Low Testosterone and Mood: A Surprising Connection
Most men have never considered how seriously hormones affect their mood and their emotional health. However, one statement we’ve heard over and over from new patients interested in finding relief from Low T symptoms is this:
“I just don’t feel like myself anymore.”
These men often are not sure how to describe what they’re feeling, because the effects of low testosterone are part physical and part emotional. However, they’re sure that they feel tired and have lost interest in many things that used to get them fired up about life.
They’re surprised to learn that these changes of mood could be the result of male hormonal imbalances, which include low testosterone.
Low Testosterone, Generalized Stress, and Fatigue
The exact relationship between stress and low testosterone is still something of a mystery, but we do know that both low testosterone and stress rob you of energy and motivation. Men often generalize this as fatigue, a term that sums up all the subtle ways that our body’s natural functions begin to suffer.
Breaking that down, fatigue can include:
- Chronic lack of energy
- Extended periods of low motivation
- Lack of alertness
- Poor sleep patterns
- Lack of strength
This mental, emotional, and physical drain significantly affects your performance, isn’t proportionate to how much you’ve exerted yourself, and it represents a clear decline from how you usually feel.
Worse, each of the symptoms listed above either results from or worsens low testosterone levels, and some do both. For example, low testosterone can contribute to poor sleep patterns, but not sleeping well can prevent your body from producing the necessary testosterone to fuel your body’s systems through the next day.
Their compounding effects can be severe and place additional stress and strain on your system.
Low Testosterone and Depression—The Loss of Your “A Game”
The similarities between a hormone imbalance like Low T and depression are many.
Take a moment to consider this list of symptoms:
- Fatigue
- Appetite changes and weight problems
- Loss of endurance
- Trouble concentrating or making decisions
- Low mood
- Disturbed sleep
- Restlessness
- irritability
Poor hormonal health, including low testosterone levels, can strongly resemble clinical depression. Take a moment to consider—if you were asked to decide whether this was a list of depression symptoms or a list of Low T symptoms, would you know the difference?
Often, there isn’t a difference in how the 2 conditions, depression and low testosterone, manifest.
(Learn more about depression and your hormones here.)
Hormones and Your Emotions: A Delicate Relationship
To summarize, your complex and fragile hormone balance can result in stress, anxiety, fatigue, and dysthymia (persistent moderate depressive periods).
However, the problem works the other way around, too. Your hormonal health can be damaged by periods of prolonged stress and anxiety, creating a complicated cycle that perpetuates itself and traps its victims in poor health and a state of lessened capacity.
The good news is that normalizing your low testosterone levels could contribute to an improvement in symptoms—restoring you to a condition that feels more like the you that you’re accustomed to.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT)—Learn More
Medical research continues to conclude that Testosterone Replacement Therapy can relieve the debilitating symptoms of low testosterone and can increase your quality of life.
Would you like to learn more?
Our comprehensive guide that provides facts and the answers to the most common questions concerning TRT and the treatment of low testosterone.
