From the mailbag..
Hi Mark,
Do testicles get bigger with age?
I have a coworker who fancies himself as a health expert.
I told him about your site and some of the things I was doing and he told me I was wasting my time because men’s testicles grow as they get older.
Out of the five guys I work with he looks the most unhealthy, so I don’t put much stock in what he says, but I’d like to hear your comments on this.
Thanks WG
Hello WG,
If your buddy was talking about women, and if they actually had testicles instead of ovaries, he would be absolutely right.
Because a woman’s estrogen levels begin to decline as she approaches menopause.
And since high estrogen is the number one cause of testicular atrophy in humans, this would be a good thing from a testicle perspective.
Problem is, women don’t have testicles. Men do.
And as we men advance in age, our estrogen levels don’t normally go down – they go up. Sometimes quite dramatically.
As a matter fact, it’s common knowledge that estradiol levels in the average 55 year old man are higher than in the average 55 year old woman.
This fact alone is enough to blow your friend’s theory right out of the water.
But that’s not all…
If you were to walk into any fertility clinic worldwide and ask the lead physician if testicles get bigger with age, he’d probably laugh right in your face.
Because a fertility expert knows better than anyone else that this theory is total bunk.
As a matter of fact, for every 100 men who walk into his clinic, 75 will have dysfunctional testicles, which more than likely produce dysfunctional sperm.
The sperm these men create often has a two tails instead of one, no tail at all, or a head that is deformed.
And this problem gets worse as a man ages, not better.
In a paper published in 2002 titled: The Association of Age and Semen Quality in Healthy Men, scientists tracked and examined semen samples from a group of men aged 22 – 88.
They found that semen volume, concentration, and count all significantly decreased year over year as these men got older.
They concluded their paper with this quote:
In a convenience sample of healthy men, semen volume and motility decreased continuously between 22–80 years of age, with no evidence of a threshold.
This no evidence of a threshold comment means this trend never stops, no matter how old a man gets.
Even your friend would have to admit that a continuous decline in semen volume from 22 years of age on up doesn’t do much to support his theory…
Because there’s a direct relationship between semen synthesis and your testicular size – meaning the less semen you produce, the smaller your testicles are going to be.
Anyway…
I could easily keep going with this and write an entire thesis on the subject with volumes of references to show you why testicles don’t get bigger with age, but I think we’ve made our point here.
The take home message is this…
The forces of nature are working against you, and the older you get, the harder you need to work to keep your testicles functioning at a high level.
There’s no arguing this point.
So the next time someone tells you that testicles get bigger with age, you’ll know the truth.
Mark
Update – How to Keep Testicles Healthy as You Age
So the truth really is that as you age, your testicles will get smaller, not larger. This is due to a combination of factors.
I already mentioned higher estrogen levels, and this is a big one. High estrogen levels in a man will actually cause a corresponding drop in testosterone levels.
That’s bad because as a man, you need testosterone.
It improves your mood, helps you grow hair, makes it easier to build lean muscle mass, and of course, helps you maintain high libido and strong sexual performance. Testosterone is also key for maintaining large, healthy testicles.
So testosterone is critical for men to maintain their sexual health, especially as they age.
Now, there’s nothing you can do to stop aging – but there are plenty of things you can do to maintain optimal T levels as you age. Check out a few of my top methods below.
Get More Sleep
Think sleep is overrated? Well, it’s not – especially when it comes to testosterone and male sexual health.
Getting adequate sleep every night is crucial for men to maintain healthy testosterone levels. The number to shoot for is about 8 hours each night.
There’s plenty of science to back this up.
One study found that men who slept about 4 hours per night had less than half the testosterone in their bodies than men who slept about 8 hours per night. (source)
The reason? When you enter the deepest stages of REM sleep, your endocrine system becomes super active and your testicles produce testosterone.
If you don’t give your body enough time to do this, then you won’t have as much testosterone as you should.
Get Rid of Plastic
Why cut out plastic? Because it’s chock full of harmful chemicals that will seriously hurt your T levels.
This isn’t a new development either. Many plastics contain a chemical known as Bisphenol A (BPA) which can seriously mess with your body’s natural testosterone production. (source)
BPA is also suspected as a primary cause of ED in men who work in plants where the chemical is produced. (source)
Now, it’s true that lately most plastics have cut out all BPA due to the large body of bad press surrounding it – but BPA isn’t the only danger hiding in plastic.
Phthalates are another harmful (and common) group of chemicals that are used to make plastics more flexible. And the science confirms it – they can wreak havoc on your T levels. (source)
So switch to glass and metal instead of plastic!
Get a Water Filter
Keeping with the theme of harmful chemicals, let’s talk about tap water.
In most places in the USA, the tap water is “safe” to drink and cook with. However, that doesn’t mean it’s completely free of toxins.
The EPA itself has openly acknowledged that most drinking water in the USA contains “forever chemicals” which, as the name suggests, will never degrade or break down. (source)
Why is this bad? Well, those chemicals primarily include substances known as polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs). These chemicals have been shown to suppress the body’s natural testosterone production.
One study found extensive evidence that these compounds disrupt the endocrine system and as a result, lower T levels. That same study even went so far as to say that PFCs can contribute to smaller testicles. (source)
References:
Is the Quality of Donated Semen Deteriorating?
The Association of Age and Semen Quality in Healthy Men
P450-aromatase Activity in Human Testicular Tissues With Severe Spermatogenic Failure
Association between sleep and morning testosterone levels in older men
Prenatal and peripubertal phthalates and bisphenol A in relation to sex hormones and puberty in boys
Occupational exposure to bisphenol-A (BPA) and the risk of self-reported male sexual dysfunction
EPA blasted for failing to set drinking water limits for ‘forever chemicals’