We explored the acute effects of video clips on salivary testosterone and cortisol concentrations and subsequent voluntary squat performance in highly trained male athletes (n = 12). Saliva samples were collected on 6 occasions immediately before and 15 minutes after watching a brief video clip (approximately 4 minutes in duration) on a computer screen. The watching of a sad, erotic, aggressive, training motivational, humorous or a neutral control clip was randomised.
Subjects then performed a squat workout aimed at producing a 3 repetition maximum (3RM) lift. Significant (P < 0.001) relative (%) increases in testosterone concentrations were noted with watching the erotic, humorous, aggressive and training videos (versus control and sad), with testosterone decreasing significantly (versus control) after the sad clip. The aggressive video also produced an elevated cortisol response (% change) and more so than the control and humorous videos (P < 0.001). A significant (P < 0.003) improvement in 3RM performance was noted after the erotic, aggressive and training clips (versus control).
A strong within-individual correlation (mean r = 0.85) was also noted between the relative changes in testosterone and the 3RM squats across all video sessions (P < 0.001). In conclusion, different video clips were associated with different changes in salivary free hormone concentrations and the relative changes in testosterone closely mapped 3RM squat performance in a group of highly trained males. Thus, speculatively, using short video presentations in the pre-workout environment offers an opportunity for understanding the outcomes of hormonal change, athlete behaviour and subsequent voluntary performance.
Showing posts with label low testosterone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label low testosterone. Show all posts
Latest research study shows Testosterone does NOT cause prostate problems :-)
Testosterone Replacement Treatment may now be officially recommended to men suffering "male menopause" in light of new findings, doctors say.
The breakthrough findings were released at the start of Britain's first ever Andropause Awareness Week, in time for a gathering of scientists and clinicians in Munich to discuss advances in knowledge and treatment.
The "male menopause" has been deemed as an excuse for men's short temper in middle age, but the condition is a real one, and more than 2 million men in andropause may benefit from TRT, the report says.
Scientists say there is no link between testosterone treatment and prostate cancer, as previously feared.
TRT, which is reportedly the most effective known medication for andropause, had been associated to prostate cancer. But the Institute of Urology at University College Hospital in London has recently disproved the link. Their research findings indicate that raising testosterone levels could in fact be beneficial to the prostate.
The breakthrough findings were released at the start of Britain's first ever Andropause Awareness Week, in time for a gathering of scientists and clinicians in Munich to discuss advances in knowledge and treatment.
The "male menopause" has been deemed as an excuse for men's short temper in middle age, but the condition is a real one, and more than 2 million men in andropause may benefit from TRT, the report says.
Scientists say there is no link between testosterone treatment and prostate cancer, as previously feared.
TRT, which is reportedly the most effective known medication for andropause, had been associated to prostate cancer. But the Institute of Urology at University College Hospital in London has recently disproved the link. Their research findings indicate that raising testosterone levels could in fact be beneficial to the prostate.
New study appears to show that high body fat in men is not a cause of low testosterone.
It's not estrogen produced by body fat that causes low levels of testosterone in type 2 diabetic men, according to a University at Buffalo study published last month in Diabetes Care.
Instead, the mechanism responsible for low levels of certain sex hormones in type 2 diabetic men is more complicated than originally thought, which will have implications for the development of effective treatments. The UB researchers suggest that, based on their findings, the mechanism likely originates in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls hormones influencing appetite, sleep, moods and sex drive.
In 2004, the UB researchers first identified this syndrome of hypogonadism (low testosterone) in a third of type 2 diabetic men that they studied.
At the time, the conventional wisdom was that an enzyme expressed by body fat is increased in obese people, explains lead author Sandeep Dhindsa, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and senior author Paresh Dandona, MD, UB Distinguished Professor of Medicine.
"It was thought that that enzyme, in turn, increased estradiol levels in the blood, which led to suppressed testosterone levels," says Dandona.
But the connection may not be all that simple, partly because not all type 2 diabetics are obese, Dandona says.
Their current study, which included both obese and non-obese type 2 diabetic men, revealed that estradiol levels in 240 subjects with low testosterone were lower, not higher, than normal levels.
"Low testostone levels as well as low estradiol levels, which we saw in this study, both probably contribute to the markedly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in type 2 diabetics," he says.
The UB researchers established the estradiol levels using a classical measurement method and a state-of-the-art tandem mass spectrometry measurement.
"These data establish unequivocally that elevated estradiol concentrations are not the cause of this hypogonadism syndrome," says Dandona. "We now need to look for other mechanisms for the rational understanding and treatment of this syndrome so that we can unravel the mysterious mechanisms underlying this important cause of male hypogonadism (low testosterone) and potential infertility."
Dandona and his UB colleagues have extended these observations to non-diabetic, obese adults and obese children, between the ages of 15 and 20, a quarter of whom have a similar problem with low testosterone levels.
"Low testosterone levels affect a third of male type 2 diabetics, of which there are roughly ten million in this country," says Dandona. "If we can elucidate the specific underlying mechanism, we can develop a rational treatment for this condition."
Instead, the mechanism responsible for low levels of certain sex hormones in type 2 diabetic men is more complicated than originally thought, which will have implications for the development of effective treatments. The UB researchers suggest that, based on their findings, the mechanism likely originates in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls hormones influencing appetite, sleep, moods and sex drive.
In 2004, the UB researchers first identified this syndrome of hypogonadism (low testosterone) in a third of type 2 diabetic men that they studied.
At the time, the conventional wisdom was that an enzyme expressed by body fat is increased in obese people, explains lead author Sandeep Dhindsa, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and senior author Paresh Dandona, MD, UB Distinguished Professor of Medicine.
"It was thought that that enzyme, in turn, increased estradiol levels in the blood, which led to suppressed testosterone levels," says Dandona.
But the connection may not be all that simple, partly because not all type 2 diabetics are obese, Dandona says.
Their current study, which included both obese and non-obese type 2 diabetic men, revealed that estradiol levels in 240 subjects with low testosterone were lower, not higher, than normal levels.
"Low testostone levels as well as low estradiol levels, which we saw in this study, both probably contribute to the markedly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in type 2 diabetics," he says.
The UB researchers established the estradiol levels using a classical measurement method and a state-of-the-art tandem mass spectrometry measurement.
"These data establish unequivocally that elevated estradiol concentrations are not the cause of this hypogonadism syndrome," says Dandona. "We now need to look for other mechanisms for the rational understanding and treatment of this syndrome so that we can unravel the mysterious mechanisms underlying this important cause of male hypogonadism (low testosterone) and potential infertility."
Dandona and his UB colleagues have extended these observations to non-diabetic, obese adults and obese children, between the ages of 15 and 20, a quarter of whom have a similar problem with low testosterone levels.
"Low testosterone levels affect a third of male type 2 diabetics, of which there are roughly ten million in this country," says Dandona. "If we can elucidate the specific underlying mechanism, we can develop a rational treatment for this condition."
Abbot gets FDA for new stronger Androgel.
Abbott announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved AndroGel 1.62%, a clear, odorless, gel formulation shown to restore testosterone levels in hypogonadal men with half the volume of gel at the starting dose compared to AndroGel 1%. At the starting dose, the new AndroGel 1.62% contains 40.5 mg of testosterone in two pump presses, whereas AndroGel 1% contains 50 mg of testosterone in four pump presses.
Dosage and administration for AndroGel 1.62% differs from AndroGel 1% and the two are not interchangeable. Both AndroGel 1.62% and AndroGel 1% are prescription medications used to treat adult males with low or no testosterone, also known as hypogonadism.
Dosage and administration for AndroGel 1.62% differs from AndroGel 1% and the two are not interchangeable. Both AndroGel 1.62% and AndroGel 1% are prescription medications used to treat adult males with low or no testosterone, also known as hypogonadism.
“The decade of testosterone”
In abundance, the male sex hormone testosterone has become synonymous with virility, authority, and bulging pectorals. And in short supply, it is understood to result in sexual apathy and erectile dysfunction. What most men are unaware of, however, is the more dangerous link between low testosterone and early death from heart attack, vascular disease, and complications from diabetes.
Normal testosterone levels are essential to men’s well-being, in and out of the bedroom, says Abdulmaged Traish (GRS’78, GSM’94), a School of Medicine professor of biochemistry and urology and director of the Laboratory for Sexual Medicine Research. A coauthor of a recent study implicating testosterone deficiency in cardiovascular disease, Traish, winner of the 2006 Metcalf Cup and Prize, the University’s highest teaching honor, is on a mission to educate primary care doctors about the prevalence and the dangers of low testosterone.
Known as androgen deficiency, or AD, low testosterone is a treatable condition believed to affect nearly a third of men between 35 and 60. In the study, published in the September-October issue of the Journal of Andrology, Traish and his colleagues evaluated 29 years of data on the link between AD and cardiovascular risk factors, ranging from cholesterol levels to blood pressure. The authors found that the higher the testosterone levels of men, the lower the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and they concluded that replacing testosterone (T therapy) in men with AD could reduce their risk of heart attack and prolong lives.
Traish says many physicians are reluctant to diagnose and treat AD because of a long suspected, but now debunked, link between testosterone and prostate cancer.
And he is determined to correct the situation. One of a contingent of urologists and endocrinologists sounding the AD battle cry, Traish says that 2010 will herald “the decade of testosterone.”
For pharmaceutical companies, testosterone’s decade is well under way. According to Business Week, sales of testosterone products already on the market soared 25 percent in the 12 months ending June 2009, to just under $1 billion. Sales of the ubiquitous Viagra declined during this period.
Indicated by a simple, inexpensive blood test, androgen deficiency is defined by the Food and Drug Administration as a testosterone level of 300 nanograms per deciliter of blood or lower, with the normal range 300 to 1,200. Because hormone levels vary over the course of the day, Traish recommends that men be tested in the morning, when testosterone is highest. Most family doctors don’t order the test, but they should, he says, as a matter of course.
“We want primary care doctors, the gatekeepers, to be aware of AD,” he says. “It’s not just a quality of life issue; it’s a question of mortality.”
Testosterone is important for skeletal and muscular health as well as healthy blood vessels and red blood cells. As they adjust their belts, men over 35 might shrug off burgeoning guts as an unfortunate but inevitable sign of aging. “But now we’ve learned that this new fat is an organ of its own,” Traish says. “It causes a lot of bad things to happen.”
In fact, he says, AD can almost always be diagnosed without a blood test, even without visiting the doctor. The best evidence is waking up without an erection.
“It’s the first thing I ask patients,” he says. “After T therapy, the answer is always yes.”
When testosterone is prescribed, Traish says, it is not in the doses associated with illicit doping in athletes. And while testosterone does increases muscle mass and does fuel sex drive, no one should fear a pandemic of testosterone-pumped predators.
“We just want to bring the levels up to what they should be normally,” he says. Unlike the female sex hormone estrogen, which drops radically at menopause, testosterone decreases slowly and gradually after men reach 35. Factors that can speed its decline are stress, anxiety, obesity, genetics, and prostate cancer treatments involving surgery or drug therapies based on some doctors’ belief that testosterone deprivation stops early prostate cancers from growing.
Men can increase their testosterone levels through exercise, a healthful diet, and avoiding stress. But when androgen-deficient men are given testosterone, Traish says, their fat goes down, their overall muscle mass goes up, their bad cholesterol goes down, and their good cholesterol goes up.
He says that study after study show the protective health benefits of T therapy. “One study compared a group of male type II diabetics who made lifestyle changes alone with men who were taking better care of themselves but also given testosterone,” says Traish. “This is very exciting. In the testosterone group, the diabetes was completely reversed.”
Testosterone can be administered in a variety of ways. The least effective is a pill, because the liver breaks the hormone down quickly and much of it escapes in urine. Other options are an injection, a gel, a patch, and slow-release pellets inserted into a small cut in the patient’s buttocks.
Each has its drawbacks. The gel can be transferred from skin to skin. “You don’t want to use it if you’ll be holding a baby,” says Traish. Many men find the patch annoying, but he jokes that it’s possessive wives who object most, because “it has a very inviting aroma.” He prefers injections, which are given four times a year.
Googlers searching for a cut-rate way to optimal testosterone levels are taking a foolish risk, Traish says. “Many of the androgen products sold on the Web may not be safe and may not contain the right ingredients. I strongly suggest that no one use androgen products without an evaluation by a physician.”
One unanswered question is about the long-term effects of testosterone treatment. “The National Institutes of Health will not give $100 million for a Women’s Health Initiative–type study in men,” according to Traish. But after following patients on T replacement therapy for almost a decade, he and his colleagues have found no adverse effects. “Patients on testosterone don’t want to stop,” he says.
Normal testosterone levels are essential to men’s well-being, in and out of the bedroom, says Abdulmaged Traish (GRS’78, GSM’94), a School of Medicine professor of biochemistry and urology and director of the Laboratory for Sexual Medicine Research. A coauthor of a recent study implicating testosterone deficiency in cardiovascular disease, Traish, winner of the 2006 Metcalf Cup and Prize, the University’s highest teaching honor, is on a mission to educate primary care doctors about the prevalence and the dangers of low testosterone.
Known as androgen deficiency, or AD, low testosterone is a treatable condition believed to affect nearly a third of men between 35 and 60. In the study, published in the September-October issue of the Journal of Andrology, Traish and his colleagues evaluated 29 years of data on the link between AD and cardiovascular risk factors, ranging from cholesterol levels to blood pressure. The authors found that the higher the testosterone levels of men, the lower the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and they concluded that replacing testosterone (T therapy) in men with AD could reduce their risk of heart attack and prolong lives.
Traish says many physicians are reluctant to diagnose and treat AD because of a long suspected, but now debunked, link between testosterone and prostate cancer.
And he is determined to correct the situation. One of a contingent of urologists and endocrinologists sounding the AD battle cry, Traish says that 2010 will herald “the decade of testosterone.”
For pharmaceutical companies, testosterone’s decade is well under way. According to Business Week, sales of testosterone products already on the market soared 25 percent in the 12 months ending June 2009, to just under $1 billion. Sales of the ubiquitous Viagra declined during this period.
Indicated by a simple, inexpensive blood test, androgen deficiency is defined by the Food and Drug Administration as a testosterone level of 300 nanograms per deciliter of blood or lower, with the normal range 300 to 1,200. Because hormone levels vary over the course of the day, Traish recommends that men be tested in the morning, when testosterone is highest. Most family doctors don’t order the test, but they should, he says, as a matter of course.
“We want primary care doctors, the gatekeepers, to be aware of AD,” he says. “It’s not just a quality of life issue; it’s a question of mortality.”
Testosterone is important for skeletal and muscular health as well as healthy blood vessels and red blood cells. As they adjust their belts, men over 35 might shrug off burgeoning guts as an unfortunate but inevitable sign of aging. “But now we’ve learned that this new fat is an organ of its own,” Traish says. “It causes a lot of bad things to happen.”
In fact, he says, AD can almost always be diagnosed without a blood test, even without visiting the doctor. The best evidence is waking up without an erection.
“It’s the first thing I ask patients,” he says. “After T therapy, the answer is always yes.”
When testosterone is prescribed, Traish says, it is not in the doses associated with illicit doping in athletes. And while testosterone does increases muscle mass and does fuel sex drive, no one should fear a pandemic of testosterone-pumped predators.
“We just want to bring the levels up to what they should be normally,” he says. Unlike the female sex hormone estrogen, which drops radically at menopause, testosterone decreases slowly and gradually after men reach 35. Factors that can speed its decline are stress, anxiety, obesity, genetics, and prostate cancer treatments involving surgery or drug therapies based on some doctors’ belief that testosterone deprivation stops early prostate cancers from growing.
Men can increase their testosterone levels through exercise, a healthful diet, and avoiding stress. But when androgen-deficient men are given testosterone, Traish says, their fat goes down, their overall muscle mass goes up, their bad cholesterol goes down, and their good cholesterol goes up.
He says that study after study show the protective health benefits of T therapy. “One study compared a group of male type II diabetics who made lifestyle changes alone with men who were taking better care of themselves but also given testosterone,” says Traish. “This is very exciting. In the testosterone group, the diabetes was completely reversed.”
Testosterone can be administered in a variety of ways. The least effective is a pill, because the liver breaks the hormone down quickly and much of it escapes in urine. Other options are an injection, a gel, a patch, and slow-release pellets inserted into a small cut in the patient’s buttocks.
Each has its drawbacks. The gel can be transferred from skin to skin. “You don’t want to use it if you’ll be holding a baby,” says Traish. Many men find the patch annoying, but he jokes that it’s possessive wives who object most, because “it has a very inviting aroma.” He prefers injections, which are given four times a year.
Googlers searching for a cut-rate way to optimal testosterone levels are taking a foolish risk, Traish says. “Many of the androgen products sold on the Web may not be safe and may not contain the right ingredients. I strongly suggest that no one use androgen products without an evaluation by a physician.”
One unanswered question is about the long-term effects of testosterone treatment. “The National Institutes of Health will not give $100 million for a Women’s Health Initiative–type study in men,” according to Traish. But after following patients on T replacement therapy for almost a decade, he and his colleagues have found no adverse effects. “Patients on testosterone don’t want to stop,” he says.
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