The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Saturday
Testosterone
Most of us probably associate testosterone with aggression, but Phillips says that the primary effect of this hormone is to “amplify the tools you already use to improve social status.” So while serotonin levels reflect your current social status, testosterone gives you the tools to improve that social status. But not necessarily trhough aggressive behaviour. “One tool could be violence. But if your tool of choice is humour, or generosity, or creativity, testosterone will provide you with tools for improving it.” Both men and women have testosterone and oestrogen with men having more of the former and less of the latter. Testosterone also plays a role in risk taking and confidence boosting.
Prescription
The easiest way to boost your testosterone week is to give yourself victories, says Phillips: “Every time we feel like a loser, testosterone gets lowered, and when we feel victories it increases.” At the end of the week, consider what you’ve done well.
Social media is crippling for self-esteem and confidence, inviting us to make unfavourable comparisons with others. Advertising is calculated to make us feel like we need things and to think we’re ‘less than’ if we don’t have the money to buy a fancy watch, car or clothes: “Ask yourself, what’s the story that we’re telling ourselves? That’s so fundamental,” says Phillips. “Often we can’t control what is fed into us, someone else picks the adverts that feed into our brains. Staying off social media will help.”
The results
I’ve struggled to fit everything in. At first, I tell myself I could have done better, but then remember about my serotonin boosting compliments and change the narrative. I already feel my dopamine levels changing, I’ve set in motion changes that will have long lasting effects. These are all wins, as are the things I’ve enjoyed this week; my relationship with my yoga teacher; the community at Bethwall, a bouldering wall part of London Climbing Centres, where the atmosphere is always welcoming. Completing difficult bouldering ‘problems’ is precisely the sort of small victories that Phillips advocates.
The biggest win as ever though is meeting my deadline. But then, I always do. Perhaps there’s no need to be so stressed. I pay myself a compliment: “You’ve got this.”