More Testosterone Won’t Make You a Better Soldier or a Tougher Man

When Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in July 2026 that every U.S. service member over 30 would be screened for testosterone each year, the headline grabbed the media. What the announcement didn’t spell out, however, was the cut‑off point for a "low" reading – a detail that matters because labs and doctors use wildly different reference ranges.

That policy landed in the middle of a nationwide testosterone boom. Prescription numbers swelled to almost 12 million in 2025 – a 154 % jump since 2020 – driven largely by online clinics that market the hormone as a lifestyle upgrade for men in their late‑30s and 40s.

As a psychologist whose research focuses on masculinity, I find the notion that more testosterone equals tougher, more aggressive soldiers both intuitively appealing and scientifically shaky. The evidence points elsewhere.

What testosterone really does

First, testosterone isn’t a "male‑only" hormone. Everyone produces it, just in different quantities. In cis‑gender boys and men, levels surge during puberty, helping build muscle, grow body hair and kick‑start sperm production. After the early‑30s, a gradual decline is the norm.

When levels dip dramatically – say, below the 300 ng/dL mark – and symptoms like crushing fatigue, a vanished sex drive, or rapid muscle loss appear, a doctor may prescribe testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). But "normal" spans a broad range, roughly 300‑1,000 ng/dL, and where you land inside that window says little about how "masculine" you are.

Endocrinologist Adrian Dobs summed it up nicely: a man with 700 ng/dL isn’t automatically stronger or more manly than a peer with 300 ng/dL. In healthy bodies, muscle mass correlates with testosterone, but actual strength hinges far more on training, nutrition, sleep and genetics.

Testosterone also isn’t a static figure. It can wobble hour‑by‑hour and season‑by‑season, which is why clinicians typically measure it only when specific symptoms arise. Mass‑screening thousands of asymptomatic troops could do more harm than good.

The hidden costs of upping testosterone

TRT isn’t a risk‑free shortcut. Adding exogenous testosterone tells the body to dial down its own production, which can shrink the testicles and suppress sperm output – a side‑effect some researchers have even explored for contraception.

Because testosterone can be aromatised into estrogen, men on high doses may develop acne, accelerated hair loss, or, in rare cases, a small amount of breast tissue. The "high‑T" ideal peddled by some online providers glosses over these genuine health concerns.

Myth‑busting the aggression link

For decades, popular culture has equated testosterone with aggression and dominance. Yet a 2001 meta‑analysis of 45 studies (nearly 10,000 participants) found only a modest correlation between circulating testosterone and aggressive behaviour.

Even more telling, a 2020 review of experiments that actually gave participants testosterone reported weak, inconsistent effects. When aggression did increase, it was mostly among men already prone to dominance or impulsivity.

What’s fascinating is the reverse causality: behaviour can push testosterone up. One study showed that men who handled a firearm for 15 minutes experienced a noticeable testosterone spike and reported feeling more aggressive than those who merely played a board game.

Conversely, new fathers who spent more time caring for their infants saw steeper drops in testosterone – a biological shift that mirrors the transition from "battle mode" to nurturing mode.

In my own work, threatening a man’s sense of masculinity – but not a woman’s sense of womanhood – reliably triggered aggression. The men who reacted most fiercely were those who felt intense external pressure to live up to a narrow, power‑centric ideal of manhood.

A study of 200 adolescent boys and their parents reinforced this. Boys who were quick to lash out when their masculinity was challenged tended to have parents who espoused strong, traditional beliefs about men holding power over others.

Put simply, hormones may open a window, but the social environment decides what walks through.

Military life, paradoxically, lowers testosterone

Ironically, the very conditions of military training tend to suppress testosterone. A 2020 investigation of U.S. Army Rangers found that chronic sleep loss during intense training lowered hormone levels significantly.

Stress, poor nutrition, blast exposure and disrupted circadian rhythms can combine into "Operator Syndrome" – a cluster of health issues that can push a 35‑year‑old’s testosterone into the range typical of an 80‑year‑old.

That creates a loop: the military environment drives testosterone down, then policymakers propose to replenish it with supplements. The psychologist who first described Operator Syndrome cautioned that simply handing soldiers more testosterone won’t solve the underlying problems; sleep, stress management and injury prevention are the real levers.

Double standards and gender politics

In early 2025 the Pentagon paused its gender‑affirming hormone program after concerns that the policy favored women over men. The inconsistency underscores how testosterone is often politicised rather than treated as a nuanced medical issue.

Bottom line: testosterone is a piece of the puzzle, not the master switch that makes a soldier tough or a man "real." Behaviour, social expectations, and the physical demands of life shape hormone levels far more than the other way around.

Before we rush to blanket testing or mass supplementation, we need to ask: are we fixing a symptom or ignoring the deeper causes of fatigue, aggression and loss of strength? The science says the latter.