As a man, your testosterone plays a huge part in your sexual health – as well as other aspects of your wellbeing. The hormone helps maintain your bone density, fat distribution, sperm production, muscle strength and mass, and red blood cell production. However, when it comes to your sex drive, studies have suggested that other factors may influence libido.
Italian researchers demonstrated that porn –not testosterone – had a negative effect on the sex drives of young healthy men. Based on a survey of 28,000 users, the researchers found that the wellness of more and more men is affected by “sexual anorexia”, making them unable to get erections because of Internet porn use that started in their mid-teens. Carlo Foresta, head of the Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine (SIAMS), explained, ‘It starts with lower reactions to porn sites, then there is a general drop in libido and in the end it becomes impossible to get an erection.’ However, this effect was found to be reversible within just a few short months.
In 2012, Australian researchers found men’s testosterones levels may wane over the years due to behavioural and health changes, rather than their age. According to study co-author Gary Wittert, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia, ‘Declining testosterone levels are not an inevitable part of the ageing process, as many people think.’ He noted, ‘Men who had declines in testosterone were more likely to be those who became obese, had stopped smoking or were depressed at either clinic visit.’ Wittert added, ‘Also, regular sexual activity tends to increase testosterone.’
Unlike Wittert’s study, US researchers noted that levels of testosterone in men were shown to be falling over a 17-year period ending in 2004, but neither ageing nor changes in certain health factors, such as obesity or smoking, could completely explain the phenomenon. Lead author Thomas G. Travison, PhD, of the New England Research Institutes, commented, ‘Male serum testosterone levels appear to vary by generation, even after age is taken into account. In 1988, men who were 50 years old had higher serum testosterone concentrations than did comparable 50-year-old men in 1996. This suggests that some factor other than age may be contributing to the observed declines in testosterone over time.’
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