study has shown that when you examine testosterone levels when males
are first placed together in the social group testosterone levels
predict nothing about who is going to be aggressive. The subsequent
behavioral differences drive the hormonal changes, rather the other
way around (“Trouble with Testosterone,” pp. 152).”
It is a good point, but what about evidences suggesting that men after
taking testosterone injection find themselves more aggression than
normally. The article “The He Hormone” by Andrew Sullivan brings a good
example when a man after taking testosterone shot could not control his
increased aggressiveness and “had nearly gotten into the first public brawl
of his life.”
“Soon after I inject myself with testosterone I feel a deep surge of
energy. My attention span shortens. My wit is quicker, my mind is
faster, but my judgement is more impulsive.”
Several other studies suggest that individuals with winning attitudes
have higher testosterone levels, at least for a short period of time, than
those without such an attitude. One group of researchers, for example,
measured testosterone levels in six college tennis players and found that
testosterone levels began to rise in all of them before their matches,
apparently in anticipation of competition. The big surprise came after the
fact: the testosterone levels of those who won their matches remained
high, while the testosterone levels of those who lost diminished.
A second group of researchers, at North Dakota State University in
Fargo, undertook even further step by trying to figure out if it was the
competition itself, or the mood produced by winning, that caused the rise
in testosterone. In their experiment, male college students either won or
lost $5 through a series of coin tosses. The task removed all elements of
skill or competition; blind luck determined winners and losers. After the
tosses had been finished, the researchers measured the saliva of
participants for changes in their testosterone levels. Those who won money
experienced a more positive mood and a rise in “test”; those who lost whose
a decrease in the later. The result suggested that the acts of winning,
rather than the nature of the competition or the skill involved, improve
mood and produces an increase in testosterone levels. This experiment
obviously supports Robert’s Saporky statement that testosterone level
changes with external factors.
Two more recent studies by a single group of researchers went further
to find out if one has to directly participate in competing in order to
experience increase in testosterone level. In the first study, the
researchers measured the salivary testosterone levels of fans who attended
a college basketball game. In another, they took the same measurement of a
group who watched a World Cup soccer match on television. In each study,
testosterone levels were taken before and after the game. In both
experiments, those fans whose team had won experienced a surge in their
testosterone levels, while those fans whose team had lost showed a drop.
The result was very surprising. Even the fans are not directly
involved in the competition, the their testosterone levels change in
accordance with whether their team is losing or winning. The supervisor of
the researches, a doctoral candidate in education psychology at the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City, makes a comment on the researches
notes: “Fans do not have much to do with outcome: there are more like
voyeurs to the team’s experience of competition.” Nonetheless, experiencing
victory even vicariously apparently has very real effect on a person’s
hormone levels.
Testosterone level is not only different among individuals, but it
changes within one organism one intraday basis. Testosterone level can vary
by up to fifty percent during one day. In the mornings it tends to be
higher than in the evenings. This is another reason why people feel fresh
in the mornings. During the day one might experience ups and downs of
testosterone level induced by winning mood effect. These up and downs do
not have effect on physical development of the individual (“The
Testosterone Syndrome,” Eugene Shippen, William Fryer).
Sensitivity to the changes in the testosterone levels is not very
researched subject. It is noticed that different individuals experience
different effects after having the same amount of testosterone injected.
The genetically determined differences in the numbers of testosterone
receptors may be one factor.
Besides stimulating growth of bones, body mass, facial hair, change in
voice, testosterone might be a possible reason of illnesses. In the report
by Paule A. Lotufo, Joann E. Manson, Alexandersen P, Haarbo J, Christiansen
C., on male pattern baldness and coronary heart disease, the authors
conclude that “vertex pattern baldness appears to be a marker for increased
risk if coronary heart disease. They state that testosterone may provide a
“plausible explanation for an association between baldness and coronary
heart disease.” The reference cited is a study that shows elevated
testosterone levels in men with prostate cancer and baldness; however,
these were no measured testosterone concentrations in the data presented.
Dr. Brian L.G. Morgan and Roberta Morgan, in their book “Hormones,” are
tying to link high testosterone level with coronary heart disease. They
bring into attention the fact that in general, since women have lower
testosterone levels than men, according to available poll of data, they
live longer lives. “Equal numbers for both sexes are around by age thirty,
and only 70 percent of men reach age sixty-five, where as 84 percent of
women do.”
On the contrary recent results from the Telecom Study showed that
decreased testosterone levels were associated with increased cardiovascular
risk factors in otherwise healthy men.
Eugene Shippen and William Fryer, in their book “Testosterone
syndrome,” agree with the opinion that low level of testosterone are more
associated with increased cardiovascular risk factors, rather than all the
way around.
“The fundamental fact is this: a clear and ever-increasing majority of
medical studies report an association between high testosterone and
low cardiovascular disease in men. This is not a coincidental
association, since when testosterone is diminished well-accepted risk
factors increase, and when testosterone is administered in appropriate
doses most of the major risk factors for heart disease diminish.
Moreover, in the majority of patients, symptoms and objective EKG
measurements improve. These studies are confirming the results I have
been getting with patients for years. Men prosper health wise and
live longer when their testosterone levels are normal. Heart
problems, in particular, are more easily controlled (The Testosterone
Syndromes, pp. 81).”
With growing old, men begin experiencing erective problems and losing
sexual interest. These problems are caused by diminishment in testosterone
level. Facts reveal that men who are taking testosterone, in any form,
experience surge of sexual interest, and overall enhancement in physical
strength. Eugene Shippen, and William Fryer, in their book “The
Testosterone Syndrome,” relate diminishing sexual interest to a sign of
future heart disease and diabetes, conditions common in the male menopause
(“The Testosterone Syndrome,” pp. 59)
At the end of this research, I would like to notice and bring example
of the fact that majority of scientific world hold opinion that artificial
testosterone if correctly applied can bring much of good to the human kind,
especially to elderly.
“Standford R. is seventy-four years old now, but he has had heart
problems since the early 1970s. It did not make life easy for him. He is
an athletic man who likes to hunt, fish on the river, and walk in the
woods. By the time Standford together with his chest pains, got into the
1980s, it was time for a quintuple bypass. The chest pains started up
again in a few years later. His chest pains went away, his energy returned
and when he is not walking over the hills and fields and hunting in the
woods, Standford makes love. Sometimes twice a day (“The Testosterone
syndrome,” pp79).
Conclusion
As can be concluded from all researches discussed above change in
testosterone level triggers changes in behavioral pattern, and
environmental change followed by change in behavioral pattern triggers
change in testosterone level.
The arguments in scientific world regarding testosterone and their
role in human anatomy are not over yet. The subject is hard to explore,
because experiments that has to be done in order to find right answers are
not considered to be ethical on humans. The scientific world has no
choice, but to use random historical facts to come to the answers.
However, the fact the testosterone play a huge role in human development
and behavior is not argued by any more.
Reference:
1) “The Testosterone Syndrome”; Eugene Shippen, M.D. and William Fryer,
M. Evans and Company, Inc., 1998
2) “Hormones; Molecular Messenger”; John K. Young, Franklin Watts, 1994
3) “The Trouble with Testosterone and other essays on the biology of the
human predicament”; Robert M. Sapolsky, Scribner, 1997
4) “The Hormone of Desire; The Truth about sexuality, menopause, and
testosterone”; Susan Rako, M.D., Harmony Books, 1996
5) “Never Too Buff”; John Cloud
6) “The He Hormone”; Andrew Sullivan
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