hey what's up guys so i've been taking uh tonkat ali for roughly uh five years off and on
and um up until about a year ago when i would tell people that i'm taking something like
tonkat ali they would look at me sideways like i'm a complete freak and an idiot you're crazy
you're crazy i like you however all of that changed roughly a year ago when andrew huberman
went on to the joe rogan experience and mentioned tonkat ali as a possible herb to increase
testosterone and lucky for me now when i tell people that i'm taking tonkat ali they
actually know what i'm talking about and they no longer think that i am a complete
fool so thank you andrew now the issue here is that whenever a health practice or supplement
goes from being a super fringe um to kind of going mainstream like tonkat ali has in the past
year or so the issue here is that you end up having a lot of people that start to take it and
one have no idea what it's doing to their body and two can actually be harmful to some individuals
that don't know what they're doing and are maybe taking it in too high of a dosage or are taking it
and don't understand what the possibilities of the side effects are and so essentially what i want to
do in this video is walk through the primary mechanisms of action of tomcat ali as well
as the side effects that are associated with those mechanisms of action so that you guys
can get a proper understanding of whether or not you should actually be taking tongkat ali now for
those of you that are not familiar with tonkan ali tonkat ali is primarily used by specifically men
to increase libido and improve mood as well as possibly increase testosterone and along with
things like ashwagandha tonkat ali appears to be one of the only effective supplements that might
increase testosterone in young healthy adults and so let's go ahead and jump into the first
mechanism of action as well as the side effects that are associated with that mechanism of action
now the first mechanism that we're going to talk about today is tonkat ali's ability to
fairly potently suppress estrogen signaling in the body and specifically it's been shown to
one prevent the conversion of testosterone into estrogen which typically is a good thing but it's
also been shown to somewhat potently block the estrogen receptors as well now this is arguably
the primary mechanism by which tonkat ali actually increases testosterone however there are some
notable side effects to keep in mind here and the first one is headaches now there is a lot
of conflicting data as to exactly why a drop in estrogen levels actually causes headaches
however it is fairly well established that when you either one block the estrogen receptors or to
cause a dramatic or sudden drop in estrogen levels in the body that there is a risk of
headaches and a great example of this is actually women during their menstrual cycle a lot of women
that start their menstrual cycle during the beginning period of that week there usually
is a lot of headaches that are associated with that time period because of the dramatic shift
and the dramatic drop in estrogen levels during that time period now anyone that already has
normal or low estrogen levels if you do decide to take tonkat ali you do particularly run the
risk of encountering this side effect and so it is just simply just important to be
aware of this possible side effect now the second possible side effect that is associated with a um
either one blocking of the estrogen receptors or to a drop in estrogen levels is issues with
the circulatory system now the reason for this is that estrogen is actually a fairly potent
vasodilator and so when you prevent the effects of estrogen on the circulatory system there
is a somewhat increased risk of cardiovascular events and so this is particularly relevant for
for older guys that are maybe in their 50s and 60s and are wanting to try out tonkat ali
um it is important to keep in mind if you are predisposed to cardiovascular events and see a
lot of cardiovascular events in your family tree or are specifically predisposed genetically i
would keep an eye on this and maybe run it by your doctor because in that specific scenario the risk
to reward ratio really just doesn't work out in your favor when trying something like tonkat ali
now the next possible side effect that is related to the estrogen related mechanisms of tonkat ali
is joint pain and this is one that i particularly run into somewhat frequently if i take tonkat ali
in too high of a dosage or for too long and that is just my joints ache and the reason for this
is that estrogen is a fairly potent modulator and regulator of joint health and so when you suppress
estrogen signaling too much it can have a negative effect on joint health and so again just keep this
in mind if you are taking tongue cataly and do end up noticing that your joints are hurting a
little bit more than they used to just again make sure to dial back your dosage or to take a break
from supplementing with tong catalyst now before we move on any further in this video i do want to
give a huge shout out to today's video sponsor let's get checked if you're looking for natural
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link in the description down below for 30 off of your test now the last possible side effect that's
associated with the estrogen-related mechanisms of tomcat ali is uh hair loss now derek has done
a fantastic job of outlining this on his channel more plates more dates but estrogen is a fairly
potent modulator of hair loss and so typically the more estrogen signaling you have in the body the
better you maintain hair growth and so when you suppress estrogen signaling there is a somewhat
increased risk of hair fall and now luckily i'm not personally genetically predisposed to
hair loss but for guys that are out there that are genetically predisposed this is
something to keep in mind when supplementing with tom calallen now when it comes to mitigating these
side effects one of the primary things that you want to do in order to mitigate against the
estrogen-related side effects is to simply this is somewhat controversial but is to simply supplement
or increase your intake of phytoestrogens and now these would be things like tercerone and
ectosterone as well as my personal favorite pomegranate juice which contain phytoestrogens
that preferentially bind to the beta subset of estrogen receptors and seem to have some positive
modulatory effect on joint health and hair loss and this is why i have particularly become such
a big fan of terkestrone in the past year or so and that is because it specifically does
somewhat potently bind to the beta subset of estrogen receptors and it kind of helps to offset
uh some of the negative side effects of tonkat ali now it is important that you space out your
intake of tonkat ali and terkestrom because tonkat ali can actually block the effects of tercesterone
however they do seem to complement each other if you do time your intake well now it is also
important to keep in mind here that if you are a regular consumer of nicotine that you may also be
predisposed to the estrogen-related side effects here simply because nicotine is also a fairly
potent anti-estrogenic compound so again if you are consuming nicotine on a somewhat frequent
basis just keep this in mind and make sure to keep an eye out for side effects now the next
mechanism of action that i want to talk about real quick is uh tonkat ali's ability to increase
dopamine in the central nervous system now the two primary side effects that are associated
with the dopaminergic effects of tonkat ali are irritability and insomnia now when it comes to
irritability i do think that dopamine is a vastly misunderstood neurotransmitter dopamine is often
called the pleasure neurotransmitter which it is to some degree however is more accurately
described as the motivation neurotransmitter it's actually what motivates you to actually pursue
a reward and so the issue here psychologically is that if you increase dopamine too much it can
actually motivate you to the point to where if anything goes wrong or if anything gets in your
way you get extremely irritable and so tonkat ali's ability to increase dopamine can actually
be a good thing for guys that are struggling with motivation but for guys that are already highly
motivated um increasing dopamine beyond that natural level can actually be detrimental and
can cause some negative effects on mood now the next side effect to be aware of when it comes to
tonkat ali's dopaminergic effects are its ability to kind of disrupt sleep and cause insomnia and
now again the reason for this is because dopamine is such a motivating neurochemical
that if you take ton cataly too late in the afternoon it can disrupt your sleep and kind of
just lead to insomnia and so again if you are somebody who struggles to get to sleep it may
not be a good idea to take tonkat ali in the afternoon but at the end of the day it really
just depends on your personal biochemistry and your neurochemistry and how stressed you are and
there's just a ton of different factors so just be aware of these and if you do encounter them
make sure to play around with when you're actually taking ton catalyst now when it comes to
mitigating against the effects of these possible side effects obviously the most simplest way to
mitigate against these is to lower your dosage or to take a break from supplementation however
you can also try just simply increasing your carbohydrate intake carbs do a fantastic job of
actually increasing your brain's permeability to tryptophan which is going to increase
uh central nervous system uh levels of serotonin which can help counteract some of the dopaminergic
effects of tonkat ali and so obviously you don't want to take this to the extreme
either however it is a fairly simple way to kind of balance out some of the neurological
effects of tomcat elite now the last mechanism of action that we want to talk about real quick
is tonkat ali's ability to suppress cortisol now typically suppressing cortisol is a good
mechanism of action in individuals that are particularly stressed however if you are
someone who struggles with motivation and you struggle like getting up in the morning tomcat
ali can actually exacerbate this to some degree there is a little bit of evidence and research to
suggest that tom catalin is an anti-anxiety for a couple of different reasons but primarily because
of its ability to suppress cortisol and suppress the activation of the hpa axis and now again the
obvious and easiest way to mitigate against this effect is to simply lower your dosage if you do
run into a lethargic mood however you can somewhat mitigate against this effect as well by using
stimulants such as caffeine or simply just using cold showers in the morning to kind of mitigate
against the uh stress suppressing effects of tonkat ali but one of the main things to keep
in mind here is that just everyone responds so differently to pretty much every herbal supplement
because of just how many different mechanisms of action these herbal supplements have and because
of the different biochemistry that everyone has and so um it's just super important to keep in
mind how these things make you feel uh so that you can kind of mitigate against some of the possible
side effects as well as maximize some of the upsides now one of the most common questions i get
regarding supplements that are used to increase testosterone is zach what happens when i stop
taking it will my testosterone actually drop below where it was before and the short answer to this
question is i don't really know there really isn't any direct research however um it is entirely
possible and so because of that and because we just don't have a full understanding of how these
compounds and supplements interact with the body long term i do think it would be prudent and wise
to take frequent breaks every single week as well as longer breaks periodically just to
give your body a break and to kind of allow it to normalize to some degree but other than that
guys that's pretty much all i have for this video again make sure to check out the description down
below for 30 off of an at-home hormone blood test as well as links to my favorite supplements and
products and guides but other than that i think i will see you guys next time thank you so much