Take a group of healthy, lean young males in the mid 20's and limit them to 5 hours of sleep for just one week and you will find a marked drop in testosterone relative to their baseline when fully rested.
The size of the hormonal blunting effect is so large that in terms of "ages" a man by 10 to 15 years in of testosterone virility! They also have 29% lower sperm count.
Low testosterone is a clinical concern and life impacting matter.
Males with low testosterone often feel tired and fatigued throughout the day. they find it difficult to concentrate on work tasks, as testosterone has a sharpening effect on the brain's ability to focus.
And of course they have a dulled libibo, making an active, fulfilling, and healthy sex life more challenging.
Testosterone maintains bone density, and plays a causal role in building muscle mass and therefore strength.
SLEEP IS VITAL
Get your sleep boys!
Females routinely sleeping less than 6 hours per night results in 20% drop in follicular-releasing hormone, which is a critical female reproduction element that peaks just prior to ovulation and is necessary for conception.
This can be a huge problem if any woman out there are trying to get pregnant.
Women who do get pregnant and routinely sleep less than 8 hours per night are also significantly more likely to suffer a miscarriage in their first trimester, relative to those consistently sleeping 8 or more hours per night.
So lack of sleep can 100% affect the human reproductive system in both men and woman.
Reproductive hormones and reproductive organs are both degraded by short sleeping.
Coach HB