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Testicular Compression Boosts Testosterone (1993) (nih.gov)
41 points by _mt3y on Dec 22, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 21 comments


Trying to take this seriously...

Is there some psychological explanation for elevated T, especially when the subject is aware their testes are about to be crushed by an air bladder? That is, could fear and courage cause a rise in testosterone?


> "maximal increase at 1.5 min after compression was released"

That seems pretty delayed for a psychological effect? Although, I'm not a biologist, so no idea how long the on-demand testosterone synthesis pathway is.


> Serum testosterone levels are increased in athletes after short-term exercise. To investigate whether mechanical compression could contribute to this increase, we subjected 14 male volunteers to mechanical testicular compression via a pneumatic cuff. The serum testosterone levels were sampled at time intervals before, during and after compression. There was a rise in mean serum testosterone levels of 16.7-18.2%, with a maximal increase at 1.5 min after compression was released. Mechanical compression alone did not explain the rise in serum testosterone, although it may have a contributory role.


So I’m slightly confused, did you need the exercise to increase the testosterone or not?


> Jensen [3] showed a rise in mean testosterone (s-T) concentration of 27 % and 37 % during strength and endurance training, respectively.

So putting a 2 PSI spacesuit on the astronauts is about half as effective as lifting waits at increasing testosterone levels.


That’s so interesting endurance training increased testosterone more. That’s it, I’m going for a run :-)


This should come with a disclaimer that one shouldn't try this when alone. I wish I hadn't tried this, not sure what to do with all this pent up testosterone now.


...I’m good, thanks.


Did this win an Ig Nobel?


Exercise definitely increases testosterone, especially weights, squats are particularly good. I doubt squeezing your balls does anything. Interestingly sunbathing them, does give a significant boost.


More on the sunbathing?


Disclaimer: low accelerations only. High Gs may produce unwanted side effects.


The title has been editorialized, the study comes to a different conclusion:

> Mechanical compression alone did not explain the rise in serum testosterone, although it may have a contributory role.


Should've waited till April 1st to publish this.


I was caught once by that in Spain: Their April Fools is on December 27th, and is called Holy Innocent’s Day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day


December 28th "Día de los inocentes" (Innocent's Day), supposedly the day king Herod commanded the Massacre of the Innocents [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents


I suspect the balls are literally being squeezed of residual testosterone, rather than increasing synthesis. It takes about 1.5 minutes for a full cycle of blood circulation.


"Fondling balls increases testosterone"


Ouch...


Thank you, no.


14 heroes




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