Tired at 44, My Gym Buddy Handed Me Shilajit. Here's What I Checked First
It was a Tuesday leg day when Mike, my squat-rack neighbor for about six years now, pulled a little black jar out of his gym bag and held it up like a magic trick. "Shilajit," he said. "Changed my life, man." He's 47. I'm 44. We both have kids who think we're ancient, and lately I'd been feeling like they had a point.
Here's what "lately" looked like. Asleep on the couch by 9:15 with the remote still in my hand. Coffee at 2 p.m. just to make it to pickup. And, if I'm being honest, not much interest in anything that happened after the kids went to bed. My wife noticed before I said a word. So when Mike started talking about energy and drive, I listened harder than I wanted to admit.
I didn't buy the jar that night. I went home and did some homework instead, and I suspect a lot of dads are standing where I was.
The boring stuff I checked first
Before putting anything new in my body, I took an honest look at the old stuff.
Sleep. I was getting maybe six hours, broken up by a dog with a small bladder and a phone I scrolled at midnight. Poor sleep alone can drag down energy, mood and testosterone.
Weight. I'd picked up about 18 pounds since our youngest was born, mostly around the middle. Extra belly fat is linked to lower testosterone in men.
Alcohol. Two beers a night had crept into "just how evenings go." Regular drinking is a quiet thief of sleep quality and libido.
Then I did the thing I'd been putting off. I booked a physical and asked my doctor for a testosterone blood test. She ordered a morning draw, when levels run highest, and checked my blood sugar and cholesterol while she was at it.
She also told me something that stuck. Trouble with erections, even mild trouble, can be an early warning sign of heart disease or diabetes, because the small blood vessels involved tend to show damage before the bigger ones do. A lower drive and a tired body aren't automatically a supplement problem. Sometimes they're your body waving a flag about something more serious. If you take one thing from this post, take that: see your doctor before you see the supplement aisle.
My results came back at the low end of normal. Not a medical problem, according to her, but not exactly a number to brag about in the locker room either. Blood sugar was fine. Cholesterol was "worth watching." So I cut the weeknight beers, started putting the phone in the kitchen at 10, and kept lifting. Then I went back to the shilajit question.
What the research actually says
Shilajit is a sticky, tar-like resin that seeps from rocks in high mountain ranges like the Himalayas. It has been used in Ayurveda for centuries, and it contains fulvic acid plus a mix of minerals.
The science is real, but it's small. The study people quote most often gave purified shilajit to healthy men aged 45 to 55, 250 mg twice a day for 90 days, and found total testosterone went up compared with placebo. That's interesting for a guy my age. It's also one trial with fewer than a hundred men, funded with industry involvement, and not the kind of thing you can hang your whole plan on.
On fatigue and the gym side, a small study in recreationally active men found that 500 mg a day for eight weeks helped them hold on to more strength after a tiring workout, though it didn't make them stronger outright.
When I wanted a plain-language read on what's realistic, I found a good Q&A on shilajit benefits for men where Ayurvedic doctors answer the exact question Mike's jar raised: does it increase size and strength? Their take lines up with the studies. Any strength or stamina benefit is gradual, usually a matter of weeks, and only shows up alongside actual training and decent food. The doses they mention, around 300 to 500 mg a day, are in the same ballpark as the trials.
And let me answer the question every guy is too embarrassed to type. No, there is no evidence that shilajit increases penis size. None. Even the doctors on that page call the size claims exaggerated. If a label or a TikTok promises inches, close the tab.
Raw vs. purified, who should skip it, and how I'd shop
This is the part Mike hadn't thought about. Raw shilajit comes straight out of rock, and it can carry heavy metals like lead and arsenic, along with fungal toxins and other junk. Traditional practice purifies it before use, and the studies above used purified, standardized extracts. Raw or "unprocessed" isn't a selling point here. It's a red flag.
It's also not for everyone. Talk to your doctor first, or skip it, if any of these sound like you:
You have gout or high uric acid, since shilajit may raise uric acid levels.
You have hemochromatosis or any other iron overload condition, because shilajit contains iron.
You take blood pressure medication, since it may lower pressure further.
You take diabetes medication, since it may affect blood sugar and stack with your meds.
If you get the green light, here's the checklist I used in the store and online:
Look for third-party testing from an independent lab, ideally with a certificate of analysis you can actually read, listing results for lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium.
Choose a product labeled purified, with a stated amount of fulvic acid.
Pick a brand that lists a dose close to what was studied, not a mystery "proprietary blend."
Walk away from anything promising size, overnight results or "doctor-banned" secrets.
So where did I land? I bought one tested, purified product and showed the label to my doctor at my follow-up. She was fine with a trial run. I'm about five weeks in. I feel somewhat better. But I also sleep an hour longer, dropped the nightly beers and lost seven pounds, so I can't give the jar all the credit, and I'm not going to pretend I can.
That's really my advice to any tired dad holding a jar a buddy handed him. Do the unglamorous checks first, get the blood test, and treat shilajit as a maybe on top of good habits, not a fix for skipping them. Mike, for the record, still swears by his. He also just started going to bed at ten.
