Shining a Light on your Low T and Low Libido

I happened to notice one of those mainstream-press stories about a research study. Such stories are generally useless but I frequently use them to search for the abstract for the actual study and then I post links to the abstract here and pretend never to have read the mainstream press account. Unfortunately, the abstract for this story is even more useless than the Telegraph story so here are both links:

Telegraph: Men perform better in bed when put under the spotlight, study finds.

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics: Light therapy as a treatment for sexual dysfunctions.

This is a tiny little way-underpowered study from Italy but they found that men exposed to bright light for half an hour a day had a seventy percent rise in their testosterone levels and tripled their scores on a sexual satisfaction self-evaluation questionnaire. Their control group also spent time in a room with a light box but with a much less bright light.

So, next time you are shopping for light bulbs, look for the ones with a few more lumens.

Paxton,

Light as a counter to mild depression - it makes sense in terms of improving mental state and ultimately satisfaction. However, I'm not sure it explains the difference in lab test results for T levels.

about the only thing that is clear to me from an amateur study of hormonal balance is that it we are complex systems. Science has learned a lot about the hypothalamic - pituitary - gonadal axis, but quite a few aspects are still unclear. A number of studies have looked into a number of interacting factors, discovered both positive and negative feedback mechanisms, and noted that further investigation is warranted. I would not be surprised at all to find a secondary or tertiary biochemical consideration for light levels on serum T levels.

The trick as noted by Peter is to get past the media spin and search the abstracts and when possible read the actual studies.

It is an interesting field opened up by the combination of having faced down a hormonal linked cancer and trying to manage some of the effects of 'aging.'

Explorer

I always thought it was the libido that caused the lack of sleep. . .

Ummm. . . can't remember. . .