Men may start to notice natural signs of lower testosterone as they approach their 40s—and our modern lifestyle only makes things worse. It can also lead to mood swings, aggression, and acne and breast tissue growth (gynecomastia), so medical supervision is important to minimize risks. It’s typically elevated from testosterone boosters for physical strength—and this has a downside. It also contributes to a man’s brain health, bone density, and heart health, too. Atlantic Health urologist Varun Vijay, MD, answers some of men’s most common questions about this important hormone. Stay on top of latest health news from Harvard Medical School. High exposure to estrogen-like chemicals may also affect testosterone levels. A 2019 study involving 2,295 teenage boys and men found that impaired sleep could be linked to lower levels of testosterone. To maintain healthy levels of vitamin D, try to get regular exposure to sunlight or consider taking a vitamin D3 supplement as directed by a healthcare professional. These values don’t take your symptoms, baseline levels, or age-related decline into account. Finally, it’s thought that this negative feedback loop becomes overly sensitive with time, preventing testosterone release, even when testosterone levels are not particularly raised . To understand why testosterone levels decline, it’s useful to understand how testosterone levels are controlled. From here, testosterone levels gradually decline for the rest of your life in most men, but perhaps differently from how you might expect. By your early 20s, your testosterone levels are the highest they’ll ever be naturally. Nearly all studies of juvenile delinquency and testosterone are not significant. On the other hand, elevated testosterone in men may increase their generosity, primarily to attract a potential mate. Men who produce less testosterone are more likely to be in a relationship or married, and men who produce more testosterone are more likely to divorce. However, the testosterone changes observed do not seem to be maintained as relationships develop over time. In transdermal therapy, timing matters differently. One reason lab conversations around TRT become confusing is that testosterone values are not independent of timing. In younger men, some authors have argued that a one-size-fits-all cutoff may miss clinically relevant low values when symptoms are present. That does not mean every man on TRT should target the same exact point in that range.
