Worried about how your weed habits are affecting your T levels?
The long and short: It’s complicated. The jury is still out because the research is sparse and conflicting. But here’s what we do know:
A 2018 study in Andrology looked at healthy guys without clinically low T who had consumed marijuana at some point in the last five years. Researchers found that healthy guys who had smoked within the last 30 days had higher serum testosterone levels compared with those who hadn’t imbibed in a while. Another study, published in the World Journal of Urology in 2020 found similar results—that marijuana use was associated with small increases in testosterone. (In this one, increases declined with increasing THC use, though.)
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Now, you don’t need to take up the habit if you aren’t already using cannabis. It is worth noting that even the non-spiked levels were still clinically healthy, points out Jonathon Lisano, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies the effects of cannabis on health and exercise.
But if you do imbibe sometimes, it’s good to know cannabis probably isn’t tanking your numbers. Interestingly, though, there was a usage threshold in the Andrology study: Healthy guys who smoked just 1 to 3 times a month had the highest T levels compared to those who smoked near daily (25-30 times a month) as well as those who rarely smoked at all.
Other research—only in animals so far—also suggests that daily cannabis probably doesn’t have any positive effect on T levels. The 2022 study in monkeys, published in Fertility and Sterility, found that chronic, daily exposure to THC reduced testicular size and circulating testosterone (free T). These results are interesting, but not 100 percent translatable to humans, Lisano confirms.
If you’re worried about sexual performance and fertility when it comes to cannabis, beware of the form you’re getting your doses in. Rajiv Jayadevan, MD, assistant clinical professor of urology and male fertility expert at The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, mentions that as a physician, “My opinion is smoking something regularly can’t be good for something like sperm production with the carcinogens and chemicals that come from smoke.”
Other research, including a study Lisano co-authored in 2019 that was published in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that cannabis didn’t do much. Active guys who used cannabis weekly for six-plus months had no difference in circulating testosterone compared to active guys who didn’t imbibe.
So right now, when it comes to your testosterone levels, there’s no a lot of evidence that cannabis is a major player one way or another.
Rachael Schultz is a freelance writer who focuses primarily on why our bodies and brains work the way they do, and how we can optimize both (without losing our sanity). She’s most passionate about hiking, traveling, mindfulness, cooking, and really, really good coffee.
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