Why is testosterone highest in the morning

Once he shakes off the fog of sleep, high testosterone makes him more energetic, talkative, aggressive, focused, competitive, independent, impulsive and confident. His virility is at a high point. So is his ability to put together furniture, read maps and do other tasks that require spatial skills. Best time for him to… assemble a DIY desk, compete in a contest, work on a project solo, figure out the best driving route, enjoy passionate sex.

Best time for him to… work as part of a team, pitch clients or customers, brainstorm ideas, go on a date. At this point, his libido hits its lowest point. For some men, this low point is still enough to make them capable of enjoying passionate sex; other men may feel too tired for intimacy or have difficulty maintaining an erection. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82 11 , — Panizzon, M.

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The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 74 2 , — Wilhelm, I. Is the cortisol awakening rise a response to awakening? Psychoneuroendocrinology, 32 4 , — Download references. We thank the many researchers at the Office of Population Studies, University of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines, for their central role in study design and data collection, and the Filipino participants, who generously provided their time for this study.

We thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This study was funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation Gr. Christopher W. Kuzawa, Alexander V. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Christopher W. Reprints and Permissions. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 2, — Download citation. Received : 27 July Revised : 17 November Accepted : 25 November Published : 07 December Issue Date : June Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search SpringerLink Search. Download PDF. Abstract Circulating testosterone T follows a diurnal pattern with high waking levels that decline across the day. Introduction Testosterone T is the primary male sex steroid produced by the testes, and has wide-ranging effects on metabolic and behavioral traits related to intrasexual competition, mating and reproductive effort Apicella et al.

Full size image. Results Roughly two thirds of the men in our sample were partnered, and about one third were fathers Table 1. Fig 3. References Adair, L.

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Article Google Scholar Surbeck, M. Article Google Scholar Tenover, J. FT was determined by equilibrium dialysis and scintillation counting with a radiolabeled tracer to determine the percentage of T in free form.

BAT was determined through ammonium sulfate precipitation of the SHBG-bound fraction of T, followed by scintillation counting of a radioactive tracer to determine the percentage of TT in bioavailable form. The Mann—Whitney U -test was used to compare values between groups with blood sampled between and hours and blood sampled between and hours.

Medical histories for patients enrolled in the HIM study who were not currently taking T are summarized in Table 1 , stratified by age group. In the overall population, there was no significant difference in the mean TT concentrations obtained between and hours and those obtained between and hours Table 2.

The mean BAT concentration was In contrast, the mean SHBG concentration was When results are considered by patient age Table 3 , no statistical differences in TT concentrations between early morning and late morning draw groups were noted for any age group. SHBG, sex hormone-binding globulin. The Endocrine Society's Clinical Practice Guidelines include a suggestion that morning measurement of T be used as the initial test for the diagnosis of androgen deficiency in men. The present study showed no effect of draw time on TT concentrations in any age group in the HIM study population, suggesting that early morning draw times may not be necessary when evaluating TT.

This finding is consistent with that of Luboshitzky et al. This attenuation might be attributable, in part, to a decrease in hypothalamic-pituitary function and decreased testicular Leydig cell function associated with advancing age. Men whose FT or BAT values are close to the lower limit of the normal range may be misclassified as hypogonadal on the basis of late morning blood draws. Although the differences in BAT and FT concentrations in the early morning versus the late morning were statistically significant, this finding is not necessarily clinically relevant.

However, we assume similarly recognized threshold values for BAT and FT will be available sometime in the future. If we apply the differences between early-morning and late-morning draw times for BAT and FT, that is It seems unlikely that a clinical diagnosis would be changed because of this difference.

In the HIM study, the proportion of patients with concomitant conditions increased with advancing age; this may have an effect on the decreased circadian variation noted in TT concentrations. Factors such as good health and regular exercise may contribute to the maintenance of healthy diurnal rhythms and concentrations of T, 11 whereas chronic illness is associated with decreased diurnal T variations 6 and reduced T concentrations.

The Massachusetts Male Aging Study MMAS 6 investigated differences in T concentration with advancing age between apparently healthy patients that is, those who had no medical history of chronic disease, were not receiving prescription medication that affected hormone levels, were not obese, had moderate drinking habits and were nonsmokers and patients aged 40—79 years who had confounding factors thought to influence hormone levels, such as health status.

In contrast, the HIM study evaluated T concentrations in men who were healthy, as well as those with concomitant conditions. The strength of the HIM study is the large sample size. A possible limitation of this analysis is that it was conducted post hoc with the population not randomly assigned to one of the two draw times; however, draw time delineations were prespecified. Another limitation of this study is that there was only a single blood draw for each patient.

The Endocrine Society guidelines for the diagnosis of androgen deficiency call for repeat measurement to confirm the initial finding. T concentration decreased and SHBG concentration increased with advancing age.

These data suggest that advancing age may preclude the need for precise timing of early morning blood draws to ensure consistent TT concentration measurements. However, as significant draw time differences occurred in FT, BAT and SHBG concentrations, the timing of these evaluations may be more important for obtaining values representative of peak concentration.

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Int J Clin Pract ; 60 : —