Testosterone: Grumpy Old Man Syndrome, Hormones, Supplements and the NFL Concussion Connection

Why are old men sometimes grumpy? That grumpiness has been tied to low levels of testosterone. But why are NFL players and boxers grumpy? Interestingly enough concussions are linked to low levels of testosterone as well. Should impacted athletes be concerned?

Of course the older you get the more you start to question the reasoning behind aging. (At least most people that I talk to question it.) So to that end I have been doing a lot of research on life extension research. A recent article detailed a bit on resveratrol which has been promising and has no down side for men. For women there may be a very small chance of increasing occurrence of breast cancer, but the jury is still out on that and the percentage is very, very small.

This piece is not on resveratrol, but on testosterone, because I have just come across a bit of information on grumpy old men. (not the movie) Evidence points to the linkage of low testosterone with grumpiness and a lowered libido. The generation of testosterone is stimulated by FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) which is made in the pituitary gland.

A Shot to the Head

DSH production is impaired by impacts to the brain box (skull) and basically if you are hit hard enough and get concussions, this series causes lowered testosterone levels. I am currently reading “Eternity Soup” by Greg Critser, and he points out the number of grumpy younger men in football and boxing. Hmm, there certainly is a lot of attention being paid to the damage to the brains of players in the NFL. The attention isn’t to the lowered testosterone, but to severe damage to the brain – bruising has been noted on dissected brains of deceased players.

So will the information about lowered levels of testosterone reach the ears of NFL players, and will they be able to process the information in their bruised brains and can it get passed their grumpy demeanors? I am not saying that to be unkind, but if younger, less impacted players would be better off if they’d pay attention to this sort of information early in their careers. I believe the player’s union is investigating.

So can the players counter the lack of DSH production and supplement their testosterone levels? In older men the practice is somewhat controversial since there is some thought that we are toying with the human condition. (Some women are complaining about Viagra, I’m sure increased testosterone in older men wouldn’t be met with approval by them) But in younger men the supplementation might be a good solution.

By Robert Britt