficits in cognitive and physical performance. Element contains a science-backed electrolyte ratio of 1,000 milligrams, that's one gram of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium and 60 milligrams of magnesium. I typically drink element first thing in the morning when I wake up in order to hydrate my body and make sure I have enough electrolytes. And while I do any kind of physical training and after physical training as well, especially if I've been sweating a lot. If you'd like to try element, you can go to drinkelement. That's lmnt.com/huberman to claim a free element sample pack with your purchase. Again, that's drinklmnt.com/huberman.