Firefighters, police officers, and members of the armed forces are often under a lot of stress, both physically and mentally. Stressful environments may increase inflammation in the body naturally, but it can also affect hormonal response.
How can low testosterone levels affect a public servant during the course of his career?
- Over a 20-30 year career, a public servant may develop poor sleeping habits, poor nutritional habits, and place their body under constant stress…all of which can decrease testosterone.
- For example, 65 percent of calls are generally EMS related, but 75 percent of calls come between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Responding constantly to this type of call will impact firefighters’ sleep over the course of a 20-30 year career.
- Studies have found free testosterone values were significantly lower in traffic policemen than in control groups.
- Military training significantly reduced circulating testosterone.
- Males who were classified as being under high psychological stress had significantly lower testosterone levels than did their low stress counterparts.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21069536
http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2013/06/low-t-and-cortisol-the-silent-killer.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22111592
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14719632
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7327232
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7738488