Looking for more muscle performance-enhancing testosterone in your life? Skip soccer and chop some lumber.
A new study published in Evolution and Human Behaviour tracked levels of testosterone in the saliva of a group of men. While the men played a game of soccer, testosterone increased by thirty per cent, but while they chopped wood for an hour, their testosterone increased by a whopping forty-eight per cent.
Past studies have highlighted the importance of testosterone in competition, but, as this study suggests, testosterone plays a number of roles in the body. In this case, productivity proved a more important use of testosterone than competition.
Soccer players shouldn’t fret, though; we think that they should just start carrying axes when they play.
Photo courtesy of the State Library of South Australia.
