The effect that exercise has on a man’s hormone levels depends upon how fit he is and what type of exercise he does, say researchers from Statistics Canada in Ottawa. Dr Mark Tremblay and colleagues studied 22 healthy men aged between 18 and 55. Seven of the men did more than seven hours a week of resistance training, while eight were endurance athletes who ran at least 75 kilometers (46.6 miles) each week. The remaining seven participants did no exercise. Results showed that testosterone increased in response to both types of exercise, but higher increases were seen after resistance exercise. Meanwhile, levels of the hormone cortisol only increased after resistance exercise. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels increased during resistance exercise and remained elevated for several hours afterwards. Altogether, it appears that endurance training induces less pronounced changes in hormone concentrations in response to exercise than resistance training. Tremblay says that the findings could help scientists to determine the best type of exercise for maximizing the production of hormones that diminish with age.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: J Appl Physiol. 2004;96:531-539.
