On Testosterone

This is interesting. From ABC News:

Republican men nationwide may have experienced a drop in testosterone levels the night Barack Obama was elected president, according to the results of a small study that found another link between testosterone and men's moods.

By taking multiple saliva samples from 183 young men and women on election night, researchers found that the testosterone levels of men who voted for John McCain or Robert Barr dropped sharply 40 minutes after Obama was announced the winner.

The testosterone levels of men who voted for Obama stayed the same throughout the evening. This could be significant because testosterone levels normally rise and fall throughout the day.

This I stopped me for a moment:

However, Dr. Abraham Morgentaler author of "Testosterone for Life," said research linking testosterone to moods isn't as solid as doctors would like, and the saliva test for testosterone itself isn't well studied or validated.

"What we have is an association -- it's hard to know what that means for people, did it [testosterone] go down because the men were upset and disappointed, or is it totally unrelated?" asked Morgentaler, who is also an associate clinical professor of urology at Harvard Medical School.

Morgentaler said despite the inability to prove cause and effect in the study, overall doctors are seeing more evidence that testosterone is linked to men's moods.

I detect a bit of special pleading here. There is ample evidence that hormones, particularly sex hormones, are linked to moods. Granted., to be on absolutely solid ground, experimental evidence would have to confirm that, but ask any man who's ever had testosterone injections about his reaction -- or, for that matter, any man who's been on estrogen therapy for something such as prostate cancer.

As for whether testosterone causes shifts in men's moods -- can anyone think of why it wouldn't? That seems the most logical to me -- think about the way you feel following sex as opposed to before. A lot calmer, right? Yeah, well guess what hormone levels just dropped sharply.

The interesting question is what causes the testosterone drop in a situation like this? Testosterone is manufactured quickly, but I don't know that it breaks down as quickly. Be interesting to see some guesses on that score.

And, as for the other ramifications of Republicans with drops in their testosterone levels -- well, do I need to say it?

(Thanks to John Aravosis)

Andrew Sullivan also touched on this one, and cited one of his own articles. He relates some of his own reactions to testosterone injections:

At that point I weighed around 165 pounds. I now weigh 185 pounds. My collar size went from a 15 to a 17 1/2 in a few months; my chest went from 40 to 44. My appetite in every sense of that word expanded beyond measure. Going from napping two hours a day, I now rarely sleep in the daytime and have enough energy for daily workouts and a hefty work schedule. I can squat more than 400 pounds. Depression, once a regular feature of my life, is now a distant memory. I feel better able to recover from life's curveballs, more persistent, more alive. These are the long-term effects. They are almost as striking as the short-term ones.

Because the testosterone is injected every two weeks, and it quickly leaves the bloodstream, I can actually feel its power on almost a daily basis. Within hours, and at most a day, I feel a deep surge of energy. It is less edgy than a double espresso, but just as powerful. My attention span shortens. In the two or three days after my shot, I find it harder to concentrate on writing and feel the need to exercise more. My wit is quicker, my mind faster, but my judgment is more impulsive.

It's a long essay, but it's worth reading.

I have some observations of my own, altough coming from the opposite direction: I suffered through estrogen therapy to depress testosterone levels during a recent bout of prostate cancer, which was an interesting experience. As the therapy progressed, I got a lot calmer, a lot less active,and ultimately, almost lethargic. It wasn't, on the whole, an experience I want to repeat. (Well, none of it was, and happily it looks as though I won't have to, at least not anytime soon.) And, as my therapy ended and my testosterone levels returned to normal, I found myself more energetic -- I started working out again regularly -- more alert, and a lot edgier. Back to being my usual scatterbrained, nervous wreck of a self. So, to a certain extent, I can confirm Sullivan's observations.