Testosterone is what makes a man, a man. In a society that’s increasingly lacking a positive masculine identity, testosterone has become a hot topic of discussion. Today, I will dispel five of the most common myths associated with the master male hormone.
Myth #1: Declining Testosterone Is Primarily a Result of Aging
Although older age is correlated with lower testosterone levels, aging is not the cause of low T.
I’m sure that you’ve read or heard about the, now famous, Massachusetts Male Aging Study. If not, here’s a quick recap: Researchers found that average testosterone levels in men across the American population dropped by 1.2-1.3% every year from 1987 to 2004 (1). Assuming that this trend has continued at the same pace, the average 40 year old in 2018 has 40% lower T-levels than the average 40 year old did in 1987. In other words, the generational decline in testosterone is taking place independently of age.
In another study, Australian researchers recruited 325 men between the ages of 40-97 with self-reported excellent health. Nine blood samples were collected from each participant over the course of 3-months. When looking at the data across the entire sample size, age had no effect on testosterone (2).
The lesson? You can maintain optimal testosterone levels, no matter how old you are.
Myth #2: Only Older Guys Have to Worry About Low Testosterone
Just like older men write off their “low T” as an inevitable part of aging, younger guys think that youth is what keeps them immune to it. The truth is guys as young as 20 are suffering from sub-optimal testosterone levels.
There is currently no published research on the decline of T in men under 30, but there’s no shortage of anecdotal evidence:
- Scott had a total T-level of 273 ng/dL at the age of 25 (source).
- Oskar had a total T-level of 297 ng/dL at the age of 18 (source).
At 24, my total testosterone level came out at 564 ng/dL. This is a level that falls well within what’s considered the “normal range”. Still, I could barely crawl out of bed each morning, I was skinny-fat, and my sex drive was nowhere to be seen. Since taking the steps to naturally optimize my T, all of these symptoms have completely disappeared.
Any man, regardless of age, can have sub-optimal T. I highly recommend that you have your blood work done at least once per year to get an idea of where you stand and where you need to be.
Myth #3: The Only Way to Increase Testosterone Is With Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT)
Is TRT effective at raising T? Of course. Is it the only way to raise T? Hell no.
I naturally increased my total testosterone level from 564 ng/dL to 902 ng/dL and it was all by making simple changes in my diet and lifestyle. My beef with TRT comes down to the fact that it’s basically a band-aid approach. TRT addresses the symptoms of low T while completely ignoring the root cause of low T, which is usually a sub-optimal lifestyle.
When something as simple as sleeping more can boost T-levels by more than 60% (3), is it really wise to jump the proverbial TRT gun before taking the steps to optimize your lifestyle?
Now, I know that a lot of you have had great results with TRT. The thing is, though, that your body is still unable to produce testosterone. And with so much exogenous T coming in, your body has completely shut off its own natural production.
In other words, once started on TRT, you’re effectively chained to using the treatment for the rest of your life – or for as long as you care about getting a boner. Before trying to get a prescription for TRT, fix these 5 lifestyle factors.
Myth #4: Having High Testosterone Increases Your Chances of Developing Prostate Cancer
In the early 40s the medical community began to ascribe prostate cancer as a result of high testosterone. This assumption came from a single medical case study where a patient’s prostate cancer regressed after he was castrated.
Since then, a meta-analysis of 18 studies involving 5,091 patients with prostate cancer and 11,930 controls has reported that there is no link between endogenous testosterone levels and prostate cancer (4).
Myth #5: High Testosterone Makes You Angry
This is a myth mostly peddled by effeminate SJWs and feminists, but it could not be further from the truth. In a study of adolescent boys, researchers found that the boys with the highest levels of T were considered the most socially adept amongst their peers.
And the boys with lower levels of T? They were the ones most prone to the expression of aggressive behavior. They were also failing in school and unpopular with their peers.
Researchers concluded that testosterone levels are positively correlated with social success rather than with physical aggression (5). In another study, men suffering from low T were given testosterone treatments after which they experienced a significant reduction in tension and anger (6). All of this brings us to the conclusion that it is in fact low T that leads to the expression of negative emotions.
This shouldn’t be surprising given the fact that depression is a known side-effect of low T (7) and that anger, hostility and irritability are frequently observed in men diagnosed with depression (8). Could it be that low testosterone is a contributing factor to the expression of toxic masculinity? That low testosterone is contributing to the violent outbursts of anger we so commonly see in the news?
Conclusion
Age is not an excuse. Prescriptions aren’t your only option. High testosterone won’t give you prostate cancer and it won’t make you angry. The fact that you’re reading this right now means that you’re unplugged from mainstream consciousness.
As such, don’t fall for these mainstream myths. Take charge of your hormonal health and become the man you can be.
Read More: 3 Reasons Low Testosterone Is Dangerous For Your Health, And What You Can Do About It
What is this, buzzfeed?
Feel that you have a better article to share? Write something and get it posted here on ROK.
I didn’t know the ROK community “like seriously” adopted Valley girl speak
Hahahah that’s so true. “SERIOUSLY GUYS!”
Keyboard warriors with low T. Man of men-0-pause.
His name is Mo, not buzzfeed.
🙂
Its exactly the opposite. fag.
Haha some people eh
Thinning hairline is actually a sign of higher T, Carl the Cuck probably has lower T than AIDs Skrillex the dog fucker.
Interesting about the anger bit. It is almost counter-intuitive. It calls to mind a ‘mature’ liberal guy that I once knew that, upon witnessing or hearing of any display of “aggression” (everything was aggression to him) always shook his head, wisely, affected a n earnest tone as said, “too much testosterone.” LOL
haha yea, clearly this liberal guy was suffering from a case of “blue pillness”
Haha, indeed he was. He was old, pre-boomer (slightly) and had an air of wisdom- it was all nonsense. Any testosterone was too much for him.
I’m not 100% convinced with the anger study. From my experience a lot of the anger I felt was due to sexual tension. Not that I recognised it at the time. I hardly ever masturbated during school time, like once every 2 weeks, or sometimes once a month. And I sure as hell wasn’t getting laid, not because I was ugly, just too immature to be considered sexy. So on the rugby field if I got an opportunity to smash the “cool guy” that the girls liked, I would. And if I look at the meat-heads at school who were ugly, most of them were fairly violent. All the guys who got laid, by contrast, were fairly chilled.
I’ll agree with the study if they can prove that higher-t doesn’t lead to higher sexual drive. But I think the opposite’s the case. Not that a high sex drive leads to anger, but if you’re not getting laid it can.
In white men what leads to anger and violence is frustration, not testosterone. Assuming you are a sociopath, then high T just gives benefits. It makes you more confident, energetic, competitive, aggressive, and gives you a higher sex drive. Basically all good things. So low T guys (esp in high school) act out violently because the Darwinian climate of childhood is merciless to anyone who can’t get their shit together.
Western Civilisation is falling apart as testosterone level is getting lower and lower
Has everything to do with men stopped acting and LIVING like men not to mention all the additives and chemicals that are estrogen mimicking leaching from plastic and added to food. Going back to whole foods diet from the basic that come from the field and farm and sea ( and I am NOT endorsing any FAD diets..they are all BS). Our fathers and their fathers and fathers fathers were all overall HEALTHIER than us before all the modern industrial chemical contaminations and whole food diets before all the excess processing that kicked off in the 50’s with the first convenience foods and then the space program foods. Previous generations ACTUALLY WORKED, did physical labor, did not have TVs and modern technology, worked from dawn to dusk and lived like civilized people instead of the shamelessly lazy and entitled society that exists now.
Right on Neal.
We are born in a modern world with a mind and body that was designed for a primal one. The key lies in developing the habits around eating, moving, and sleeping in the ways that our grandfathers were. The comforts of modern society are literally robbing us of our manhood.
Gasp! Does this mean that “toxic masculinity” is actually a myth? Jk
Anyway, thanks for the warning on #5.
EDIT: I meant #3.
Yeah man, and there are a ton of resources here at RoK that can help you develop a lifestyle that supports your T rather than kills it.
Thank you. 🙂
So besides sleeping a lot, not eating junk, going to the gym, affecting an Alpha lifestyle and chasing after 18 year old girls, what’s the solution to raising a low T?
The article is sort of unspecific on that. Or is that the solution. Or should you get shots anyway?
(Good info on the sketchy non-link between T and cancer though.)
Just a thought.
VicB3
P.S. Did you know that if you mention in your post a well know erectile dysfunction drug that begins with the letter “V” that you get the dreaded “Forbidden” blocking message?
Curious the things that are banned.
Wanted to write “…Teen-Age Girls – Natures V…..”
It wouldn’t let me.
Yea you’ve pretty much got it there Vic. The solution to raising low T comes down to optimizing our decisions around diet and lifestyle. Also, about developing a mindset where you’re striving towards growth and constantly working on yourself to improve in your lifts, improve your finances, your relationships, etc. There are a ton of resources here on RoK that get more specific.
In other words, Aspect and Attitude. (That’s how I sum it up anyway.)
Hormones are meant to be made as they are needed, responding to the immediate needs of the body. This can never be duplicated with any pill, patch, shot, or other method of administration from the outside. Taking hormones from the outside locks the body into certain stress responses that are usually not the best.
Yea Zel you’re right about that. The thing is, though, that our modern lifestyles are not aligned with how our body was designed. Our bodies have not evolved to deal with all the refined sugars, grains, plastics, and chemicals etc. This is why we have to make conscious decisions that support our hormones rather than destroy them.
“Hormones are meant to be made as they are needed, responding to the immediate needs of the body.”
Testosterone is not made “as needed”, it is secreted during the night when you are sleeping hence why there is such a phenomenon known as morning wood. At the day’s end is when a guy’s T levels will be lowest. Chronically sleep-deprived men (less than 7 hours) have correlated lower T levels.
Society is becoming unglued.
The USA is supposed to be a free country, but it is a police state. The US is no longer a democracy, Americans no have longer rights, and everything is illegal.
The government blatantly breaks the law and then laughs and expects Americans to obey the law and pay taxes.
How can Americans sleep at night now?
What would an American do if he was married, had a house, car, job, and $100,000? Would he throw everything away to fight for freedom or would he try to justify being unconstitutionally wiretapped, groped by the TSA, being tracked with license plate readers, stopping for checkpoints, and being stopped and frisked?
How much is liberty worth to you?
Maybe Americans might benefit from studying King Charles, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Vietnam War.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/king-charles-i-executed-for-treason
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/
Get your spam out of here mate!
Black people are said to have high test levels, but why are they aggressive? My take on this phenomenon is that (((someone))) has sold the general public the idea that blacks are more aggressive and masculine, and thus more desirable.
Cool, calm, and collected. These are the traits that alpha men demonstrate. Traits that you should aspire for. Aggression and anger is a failure to control our emotions. The mind – it is an excellent slave, but a horrible master. Learn to control it, or it will control you.
which is why they are employed in coliseum type sports…..oh wait, it went ancient rome on us……i wonder why? history repeats, bread and circuses.. bloodsports start when again?
Low IQ overall
assertiveness is a masculine trait. remove the T, men stop being assertive and become like women, easy to control and manipulated by emotion. lowering the T is by design.
From the estrogens in our food to the plastics and chemicals in our products – modern society is robbing us of our natural testosterone production.
Is that by design? Who knows.
Either way, the tools to overcome that design are at your disposal.
The question is:
Will you use them?
What’s the use of high T for sex drive when the feminist will criminalize approaching women? High T is for enlisting in the Russian army to fight the feminist with Putin!
Putin is feminist. Russia is a matriachy since the USSR
Vladimir Putin is not a feminist you troll.
Putin signs anti-male laws. Check it out. 60% women voted for him
Interesting. Does this tie into the male birth control pills that are supposedly in clinical trials with the FDA? Additionally, Mo, do you believe that the severe decline in testosterone since the 1940s in western men is due to the invention and prevalence of plastic?
Plastics contain xenoestrogens which replicate the effects of estrogen on the male body. BPA is especially dangerous. So yes, the prevalence of plastic is definitely a contributing cause to the decline in T as we face it today. Is it the primary factor? No. The primary factor is being overweight – expanding wasit lines. Body fat is public enemy #1 of testosterone. It produces aromatase which is an enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen. So if you’ve got a spare tire around your waist it’s literally making you more feminine.
“Plastics contain xenoestrogens which replicate the effects of estrogen on the male body.”
The levels to which these “xenoestrogens” reach in the body is negligible when looking at the broader picture. I place this type of thinking into the conspiracy theory pile. If you want higher T levels, quit jerking off and sitting on your ass and go outside or lift some weights.
Hi.
Thank you for writing. I like the article, and will visit your site.
One minor point.
Regarding the study showing that aging has no effect on testosterone. If we took a sample of men of all ages with a full head of hair, then concluded that aging has no effect on hair loss- it presents a false conclusion. (Even though aging MAY NOT have an effect on hair loss.)
But over all Well Done.
Thank you
Samuel, you’re right. The sample size listed in the study above is not representative of the entire population – I get that. I listed in the point that aging is not a *primary* cause of low T. What rattles me up is when men use age as an excuse. You CAN be a strong, fit, and virile man well into old-age if your diet and lifestyle are aligned in a way that support your manhood rather than destroy it.
Feature photo is africa, current year
So you raised your testosterone by ~60% just by sleeping more and changing your diet? Lifestyle factors are clearly important, but such a dramatic increase seeems unrealistic. What exactly was your diet and sleep like prior to the baseline measurement?
The diet and lifestyle are a means to an end. The end to strive for, as I’ve gone over in another article here on RoK, is being lean and strong, optimizing vitamin and mineral balance, and optimizing sleep. Before taking charge of my hormonal health I had been drinking beers everyday while backpacking in Asia and I was sleeping in hostels – where sleep is regurly interrupted and irregular.
One way to avoid raising estrogen is not spending too much time with women. Sex is one thing. Time is another. The more time you spend on a broad will suck away your T and your desire to live. The men who do this the most are the beta orbiters. It doesn’t have to be one girl either. Stop giving women your precious resource.
It comes down to the frame through which you’re interacting with a woman. If you’re interacting through a man-to-woman frame rather than a friend-to-friend frame it is always going to raise your T.
i approve this message.
Nothing screams more “i’m a blue pill guy” than a guy who is friend with female, hang out with them on 1to1, and don’t fuck them despite they are bangable af.
Some great points in the article and the comments section.
One thing I’ve noticed lately is the increased push for a vegan diet which is big on foods made from soy and corn! Is it a coincidence that lower T levels are beoming more common these days? I think not.
My prediction is that in the future a soy / vegan based diet will be the “norm”. Most people will be too placid by then and too deep into their comfy lives of Netflix amd sex robots.
Raising my T level has led to a resurgance of my acne troubles, I suspect. That’s a pretty big downside for me because I don’t have the best set of teeth either. I’m lucky to be tall and handsome so that negates some of the issue. Anyone else experience the same skin problems but get it to go away? Or is it just another myth high T gives you pimples? It’s such a case by case basis though, acne I mean, who knows, I made an appointment with a dermatologist in defeat.
Can the author provide links to the mentioned tests? Thanks in advance!
Which tests bro?
Good shit man,
You are a good kebob Mo
Inshallah
This is spot on. I always had a high sex drive and T levels, until a year and half ago when I stopped working out and started eating crap. I put on like 40 pounds and felt like garbage. Always tired, just enough energy to make it to and from work everyday. I started running and lifting again a couple of months ago and already I can feel my t-levels are back up. It has little to do with age. Its all about what you are doing and where you head is at.
Right on man, keep the momentum going and you’re bound to sustain your health and virility well into your 80s and 90s.
If you’re T levels are low and natural therapies don’t work and you don’t want life long Testosterone shots, ask your endocrinologist about a 6-8 week course of Clomiphene citrate or Hcg shots. Clinically they can boost T levels without extreme pharmaceutical intervention.
Is it Punjabi type of medical service?
No that would be blasting Punjabi MC from a yellow cab. That works too bro
Mo, How does one go about getting their blood work done for this type of purpose. Any time I’ve ever ask my doctor for a blood test without any symptoms of illness, he looks at me as if I’ve hit my head. Any pointers?
In Russia you can test your blood any time
Yea, I’ve had a similar experience with doctors as well.
You can order a home saliva test kit from Amazon, but keep in mind that a saliva measurement is not nearly as accurate as a blood measurement.
Also, if you’re in the States, you can go to PrivateMDlabs.com and order a blood test whereby they’ll direct you to a lab closest to you and then send your results via email.
Thanks, Mo
Only insecure beta’s worry about their ‘T’ level – you think Spartan men ever gave a shit about what their T was? Eat healthy, stay away from fake food, avoid bullshit toxins, get outside, be active – all these things are just basic things every man should be doing in general. If you have low T you’re probably sitting on your ass too much and eatting shit and haven’t lifted weights in 20 years. Just be a normal person and you’ll be fine. I meet older guys who are so paranoid over this shit. If you drive a truck 8-10 hours a day for 40-50-60 hours a weak of course your T is gunna be low cuse your sitting on your ass all day. If you just adopt a more active lifestyle, get outside, eat normal clean food on a regualr, and get good sleep you’ll be in the normal range. All things considered though the guys that worry about this shit are probably lowering their T by just worrying about it. Be active, eat good, sleep good and you’ll be fine. Overemphasis on ‘masculnity’ will fuck with your brain. Just avoid the soy and don’t be a society drone and all will be well.
Spartan men didn’t have to worry about the comforts of modern society either. They were brought up as warriors from the day they were born. Worrying about something is ground zero towards actually doing something about it. Only once someone worries that the path their currently on can they muster up the will to change course. Worry is merely a call to action an indicator of what to do next.
Mo,
I did TRT for a couple years. The doctor didn’t know what she was doing. I worked out at Crossfit 4 times a week during this time. I ended up moving away and discontinued TRT cold turkey. I intermittently fast every day for the last few months and have been consistently lifting ( using the StrongLifts 5×5 workout and app ) since January. My question is can I ever restore healthy T levels naturally?
What it comes down to is tracking your progress. Get a baseline measurement of where your T is now. Then, focus on getting lean, getting strong, getting sleep, and overall just a lifestyle that supports your anabolic health. Then, a couple of months later get a blood measurement again. Compare your results. That way you’ll know for sure if you’re making progress and whether you’re on the right track rather than me saying “yes you can” or “no you can’t”.
A few years ago I found these T pills somewhere and used them, felt like it worked but it could have been other factors as well (my diet was better than usual, i was working out, and i was manic)….does anyone have any experience with pills and are they legit?
Testosterone replacement therapy carries with it a high risk of permanent infertility so caveat emptor
Excellent article.
Amen! Amen!. Amen!
test (Something funky going on, please ignore / delete)
Hmm, is “retards” a blocked word? Trying to use it as in, X retards, I.E., impedes, development.
test – retarded ?
Well, no clue, so if someone would kindly delete the whole mess of spam, that would be great.