How Insufficient Sleep Affects Testosterone Levels? Study Concludes

Are you habituated to scrolling the phone past your bedtime? If yes, it’s secretly impacting your manliness. 

Researchers claim that constantly skipping on the quality and quantity of sleep can lower testosterone levels. 

Even the current scenario of testosterone levels in men in the USA has the same story to tell. 

Testosterone deficiency is 20% among adolescent young adult men aged 15-39 years. Considering the prevalence of poor sleep patterns among adults and the connection between sleep with hormonal imbalance, there seems some connection. 

Therefore, we dug in to understand can lack of sleep lowers testosterone for real. 

Key Insights

• Research proves lack of sleep can lower testosterone levels. 
• Research has shown that men who slept for less than 5 hours a night for one week have low testosterone levels. 
• Testosterone levels peak during the first stage of REM sleep stage and therefore if you don’t get enough sleep during that time, it can affect your testosterone levels.
• Aging, stress, sleep disorders, BMI, and circadian rhythm affect sleep which ultimately affects testosterone levels. 

Can Lack of Sleep Lower Testosterone?

Yes! Testosterone is such a critical hormone that there is not just one thing that can affect it.

Stress, diet, genetics, and environmental factors are commonly known to cause turmoil in testosterone levels. But so can not get enough sleep.  

Testosterone levels are high during the morning because the body starts to replenish it at night.  As soon as you fall asleep, testosterone levels start to rise. 

It peaks when you enter the first Rapid Eye Movement stage (different stages of sleep) and remains high until you wake up. 

Therefore, when there is a disturbance during your REM stage and you don’t get enough sleep during that time, your testosterone production declines. This is not only theoretical; there is much research to prove this.

As per research published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine, the systematic review and meta-analysis involving 252 men revealed that total sleep deprivation reduces male testosterone levels.   

Another study by the JAMA Network investigated the effect of 1 week of sleep restriction on testosterone levels in young healthy men. For this, after spending 8-hour bedtimes at home, participants spent 11 days in the laboratory.

This includes 3 nights of 10-hour bedtimes and 8 nights of 5-hour bedtimes. Analyzing the results shows a decline in testosterone levels by 10-15% among young healthy men who underwent sleep restriction to 5 hours for one week. 

Lack of sleep can lower testosterone levels and the above research provides enough data to prove the same. But how lack of sleep affects men’s primary hormones adversely is yet to be disclosed.

How Does Lack of Sleep Lower Testosterone?

Fluctuations in sleep quantity and quality are linked to several negative impacts that ultimately result in a decline in testosterone hormones. 

#1. Increases stress

Lack of sleep releases a stress hormone called cortisol which brings the body into fight-or-flight mode. 

As per the reports of the study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, hypercortisolism of endogenous and exogenous sources directly affects the testis and thus suppresses testosterone secretion. 

#2. Affects the circadian rhythm

If you don’t know, testosterone levels have a circadian rhythm of their own. That is to say, testosterone levels are highest in the morning and lowest in the evening. 

Therefore, when you sleep at night, the pituitary gland signals the testis to secret more testosterone. 

As per the reports, testosterone levels peak between 07.00 h and 10.00 h. And reached their minimum at 19.00 h only to rise at night. Also, in the morning between 7 to 10 hours, testosterone is at the plateau. Thus sleep deprivation affects the circadian rhythm of the testosterone leading to low productivity by affecting the circadian rhythm of the body. 

#3. Mess with BMI

Lack of sleep can lower testosterone levels by affecting the metabolism. Just 4 days of insufficient sleep affects the body’s ability to process insulin. It alters the glucose metabolism, upregulates diet, and also decreases energy expenditure. 

All of this increases the risk of weight gain and diabetes. As per the reports of the study, obese men showed a significant decrease in total testosterone as well as free testosterone.

Therefore, in this case, lack of sleep lowers testosterone indirectly. 

#4. Aging 

Aging leads to an automatic decline in testosterone levels by 1-2% every year. It is also important to note that with age, there is a significant decrease in the quality as well as quantity of sleep. 

Reports published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, mean testosterone levels for the entire 24-hour day were lower in healthy old men in comparison to young men.

This establishes a clear relationship between age-related decline in testosterone levels.

#5. Causes Sleep Disorders

Lack of sleep causes sleep breathing disorders like sleep apnea which is also found to have a link with a decline in testosterone levels. 

Around 4% of men above 50 years have symptomatic OSA. Notably, sleep apnea leads to loss of REM sleep, and gives rise to fragmented sleep, restlessness, and reduced overall sleep time. 

Even a study concludes by saying that Obstructive sleep apnea may contribute to low testosterone because of hypoxia and sleep fragmentation. 

In one way or another sleep affects your testosterone levels. It can affect your major bodily functions and from there, it finally targets your testosterone and causes a decline. 

Therefore, if you are clueless about what’s making you witness the signs of low testosterone, try checking your sleep cycle. 

How much sleep to increase testosterone?

Serum testosterone levels are linked with the first REM sleep and for this, you need to have 3 hours of complete deep sleep.

However, as per the reports published in the Andrology, young adult men were likely to have higher testosterone levels when they slept for 6 hours or less in comparison to those who slept for 7 to 8 hours. 

Whereas men aged 41 to 64 years were more likely to have low testosterone if they slept for 9 hours or more in comparison to those who slept for 7-8 hours. (source)

Therefore, the quantity of sleep depends on your age. But on average make sure to have 6-7 hours of quality sleep to increase testosterone levels. 

Since lack of sleep can lower testosterone, there are ways to boost it as well. In case you are unable to get quality sleep, make some changes and adopt some habits to witness an upsurge in t-levels. 

How can I increase my testosterone levels at night?

There are numerous ways to boost testosterone at night. Since testosterone and sleep are directly linked, it is first important to improve issues related to your sleep. 

To begin with, get the CPAP machine or pillows for your sleep disorders like sleep apnea and restlessness. 

Moving on, try to mediate and get rid of all the day-to-day stress. Adding to it, you can adopt sleep hygiene practices like taking a relaxing bath before bed, cleaning the bed, and using soothing lights to sleep better. 

After this, you can also work on your weight loss. For this, if you are not getting time to indulge in heavy exercise during the daytime, include a nighttime fat burner like PhenQ PM. 

This nighttime fat burner formula burns stubborn fat while you are sleeping without hampering sleep quality. 

Interestingly, PhenQ PM also flushes out excess cortisol and enhances your sleep quality as well. 

Lack of testosterone and sleep both are common in the prevailing lifestyle. However, there is always a way if you want to improve.

FAQs

Improving sleep can be a sure sort of hack to boost your testosterone levels but being aware of the minute details is the real key. 

Therefore we bring answers to the most frequently asked questions that link sleep with testosterone.

#1. Does napping boost testosterone?

Yes, taking naps can improve testosterone by reducing stress. Power napping allows you to rest well and also relaxes your muscles resulting in releasing tension. 

#2. Is sleeping too much bad for testosterone?

Yes, if lack of sleep leads to lower testosterone levels, too much sleep can also adversely affect your male hormones. Therefore make sure to not switch to completely sleep mode to boost t-levels. 

#3. Does sleeping naked increase testosterone?

Sleeping naked can be comfortable but it cannot boost your testosterone levels. 

#4. Does meditation increase testosterone?

Yes, regular practice of meditation can lower cortisol levels and reduce anxiety and can thus improve testosterone levels. Regular transcendental meditation for 4 months is proven to increase t-levels. 

#5. Does sunshine increase testosterone?

Researchers at the Medical University of Graz in Austria found that an hour of sunshine can boost testosterone levels by 69%. However, more research is needed. 

Testosterone is the main male reproductive hormone and the secret to keeping its level healthy lies in the quality and quantity of your sleep. 

Conclusion

Chronic sleep deprivation can lower testosterone because it is at its peak during the first stage of REM. 

Therefore make sure you sleep well and for the required hours to get back your manhood. 

But don’t forget that sleep and testosterone hormones work both ways. 

Just like how sleep deprivation causes a decline in testosterone levels, low testosterone can also cause sleep deprivation. Therefore the is a need to maintain both. 

Early to bed and early to rise can make your testosterone rise!