The Project: Kuwait

Lulwa Al Armali The Functional Nutritionist Tells All About Testosterone, Sleep, Fat Loss, Building Muscle and Overall Health

March 30, 2019 Mahdi Aloun, Liam Glynn Season 1 Episode 36
The Project: Kuwait
Lulwa Al Armali The Functional Nutritionist Tells All About Testosterone, Sleep, Fat Loss, Building Muscle and Overall Health
Show Notes

Time Stamps:

1:47 – Luwlwa, the Functional Nutritionist, joins Liam and Mahdi again today to discuss men’s hormones. Mahdi asks about how pheromones are related to hormones and Luwlwa shares about an experiment her class did at university.

3:25 – Mahdi reveals his “secret” that he uses women’s Secret vanilla bean deodorant because it keeps him from sweating. Liam briefly considers revoking his man card, but they move on when Luwlwa says that some men get botox or detox their arm pits to reduce sweating.

5:13 – Mahdi has noticed in the Middle East that men are softer and have more of a female build than elsewhere in the world and he thinks it is as a result of lower testosterone. Luwlwa confirms Mahdi’s suspicions and says that men are developing more female facial features as well.

7:06 – Kuwait was recently listed as the #2 most toxic country in the world, and while this is a big factor in hormone production, Luwlwa says that it also has to do with the fact that Kuwait is not as health-conscious in general. 

10:22 – In addition to this constant exposure to toxicity, these health choices are causing men in Kuwait to convert testosterone to estrogen which causes them to store fat in areas where women would.

13:21 – Mahdi asks the question that many men have probably wondered if they have ever dabbled in taking steroids: does taking steroids really cause your gonads to shrink up? Luwlwa confirms that taking testosterone replacement drugs will cause your body to stop producing testosterone, and it could have a lasting effect even after men aren’t taking steroids anymore.

15:31 – Toxins such as BPA can be endocrine disruptors and should be avoided. BPA is used to make plastic remain rigid, and it is released when the plastic is heated up; specifically, when you are microwaving your leftovers. When ingested, BPA acts as estrogen and can be harmful to the body. Another unexpected source of BPA is receipts.

18:08 – Mahdi and Luwlwa provide a summary of cortisol, its purposes, and its impacts on the body over a long period of time. Liam summarizes constant cortisol production to being in “sport mode” in your car all the time.

23:13 – Luwlwa asks Mahdi and Liam about their sleeping patterns and says that if you have healthy cortisol levels, you should not have to wake up at all during the night, even to go to the bathroom. If you do not have deep sleep like this, you are probably sleep deprived.

25:58 – Mahdi tells of his experience tracking his sleep with a smart band.

27:00 – Luwlwa talks about REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and the importance of several REM cycles every night for the proper production of testosterone. One of the best ways to improve your sleep environment is to reduce your exposure to blue light for 1-2 hours before going to bed, either by not looking at screens or by using a blue light reducing app on your phone or computer.

28:27 – In response to Mahdi’s question about how working out at night affects sleep, Luwlwa says that working out increases your cortisol levels which is not conducive to restful sleep. She recommends taking thianine after a workout at night to combat high cortisol levels or using a meditation app like Headspace. 

30:05 – In addition to the Headspace app, Luwlwa recommends diaphragmatic breathing and deep stretching to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and optimize sleep.

31:45 – Although a lot of people think that taking a hot bath or shower would be relaxing in preparation for going to sleep, the opposite is actually true. While a hot shower causes the heart rate to rise, a cold shower slows the heart rate and activates the parasympathetic nervous system instead.

34:40 – When short-term stress turns into prolonged stress, this changes the cortisol levels in th

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