In our quest to find what is leading to the decline in testosterone in men, we look towards the lifestyle choices encountered in our society today.

While we are all about optimal performance, some of us will sacrifice sleep, proper eating habits, and exercise for career performance.

One of the most neglected factors in this pursuit is sleep... and sleep is one factor that can have a large impact on testosterone.

So in this post, we are going to go over how sleep impacts your testosterone levels.

Let's dive in!

How Sleep Deprivation Impacts Your Testosterone Levels

Firstly, the most important thing you need to understand is that peak testosterone production occurs when you sleep. This means that quantity and quality of sleep both have a large impact on our testosterone production.

Testosterone and Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation is associated with decreased levels of testosterone. According to one study, reducing sleep from 8 hours to 5 hours for 5 straight days led to reduced testosterone levels by over 10% in young men. In another study, sleep deprivation for over 33 hours straight led to a 27% average decrease in testosterone.

Testosterone and Insomnia

Low testosterone levels in men are even associated with insomnia, according to a study done on male cancer patients. With low testosterone levels comes disrupted sleep cycles, which are caused by increases in cortisol (which contribute to wakefulness).

This is why I recommend measuring sleep when it comes to fat loss dieting. Recall in our previous post that calorie restriction is associated with decreases in testosterone, which you can read here.

Testosterone and Body Fat

You should also consider that a higher than normal body fat percentage can impact your sleep as well. According to one study, obesity is correlated to poor sleep AND low testosterone production, so it is extremely important that you stay in a healthy body fat percentage. This would be in the body fat percentage of 10-15% in men.

Sleep Strategies

Based on the factors we've listed above, we recommend you get a consistent amount of quality sleep.

Here are a few things you can do to improve your sleep:

• Have a consistent sleep schedule. Create a specific time you sleep every day. This will help you with sleep quality and the amount of sleep you'll get.
• Limit caffeine. Stop drinking caffeine 4-8 hours before bed. In addition, limit your caffeine intake to ~400mg per day. This will be individualized based on height, weight, and tolerance.
• Keep your bedroom cool. A cool temperature average of 65 degrees will aid you in going to bed quicker. I can attest to this from experience, as I have a sliding door to my backyard in my room (my room is either the hottest or the coldest room in the house).
• Get at least 15-30 minutes of sunlight per day. Sunlight gives you Vitamin D which produces serotonin in our bodies.
• Avoid blue light 1 hour before bed. Our phones and computers can have impact on sleep quality. Minimize technology before bed. Stop looking at memes in your bed.
• Pursue physical activity. Physical activity has been shown to improve sleep quality and treat insomnia. Try to exercise at least 3-5 hours per week.

Conclusion

Optimizing your testosterone levels naturally can come from a variety of lifestyle choices: from exercise, to nutritional habits, and even from sleep.

As testosterone levels continue to fall in young men every year, we need to focus on building healthy habits that mitigate this decline. This is one of our main goals for Reforged.

I hope this provided another angle of importance as to why getting proper sleep is essential to your testosterone levels as a man.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email us at support@reforgedperformance.com, or direct message us on Instagram.

Until next time, Reforged Warrior!