Study shows that testosterone levels are dropping
But why is this important?
In 2017, the internet gathered around BuzzFeed to point and laugh. Why? Because BuzzFeed’s Try Guys had taken a series of tests to try and determine who was the most attractive (scientifically-speaking). In the first four minutes of the viral video, the Try Guys took a testosterone test and their scores were quite low.
This was seen as a great self-own by people on the internet and many videos, blog posts and comments were made at the Try Guys’ expense.
While the Try Guys’ T-scores were rather extreme, their scores are part of a wider phenomenon in the western world which was reported ten years before the BuzzFeed video was released on YouTube.
In 2007, an article entitled A Population-Level Decline in Serum Testosterone Levels in American Men was published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Testosterone levels are known to decline as men age, so a healthy twenty-year-old man is going to have a higher T-score than a healthy seventy-year-old man. And this is why the study’s results were so surprising.
In this 2007 study, the researchers cross-compared groups of men aged 45–79 from different time periods (1987–1989, 1995–1997 and 2002–2004); thus, age was controlled as a variable. After controlling for other factors such as health, lifestyle etc. (NB: smoking was counted as a lifestyle factor) the researchers reached this conclusion:
“These results indicate that recent years have seen a substantial, and as yet unrecognized, age-independent population-level decrease in T in American men, potentially attributable to birth cohort differences or to health or environmental effects not captured in observed data.”
What this means is that a seventy-year-old living in the 1980s had a higher T-score than a similar seventy-year-old living in the early 2000s. With all other factors controlled, the only conclusion one can reach is that male American testosterone scores have been on the decline for the past few decades.
Furthermore, even in 2021, medical professionals are not sure what has caused this decline. Some speculate processed foods, plastics, food preservatives, and chemical traces of female oral contraceptives in drinking water are causal factors but argument persists to this day.
Why is this important?
No one thinks about testosterone on a daily basis, I certainly didn’t pay any thought to this hormone until I saw the Try Guys being used as the butt of many jokes by people online. The real question is: are there any issues with a low T-score?
Unfortunately, there are.
The 2007 study discussed in this article didn’t talk about any bad effects related to low T-scores although they did mention:
“…a population-level decline in serum T concentrations would be consistent with evidence of secular decreases in male fertility and sperm count”.
Obviously, lower fertility is not desirable, but it won’t affect most men in their day-to-day life.
But day-to-day life can be affected by low testosterone. In this Healthline article which cites numerous studies, these common symptoms of low testosterone in men are listed:
- Low Sex Drive
- Erectile Dysfunction
- Low Semen Volume
- Hair Loss
- Fatigue
- Decreased Muscle Mass
- Increased Body Fat — (this includes possible man-boob development)
- Decreased Bone Mass
- Mood Changes — (this includes an increased risk of depression)
- Affected Memory
- Smaller Testicle Size
- Low Blood Counts
Obviously then, testosterone is an important hormone for men, and having low amounts is detrimental to general health and mental wellbeing. What is concerning is (according to the American Urological Association) about 2 in 100 men have Testosterone Deficiency Syndrome or low testosterone.
Ever since governments across the western world imposed lockdowns and movement restrictions, reports of poor mental health have been on the rise — depression and anxiety being the common ones witnessed by this writer.
Keeping this in mind, for men who have nothing to do, nowhere to go and no one to see, it may be sensible to consider methods and means of raising testosterone in order to offset the chances of developing depression.
Fortunately, raising serum testosterone levels is relatively easy. Changing diet and picking up weights weekly has been shown to have positive effects on testosterone levels in both genders.
So gentlemen, if you’re feeling low and no lifestyle choices or habits seem to break you free, it might be because your body is not producing a healthy amount of testosterone.
The state of the body does affect the mind so it is important to try and take care of yours.
