Sex lives of young men killed by sleep loss

According to a new study, young men who slept less than hours a night for a week have considerably lower levels of testosterone than when they had a full night's sleep.

"Low testosterone levels are associated with reduced well being and vigor, which may also occur as a consequence of sleep loss," said Eve Van Cauter, professor in medicine.

From Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

Cauter and his colleagues found that skipping sleep reduces a young man's testosterone levels by the same amount as aging 10 to 15 years.

The investigation was conducted on 10 men recruited from the University of Chicago campus area. The participants, who were 24 years old on an average, lean and in good health, underwent a series of psychological and physical tests to screen for endocrine or psychiatric disorders.

For three nights, the men slept up to 10 hours, and then eight nights sleeping less than five hours.

The researchers obtained blood samples every 15 to 30 minutes for 24 hours on the last day of each experiment.

They found that the effects of sleep loss on testosterone levels were apparent after just one week of short sleep.

The finding appears in the June 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).