Men’s stress and aggression hormones work in a joint partnership, according to a recent study. And this partnership has its benefits and disadvantages.
High levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, have been found to block the aggressive, competitive, dominant hormone, testosterone. This is because the body releases cortisol in response to a perceived threat and testosterone only gets in the way of responding to that threat. So the stress hormone must block the aggression hormone in order to adequately respond to the perceived danger.
"It makes good adaptive sense…because engaging in behaviors that are encouraged by testosterone, such as mating, competition and aggression, during an imminent survival situation, could be fatal," lead researcher, Robert Josephs said.
The downside to this cortisol-testosterone relationship is that elevated stress levels in men have now been scientifically proven to adversely affect their sexual health; an area in which testosterone is primarily associated.
“The researchers suggest these findings reveal new insights into the physiological effects of stress and how they may play a role in fertility problems,” said Josephs.
No comments:
Post a Comment