Sex and Testosterone

I’m going to start this out with some shocking news: sex is good for you. (Of course, it can also get you in a lot of trouble, but that’s another story.) Why? There are many reasons, but chief among them is undoutedly the fact that researchers have uncovered the fact that sex is actually an excellent way to boost testosterone. That’s right – it’s time to party! 

For example, one 1992 study examined four couples on days that they did and didn't have sexual activity.  As you can probably guess, they found that testosterone levels increased on nights after sexual activity and did not on nights where there was no intercourse. [1]  The authors noted that their study showed that it was likely sex that increased testosterone and not the other way around. 

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This was verified in a study of senior men that found that more sex corresponded to higher testosterone (although there is a chicken-and-egg issue here). [3]  Regardless, studies show that just the anticipation of sex in animals will increase testosterone levels. [2]  Other researchers clearly state that "lack of sexual activity due to erectile dysfunction (ED) decreases testosterone (T) levels through a central effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis." [4] 

It is interesting because as erectile dysfunction sets in, many guys believe they have overdone this area of their life and fall prey to the strange underworld of "overmasturbation" sites and such.  However, barring almost unimaginable extremes, it is actually lack of sexual activity that can cause middle aged males problems.

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In fact, this was verified in the same study above [4] by giving males either Viagra or Cialis and the Cialis group had significantly higher testosterone levels than the Viagra group. Of course, both of these drugs are PDE5 inhibitors and, therefore, boost nitric oxide, allowing more blood to flow into the penis.  However, Cialis has a significantly longer half life.  The rule of thumb is that Cialis is effective for about 36 hours for most guys and Viagra for one evening.  The researchers noted that sexual intercourse frequency was significantly higher in the Cialis group.  This means that the higher testosterone levels of the Cialis cohort was likely because they had more confidence and better erections on most nights than the Viagra group.  The researchers concluded that "as it is unlikely that the two drugs have a different direct effect on the pituitary-testis axis, this effect is probably due to the higher frequency of full sexual intercourse."

By the way, sexual activity is critical not just to boost testosterone but for the health of the penis itself. A healthy penis needs to be filled many times per day. This objective is often achieved though early morning erections but in many middle aged and beyond guys, morning erections are weak or nonexistent.  This is yet another reason that sexual activity is critical for many males.  Read my link on How and Why Sex is Good For You for more reasons as well.

So the bottom line is that multiple lines of evidence point to the fact that sex actually increases testosterone through mechanisms that are not thoroughly understood and should be considered one of the engines of increasing one’s androgens naturally.

REFERENCES:

1) Physiology & Behavior, Jul 1992, 52(1):195-197, "Male and female salivary testosterone concentrations before and after sexual activity"

2) Science, Nov 28 1980, 210(4473):1039-1041, "Classical conditioning: induction of luteinizing hormone and testosterone secretion in anticipation of sexual activity"

3) Journal of Gerontology, 1982, 37(3):2880-293, "Relationship of Serum Testosterone to Sexual Activity in Healthy Elderly Men"

4) Clin Endocrinol (Oxf), 2004 Sep, 61(3):382-6. "Type V phosphodiesterase inhibitor treatments for erectile dysfunction increase testosterone levels"