You might not realize it, but stress in your gut can cause cause fatigue and weight gain. It can even lead to lost sex drive. How is that possible?

Easy. Stress in the gut can cause cortisol to rise. Cortisol is basically a stress hormone. When cortisol is up, and when stress is up, testosterone can drop, especially over the long term. So guys with chronic stomach problems tend to experience the symptoms of lower testosterone in men- fatigue, weight gain and loss of sex drive.

The three most common gut problems that affect guys, even though they might not know it are:

1. Sir Farts-Alot. Most guys eat a lot of things that don’t agree with them. Foods that don’t agree tend to have trouble digesting, leading to bloating, gas, and diarrhea. We politely call a guy who tends to eat a lot of things that don’t agree with him Sir Farts-Alot.
2. Hidden Bugs. You’d be amazed how many guys start with, “My problems started after I got sick in Mexico” Or the Philippines. Or Costa Rica. Or wherever.Low-grade infections frequently linger in guys with fatigue, weight gain and lost sex drive. The only way to find out is to test for them.
3. A Leaky Gut. Guys with underlying gut problems often have Leaky Gut. This means that things that shouldn’t make it out of your gut and into your blood do, often causing problems. This too can drive up your stress hormone (cortisol) response and cause your T levels to drop.

Step one to self help- stop eating crap. For most guys this means grains, dairy, beer, and and soy. Paleo diet. Yes, it can be a pain in the ass to start. And yes you’ll cry about missing beer and pizza. But if you stick to it and start feeling better, you’ll realize you aren’t missing much. If changing your diet doesn’t do the trick, have your doc run a stool test on you (yes, poop). This can often detect hidden infections that need to be cleared up. Your doc can help you with that too. BTW, gut problem can screw women up too.

Image courtesy of marin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tags: cortisol in men, fatigue