Admin of the Month Mar 2015
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I got this Quote from a site called Peak Testosterone so off the net . That said the info seems to mirror onsite experience.
Quote
However, I first want to encourage you to throw out the completely lame and utterly useless “normal” range that your doctor or lab technician will give you. A typical normal male testosterone level range given is 260 -1080 ng/dl as (which corresponds to about 8.8 - 36.7 nmol/l). Well, to that I can only say that you can call any level you want normal, but 260 is nothing but ugly. In fact 300 and 350 are ugly testosterone levels for a male. Virtually every email that I get where a guy is struggling is from some guy with total testosterone under 400 ng/dl. And younger guys, again based on numerous emails that I have received, struggle with testosterone less than 500. I have never received any email from someone complaining with testosterone levels over 500.
CONVERSION FACTORS: On this page I am only talking about total testosterone and in all cases I use values given in ng/dl. If you want to convert to, say, nmol/l, you must use a conversion factor of 29.4 or .034 going the other direction. Yes, that high school chemistry may pay off for you if you’re from a country or reading a journal article that uses moles. If you are interested in normal free testosterone levels, please see this link on Free Testosterone.
So the normal testosterone pain threshold is about 500, depending on a male’s age and history. (Below 400 is almost always a free pass to hormonal hell.) That is why I am so disgusted with the medical profession when they tell one of my fellow male brothers that a total testosterone level of 290 is fine and normal. (Please read my link on Testosterone Symptoms if you do not know how dangerous low testosterone levels are to your health.)
That said, I want to make several important points about male testosterone levels and lab readings. First of all, you should keep in mind that it’s unwise to go by one reading, because your testosterone fluctuates considerably from week to week and even from day to day. Stress, lack of sleep and many other things that are a normal part of life for us males – see my link Common Things That Lower Testosterone – can whack testosterone levels. It is entirely possible, for example, for your testosterone to be 400 one week and 525 the next. Lifestyle issues can whack even normal testosterone 20-30% or more.
You should also try to get your testosterone levels read in the morning if at all possible. Male testosterone levels peak in the morning and then steadily decline until late evening. This decline from am to pm is, on average, about 35% for most younger guys and about 10% for seniors. (See my link on Daily Testosterone for more information.)
In addition, it’s worth pointing out that labs aren’t perfect either. I had one testosterone reading that was three times any previous reading that I had ever received! Of course, there is no reasonable explanation for that reading and it was surely an outlier from normal as they say in the stats world.
All cautions aside, though, we can come to some conclusions and you can assess your testosterone levels against the average for males. For example, there was a 1999 study that examined 4,393 men between the ages of 32 and 44 and found that their average testosterone level (at 8 a.m.) was 679 ng/dl. [1] It should be noted that in this study the men with testosterone levels slightly above 800 were 42% and 72% less likely to have high blood pressure and a heart attack, respectively, than those with testosterone a little less than 400. Again, solid testosterone is good for you!
Quote
However, I first want to encourage you to throw out the completely lame and utterly useless “normal” range that your doctor or lab technician will give you. A typical normal male testosterone level range given is 260 -1080 ng/dl as (which corresponds to about 8.8 - 36.7 nmol/l). Well, to that I can only say that you can call any level you want normal, but 260 is nothing but ugly. In fact 300 and 350 are ugly testosterone levels for a male. Virtually every email that I get where a guy is struggling is from some guy with total testosterone under 400 ng/dl. And younger guys, again based on numerous emails that I have received, struggle with testosterone less than 500. I have never received any email from someone complaining with testosterone levels over 500.
CONVERSION FACTORS: On this page I am only talking about total testosterone and in all cases I use values given in ng/dl. If you want to convert to, say, nmol/l, you must use a conversion factor of 29.4 or .034 going the other direction. Yes, that high school chemistry may pay off for you if you’re from a country or reading a journal article that uses moles. If you are interested in normal free testosterone levels, please see this link on Free Testosterone.
So the normal testosterone pain threshold is about 500, depending on a male’s age and history. (Below 400 is almost always a free pass to hormonal hell.) That is why I am so disgusted with the medical profession when they tell one of my fellow male brothers that a total testosterone level of 290 is fine and normal. (Please read my link on Testosterone Symptoms if you do not know how dangerous low testosterone levels are to your health.)
That said, I want to make several important points about male testosterone levels and lab readings. First of all, you should keep in mind that it’s unwise to go by one reading, because your testosterone fluctuates considerably from week to week and even from day to day. Stress, lack of sleep and many other things that are a normal part of life for us males – see my link Common Things That Lower Testosterone – can whack testosterone levels. It is entirely possible, for example, for your testosterone to be 400 one week and 525 the next. Lifestyle issues can whack even normal testosterone 20-30% or more.
You should also try to get your testosterone levels read in the morning if at all possible. Male testosterone levels peak in the morning and then steadily decline until late evening. This decline from am to pm is, on average, about 35% for most younger guys and about 10% for seniors. (See my link on Daily Testosterone for more information.)
In addition, it’s worth pointing out that labs aren’t perfect either. I had one testosterone reading that was three times any previous reading that I had ever received! Of course, there is no reasonable explanation for that reading and it was surely an outlier from normal as they say in the stats world.
All cautions aside, though, we can come to some conclusions and you can assess your testosterone levels against the average for males. For example, there was a 1999 study that examined 4,393 men between the ages of 32 and 44 and found that their average testosterone level (at 8 a.m.) was 679 ng/dl. [1] It should be noted that in this study the men with testosterone levels slightly above 800 were 42% and 72% less likely to have high blood pressure and a heart attack, respectively, than those with testosterone a little less than 400. Again, solid testosterone is good for you!
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