Since the war on men hit full stride, testosterone’s reputation has suffered. Some people now believe it makes men bad.
Actually, testosterone gives men focus, strength and energy. It motivates them to do their best and promotes generosity, cooperation and altruism.
The generational decline in testosterone
Testosterone (T) decreases with age naturally, but there’s been a population-level decline in T at least since the 1970s[1–4], with average T levels in men falling by about 1% every year[5].
This means, on average, Gen Zers and millennials have significantly lower testosterone levels than their fathers and grandfathers.
If you suffer from any symptoms described below and your GP can’t get to the bottom of it, you could check your testosterone levels with a Testosterone Replacement Therapy provider like Ted’s Health.
If not, perhaps this information will encourage you to feel good about being a man. It’s taken from From Fetuses to Boys to Men: The Impact of Testosterone on Male Lifespan Development by John A. Barry and Rebecca Owens in The Palgrave Handbook of Male Psychology (2019).
What is T?
It refers to the family of T-like substances called androgens. Men have 10 times more of it than women and it promotes characteristics we consider masculine such as muscle mass, penile and testicular development and hair growth. Estrogen is considered the female hormone because women have 10 times more of it than men, and it promotes female-type characteristics such as breast development. Healthy men need a ratio of T to estrogen of 10:1.
What happens with low T?
Men may suffer from erectile dysfunction, genital shrinkage, loss of libido, hot flushes, osteoporosis, loss of muscle mass, breast enlargement, anaemia, fatigue, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mood swings, depression and cognitive impairment.
How do healthy T levels feel?
In a study comparing people with relatively low versus relatively high T, the latter had more ‘restless energy’, an urge to socialise with friends, and were more proactive in their approach to problem solving, wanting to ‘get things done’ straight away, and they had a distinct intensity in their approach to any activity they engaged in.
What’s the link between T and dominance?
T supports dominance-striving behaviours in men in culturally sensitive ways. These increase around adolescence, when there is a surge in T, peak around the ages of 25 to 30, and then decrease more slowly from the age of 40, which largely coincides with the acquisition of status and mating resources.
Does T cause aggression?
This is a popular misconception. It is true in rodents and hens but not in humans, who can demonstrate dominance in other ways including academic achievements, creativity, physical performance and even in cooperation and altruism. Men’s cultural outputs tend to match their T levels through life.
How does T ‘make men good’?
T may promote prosociality in some contexts, so that men compete to be the most altruistic or cooperative. Men are more likely to engage in ‘doing good as a costly signal’ than women, for example, they are more inclined to donate to charity.
What’s the link between T and settling down?
Single, childless men have higher T than childless men in committed relationships, who have higher T than fathers in committed relationships. In committed non-fathers who aren’t interested in other women, T levels decrease as they become fathers. The more they care for their children, the lower their T levels drop. It’s thought this diverts energy away from competition and risk taking to promote nurturing and bonding with a partner and offspring. T levels increase following divorce in middle-aged men, suggesting they reflect a drive to increase fitness.
T and 3D mental rotation
Men perform better than women when asked to view a stack of cubes and imagine it from different angles. Men with low T score worse, and women with high T score better.
REFERENCES
(Taken from Dr Joshua Smith.)
1. Andersson AM, Jensen TK, Juul A, Petersen JH, Jørgensen T, Skakkebaek NE. Secular decline in male testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin serum levels in Danish population surveys. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Dec;92(12):4696–705.
2. Travison TG, Araujo AB, Kupelian V, O’Donnell AB, McKinlay JB. The relative contributions of aging, health, and lifestyle factors to serum testosterone decline in men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Feb;92(2):549–55.
3. Nyante SJ, Graubard BI, Li Y, McQuillan GM, Platz EA, Rohrmann S, et al. Trends in sex hormone concentrations in US males: 1988–1991 to 1999–2004. Int J Androl. 2012 Jun;35(3):456–66.
4. Lokeshwar SD, Patel P, Fantus RJ, Halpern J, Chang C, Kargi AY, et al. Decline in Serum Testosterone Levels Among Adolescent and Young Adult Men in the USA. Eur Urol Focus. 2021 Jul;7(4):886–9.
5. Population-Level Decline in Serum Testosterone Levels in American Men | The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism | Oxford Academic [Internet]. [cited 2022 Nov 21]. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/92/1/196/2598434?login=false
