How Sleep Impacts Testosterone
These days, every person’s life has become so halter skater that most of the people are disturbing their sleep. This could be in the form of online gaming too much, using too much social media, YouTube, binge-watching series or movies.
All these habits can lead to a lot of problems like feeling lethargic, weak eyes, dark circles etc. But do you know that apart from the other health issues, lacking a proper sleep can also lead to a reduction in the testosterone levels of a man’s body?
In fact, several studies have shown that loss of sleep for an entire week can lower the testosterone level in healthy males by up to 15 %. That’s why this century’s chap is constantly on a low testosterone level.
Unfortunately, people, these days don’t care much about their health. They are more focused on their lifestyles and other things instead of caring for the beautiful body that God has blessed them with. After all, your body is your real home!
For those who don’t know what testosterone is, testosterone is a male sex hormone. It is secreted by the Leydig cells present in the male gonads. It is the chief sex hormone in males that is meant for controlling secondary sexual characters, and the sex drive in males.
However, people have a huge misconception that testosterone is only found in men, but you are wrong here as women also have testosterone in their body, but obviously in minimum amounts. There is more importance of the testosterone in the body than you think of because it is also meant to maintain bone density and muscle strength in the body.
Low levels of the male sex hormone in the body can also be due to a less healthy sleeping routine as T levels are directly affected by sleep.
Several pieces of research have shown that cutting down your sleep hours can dramatically lower the levels of male sex hormones.
Wondering why? For your knowledge, the relation between sleep and the testosterone levels are explained for a clear understanding as we proceed further
How does sleep affect testosterone?
There is a proportionate relation between sleep and testosterone levels. It is because lacking a proper sleep alleviates the levels of testosterone because T levels are mostly replenished during the night time.
However, on the other hand, if anyone has low testosterone levels, they tend to face the insomniac symptoms.
This certainly proves, the correlation between sleep and the testosterone levels with each other. Now, this was all about general information; let’s have a glance at some of the results that are obtained through several pieces of practical researches.
According to the reports of a well-reputed institute named National Heart, Lung, and blood institute, not having a sound sleep of at least 7-8 hours can even lead to a significant reduction in the levels of testosterone that is equivalent to 10-15 years of ageing. By it, you may have got an estimate of how important it is to maintain a proper sleeping routine in your life.
Another study has been conducted with ten healthy males; they were asked to avoid proper sleep for a week, and after seven days when the results were obtained, it was observed that the testosterone levels in them reduced by almost 10-15%.
Both studies have revealed the connection between sleep and testosterone levels.
Decreased level of testosterone will not only abate the appearance of secondary sexual characters in males, but also it leads to exhaustion, reduced strength, and pain in the joints. Hence, it is crucial to maintain the levels of testosterone in our body, which is not possible without having a proper amount of undisturbed sleep.
If you are unaware how low testosterone levels can be harmful in other aspects too, then for your knowledge, low –T levels can be a problem in your marital life as well due to the significant drop in the sex drives and low sperm counts. It can even lead to some of the female traits in male’s body such as not developing a heavy voice, having patchy beard, man boobs also termed as Gynaecomastia. Low-T levels can be a pain for you as it can also lead to the weakening of muscle and bone strength even in younger age.
Therefore, keeping the testosterone level balanced in your body is very crucial, and what else can be other easiest option for increasing its levels than sleeping. By sleeping, you are getting such a noticeable amount of recovery, it would be quite absurd not to give time to your body for self-recovery.
Men facing the issue of low testosterone levels can increase its level in the body just by making a slight change in their sleeping routines along with exercise regime and proper diet. It is because sleep has been considered to be one of the most influential factors in manipulating the levels of testosterone in a male’s body.
