In corporate life, you’ll hear people talk openly about almost anything that affects performance. Sleep, stress, travel, burnout, the new standing desk, a walking pad to put under said standing desk. What you almost never hear is someone say or suggest, “I think my testosterone is low.”
Even just writing that sentence seems out of place. Which is exactly how taboo some of the most important parts of our health are in an environment where we spend most of our time and demand the most from ourselves.
That silence is expensive. A lot of what high performers write off as the cost of the job, like lower drive, mood changes, slower recovery, and the extra weight that shows up around their waistline, can have a hormonal piece to it that often goes unchecked.
This isn’t just an aging problem
Testosterone in men tends to drift down gradually starting in their 30s, often estimated around 1% to 2% a year. That part is expected. What’s less talked about is that studies have found average testosterone levels in men have fallen over the past few decades, even when you compare men of the same age. A 40-year-old today is likely running lower than a 40-year-old was a generation ago. This makes each 1% to 2% drop that much more impactful.
The usual suspects line up almost perfectly with the lives of founders, executives, and those grinding away in corporate. Lack of sleep is one of the biggest. Research has shown that even one week of sleeping around five hours a night can meaningfully lower testosterone in young, healthy men. Add chronic stress, extra body fat, a few drinks at every client dinner, long stretches of sitting, and you’ve built a lifestyle that works against your hormones every single day.
“Normal” is a very wide range
When testosterone does get checked, it’s usually one number, total testosterone, measured against a reference range that runs roughly from the low 200s to the 900s in ng/dL depending on the lab. A man at 280 and a man at 850 can both be told they’re fine.
Those two men are not having the same experience. And a single total testosterone number leaves out a lot. Free testosterone, which is what your body can actually use, depends on a protein called SHBG. Estradiol matters too, since men need some estrogen but too much or too little causes its own problems. LH and FSH tell you whether the issue is starting in the brain or the testes. Without those, you’re making decisions on a partial picture.
What it looks like at work
Low testosterone rarely announces itself. It shows up as the things high performers are quickest to blame on themselves. You’re less motivated to go after the next big thing. You feel flat in situations that used to fire you up. You’re recovering more slowly from travel and hard weeks. Your libido is down, your sleep is worse, and your body composition is moving the wrong way even though your habits haven’t changed much.
Most people read those signs as burnout, getting older, or a character problem. Sometimes that’s true. But often it’s a lab value that nobody looked at and your doctor has never mentioned.
Women aren’t exempt
This conversation usually gets framed around men, but testosterone matters for women too, along with estrogen and progesterone. Women in their late 30s and 40s heading into perimenopause often see changes in energy, sleep, mood, and focus that get brushed off or misread entirely. The same principle applies: measure it properly instead of guessing.
What to actually do
Start with a full hormone panel, not just total testosterone. For men that means total and free testosterone, SHBG, estradiol, LH, FSH, and ideally thyroid markers as well. Get it drawn in the morning, when testosterone is highest, and repeat it if something looks off, since one reading can be misleading.
For women the panel is similar but timing matters more. Total and free testosterone, SHBG, estradiol, progesterone, LH, FSH, and thyroid markers give you the picture. If you’re still having regular menstrual cycles, most of these are drawn early in the cycle, usually around day 3, with progesterone checked about a week after ovulation instead. If your cycles have become irregular or stopped, cycle timing no longer applies and the numbers get read alongside your symptoms rather than on their own.
Then look at the inputs before anything else. Sleep, body composition, alcohol, and training all move testosterone in a real way, and fixing them is free.
If your levels are genuinely low and you have the symptoms to match, treatment is a real option, but it’s a medical decision to make with a clinician who knows this area. Testosterone therapy has trade-offs, including effects on fertility, so it isn’t the first move for everyone, especially anyone still planning to have kids.
Why this deserves a place on the dashboard
You wouldn’t run a company on one data point a year that only flags a problem once it’s already severe enough to hurt your results. Your hormones affect your energy, your drive, and how you show up in every meeting. They deserve to be measured, tracked over time, and managed like any other number that matters to your performance.
The conversation might not happen at work yet. But it should at least be happening with your doctor.
Educational only, not medical advice. I’m the founder of The Vitality Collective, not a clinician. Talk with a licensed clinician before starting any treatment. Individual results vary. Available nationwide.