Music, Effects on Testosterone

I’ve read a few articles lately stating that practicing or performing music tends to decrease testosterone in men and increase it in women. This is confounding and I don’t really buy the researcher’s conclusion for a few reasons but perhaps somebody here would have a thought or two on the subject. Here is a link and quoted portion for y’all:

"

Still, there’s no evidence that women are any less musically inclined than men. Women in all cultures sing to their infants, Trehub points out, and there is no hard evidence that talented musicians are particularly prolific. In fact, Hajime Fukui, an evolutionary psychologist at Nara University of Education in Japan, maintains that music reduces sexual activity. In one study, Fukui gathered 35 male students and 35 female students, measured their hormone levels, and then played them half an hour of music of all types. Afterward, Fukui found, the men’s testosterone levels had gone down and the women’s had gone up. Silence had no effect.

Fukui believes that when early humans formed communities, they had to develop ways to alleviate sexual tensions. “We may assume that their solution was music,” he says. If music lowered testosterone levels in men, it made them less sexually active. If it increased testosterone in women, it made them more aggressive and less social. The net result was less sex, and less sexual tension. “National anthems, work songs, party music, and war music all have the same effect,” Fukui says. “They diminish fear, relieve tension, and boost people’s sense of solidarity. Music moves people, throws them into a trancelike state, and paralyzes their ability to think logically. We might think that we are the users of music. In fact, we are not the puppeteers but the puppets of music.” "

So the japanese guy is saying that music, because of it’s history as a way to distract people from boredom and lack of sex, will now make women more testosteroney, (therefore more interested in sex) but make men have less testosterone, which does back up his conclusions. Anyway, this doesn’t make sense. Thoughts?

I don’t know about that, but I do know that vigorous sex tends to decrease sperm in men and increase it in women.

Be safe, avoid music and sex.

[quote]pookie wrote:
I don’t know about that, but I do know that vigorous sex tends to decrease sperm in men and increase it in women.

Be safe, avoid music and sex.
[/quote]

LOL!

D

Pookie- exactly, the conclusion doesn’t make sense.

Now, I’ve known a lot of music people as my frat was originally a performing arts fraternity…and even a lot of the straight guy music students are the 90lb skinny wimp types and there are a surprising number of amazon chicks that are music students.

So…music seems to want to make a fair number of people more androgenous

One study with 70 people.

Wow, such a huge sample size.

Before everyone starts avoiding music (and sex), be aware that:

“A team at Brunel University in England found that certain music deemed motivational can enhance a recreational athlete’s endurance…by up to 15%.”

Wall Street Journal, 12-13-08

OK, so the study was concerned with steady state cardio, but hey maybe the findings could be applied to something not as lame, like lifting heavy stuff.

Sooo… what that study says is… if I never became a bass player, then my squat and deadlift would have been much higher?

I’ve read that double knotting your shoe laces decreases testosterone.

There are things I would give up if I thought they were fucking with my testosterone. Music ain’t one of them.

[quote]ctschneider wrote:
Before everyone starts avoiding music (and sex), be aware that:

“A team at Brunel University in England found that certain music deemed motivational can enhance a recreational athlete’s endurance…by up to 15%.”

Wall Street Journal, 12-13-08

OK, so the study was concerned with steady state cardio, but hey maybe the findings could be applied to something not as lame, like lifting heavy stuff.[/quote]

lol you dont need the wall street journal to tell you that music can increase your lifting. i used to lift with no headphones, then i loaded one up with metal, got to the gym put on a good song and got like 4 more reps out of my deadlift than i expected.

if you lift listening to Bethoven you wont get the same affect.

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Sooo… what that study says is… if I never became a bass player, then my squat and deadlift would have been much higher?[/quote]

Sooo…what the study says is… because I’m a bass player, my squat and deadlift have increased.

Enjoyable music increases dopamine, and dopamine and testosterone are positively correlated. That is an example of an MOA that is contrary to the studies findings. Generally, I don’t put much faith in studies, until they can prove WHY the results happened.

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
ctschneider wrote:
Before everyone starts avoiding music (and sex), be aware that:

“A team at Brunel University in England found that certain music deemed motivational can enhance a recreational athlete’s endurance…by up to 15%.”

Wall Street Journal, 12-13-08

OK, so the study was concerned with steady state cardio, but hey maybe the findings could be applied to something not as lame, like lifting heavy stuff.

lol you dont need the wall street journal to tell you that music can increase your lifting. i used to lift with no headphones, then i loaded one up with metal, got to the gym put on a good song and got like 4 more reps out of my deadlift than i expected.

if you lift listening to Bethoven you wont get the same affect.[/quote]

It doesn’t matter what you’re jamming out, when you clean the bar and it pulls the ear-bud cords, it throws off your jerk. I mean, are you supposed to practice jerking with your ear being bodily hauled to the left? No.

Unless you do…