Testosterone and Intelligence?
Hello, I have a question regarding finasteride. I have heard that there are correlations between intelligence (IQ) and testosterone. Now if I take finasteride, it will lower my dht, but apparently it will also increase the testosterone slightly. Now, which form of testosterone is related to intelligence and what would an increase/decrease do to the intelligence.
thank you in advance for any anwser.
This is a new one for me. I haven’t read anything about testosterone and intelligence being related, and I don’t know where you picked that up from. If you believe everything you read on the Internet, Elvis will be your neighbor and the world will come to an end shortly.
Sorry, but I wouldn’t be concerned about your testosterone affecting your intelligence.
I wouldn’t be too happy if I was a woman reading about “testosterone being correlated with intelligence” (to avoid confusion, I am attempting humor as there is obviously no correlation betwen testosterone levls and IQ).
I’ve seen a lot of research on androgens – the relation to mental focus, confidence, sex drive etc are well known but I’ve not spotted anything linking to ‘intelligence’ – although if you based this solely on an IQ test you might benefit from increased focus with a higher androgen count. It’d be something of a false conclusion though.
Paul
There is zero data indicating a relationship between testosterone level and IQ, so even speculating that “if you base this solely on IQ test you might benefit from increased focus with a higher androgen level” is inaccurate. And people have looked at this (rather sexist) hypothesis. In fact, while the cause is not known (and it may just be a correlation) researchers have found a correlation between low testosterone and both low and high IQ, and normal testosterone and low IQ (in males)
Biotech MD – yes I mentioned that testosterone has no known link to intelligence in either direction. My point is that an IQ test (which is somewhat biased to environment and educational presumptions already) might possibly be the only way you could link testosterone – as men who suffer a sudden drop in androgens often complain of lack of focus and concentration – which might skew an already biased IQ test. But I agree this would be a poor causal link and I have no belief or evidence that testosterone is implicated in intelligence (however you choose to measure such a nebulous quality anyway).
https://psychcentral.com/news/2011/03/14/testosterone-hormone-linked-to-higher-iq/24379.html
https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/testosterone-and-memory