Adult men have reduced testosterone and sleep--study

Researchers from University of Montreal’s (UM) Department of Psychology, Canada found that men, as they mature, are unable to experience deep sleep and have reduced testosterone levels, and there appears to be a link between the two.

Live Science quoted study leader, Zoran Sekerovic, graduate student, UM’s Department of Psychology, as saying, “Deep sleep is when the recuperation of body and mind is optimal.”

“In young men, deep sleep represents 10 to 20 percent of total sleep. By age 50, it decreases to five to seven percent. For men over 60, it can disappear altogether,” added Sekerovic.

Study details
For the study, researchers examined correlation between testosterone levels in men over 50 and their quality of deep sleep.

They identified five stages of sleep; stage one being drowsiness, stage two was recognized as period of light sleep, third and fourth stages as deep sleep and fifth stage was rapid eye movement sleep (REM).

It was also known that third and fourth stages are slow-wave or delta sleep, with stage four signifying a deeper stage of sleep.

On analyzing the reduced testosterone-sleep correlation in older men, researchers found both these stages abridged.

Also, older people tended to enter REM sleep sooner and remained there for long than younger people.

Other findings
Furthermore, researchers found that men in their 20s did not have this association as their neuronal circuits (brain cells) were undamaged.

Researchers explained that, as men grow, they face neuronal loss, and synchronization of cerebral activity diminishes which results in loss of deep sleep.

“Low levels of testosterone intensify the lack of synchronization and can explain 20 percent of men’s inability to experience deep sleep,” Sekerovic was quoted in The Times of India as saying.

Conclusions
Testosterone levels begin to decline in men around age-30 at a rate of one to two percent annually, stated researchers.

They further added that deteriorating testosterone levels influence sleep but hormone therapy could fix it, adding that it could be a ‘tremendous progress’.

The Times of India cited Sekerovic as saying, “But hormone therapy can have secondary effects. Therefore, it will be essential to better understand the mechanisms leading to the loss of deep sleep before middle-aged men see their doctors about taking testosterone for sleep loss.”

The findings were presented at annual conference of Association francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS).