From Lions to Mice
The military has done extensive research on the effects of sleep deprivation on soldiers and how it can screw a person up. The military wants soldiers who can kick some serious ass!! As you know, testosterone is extremely sensitive to stress changes. Sleep deprivation plus the physical stress of exercise is a double whammy!! Soldiers who are exposed to physical training with sleep deprivation lasting several days experience a decline in DHEA androstendione and testosterone by 70 to 90 percent.24 Norwegian cadets exposed to a similar “hell week” of one to three hours of sleep a day with vigorous physical activity had a decrease in all androgenic steroid hormones (i.e., LH, testosterone androstendione). In addition, all cadets demonstrated clinical signs of hypogonadism such as a lack of initiative to fight, low aggressiveness and a strong decrease in beard growth.25 That’s not exactly the kind of responses you want from highly trained killers! Future research involving testosterone replacement during intense training should be warranted by the military.

Responses to Aging
It’s no surprise that with aging there’s a decrease in testosterone and lean muscle mass. Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that after the age of 40, testosterone declines by  about two percent per year with increases in sex-hormone binding globulin, follicle stimulating hormone and LH concentrations.26 The disruption in testosterone can be attributed to several mechanisms, but the stimulus for testosterone production becomes lower as we age and the male testes don’t respond as rapidly. Houston we have a problem….!!
That’s right. As men age, we experience testicular dysfunction and the testes don’t respond to LH like younger males. For example, in healthy elderly men given a dose of human chorionic gonadotrophin hormone, which causes a sharp rise in LH production, researchers found it doesn’t increase testosterone like young men. In fact, there’s a blunted response in elderly men, which indicates a defect in the Leydig cells in the testes to produce testosterone.28
During sleep, older men demonstrate less testosterone production as pulsatile LH release in elderly men is marked by lower amounts secreted, but are secreted more frequently than pulses in young men.27 This physiological dysfunction can occur as early as 45 years of age. Luboshitzky et al.29 reported that middle-aged men (i.e., 45 years of age) had significantly less pulsatile secretion of testosterone during sleep and more LH bursts secreted at night than younger adults (i.e., 24 years of age). Additionally, the middle-aged men had decreased sleep stages three and four (deep sleep) and an increased number of nocturnal awakenings.30 In one analysis, older men who experienced reduced REM sleep were correlated with reduced serum testosterone levels.8
In conclusion, decreases in sleep won’t only reduce your immune system, impair GH secretion, raise cortisol and daytime catecholamines, but also lower testosterone production. All hardcore bodybuilders should be getting as much sleep as possible. I remember reading that Lee Haney always made sure he took a nap every day when he was training hard— in addition to his nightly nine hours of sleep. It’s hard to think that something as small as sleeping a little more could be all we need to get the most out of training.

Key Points:
•    Sleep is an important regulator of testosterone function.
•    Sleep deprivation results in a blunted nocturnal rise in testosterone.
•    Sleep apnea can impair nocturnal rises in LH and testosterone levels.
•    High levels of testosterone can result in sleep-disordered breathing through unknown mechanisms.
•    Aging is associated with a blunted rise in nocturnal rise in LH and testosterone.

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