What is the role of testosterone?

If it’s socially egregious to suggest that females are slaves to their hormones, then shouldn’t the same expectation apply to males?

I made a big dietary lifestyle change four years ago in an effort to be more healthy. After testing prevailing theories and monitoring endless biomarkers and micronutrient levels I lost fifty plus pounds and improved every measurable marker immensely but one stood out. At 46 years old, my testosterone level rose to was that of a virile 19-year-old. After quickly and proudly posting these results to social media it occurred to me that although my blood showed a hormone historically associated with aggression, I had become a pacifist.

This was confusing to me. I believed that testosterone was directly associated with violence but it seemed to have the opposite effect on me. Are we not the slaves to our hormones some may have us believe? Further, if it’s socially egregious to suggest that women are slaves to their hormones, then shouldn’t the same expectation apply to men? I was not always anti-violence. In fact, I loved fighting. I boxed for over a decade and even co-owned a boxing club. I forged close friendships over stiff jabs to the face (mostly received) and my personal favorite, hooks to the body (mostly delivered).

Any mention of aggression is conspicuously absent even in the section entitled “The Perils of Too Much Testosterone”.

In a 2002 clinical trial by the NIH entitled Exogenous Testosterone, Aggression, and Mood, otherwise healthy participants were given 200 mg im T weekly for 8 weeks found that “[n]o significant changes in aggression or mood levels were found.” The data seem to refute the myth that testosterone is a cause or even a precursor to violence. In a fascinating exercise, researchers at Knox College asked men to hold a gun and others to hold a game of Mouse Trap. The testosterone in the gun wielders was one hundred times higher than the board gamers. In other words, testosterone came after violent behavior. What does this mean? Perhaps testosterone is always present during aggression but for different reasons than we once assumed. It seems that a new paradigm surrounding testosterone is emerging.

What may be a subtle distinction for some new research from independent researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Cambridge show that men given testosterone were not more physically aggressive but rather more competitive in an effort to achieve higher social status.

In a joint study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that participants injected with testosterone and playing a modified game of Ultimatum were more likely to punish players who were playing unfairly while rewarding players through generosity. The resulting published article was titled Testosterone causes both prosocial and antisocial status-enhancing behaviors in human males. In a 2012 German study about the potential hormonal influence of lying, men given a small dose of testosterone were less likely to cheat and more likely to be honest than the control groups. The seems the new paradigm around aggression and testosterone is suggesting a more prosocial behavior rather than violence.

I try to live by this sentiment as it’s my way of achieving a higher social status. My social environment is my family and close friends who I’ve chosen deliberately. Seeking a higher status to me is making my wife happy, my daughters feel loved, and my friends enjoy my company. My higher level of testosterone may very well have helped me be a better husband, father, and friend while reducing my level of aggression.

Contrary to popular, yet seemingly diminishing belief we are not slaves to our hormones. Our agency is our own. We are able to define a personal moral framework and create a social environment conducive to our personal growth. With these in place, not only are we not fighting our biology but our testosterone can help bring out the best in us.

Please Note: It’s important to note that just because we may enjoy several health benefits to testosterone to consume or inject it may have harmful effects. An NIH funded study published in the New England Journal of Medicine our requirements and production of testosterone vary widely among individuals. Taking it is a gamble. My point here is not that testosterone is a panacea, but it’s not the sole cause of aggression.

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