Light increases Testosterone?

[Donovan]

I use a

light therapy unit, and it has been my experience that light does increase the libido quite a lot.

Light

Therapy May Boost Hormone Levels
By Randy Dotinga
HealthScoutNews Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 23

(HealthScoutNews) -- Researchers who have been exploring the effects of light therapy on mood are reporting that

exposure to ultra-bright lamps appears to boost the body's ability to produce hormones.
The importance of the

finding isn't yet clear. But it's possible that light therapy could one day be used to control ovulation in women

or treat people who take antidepressants and find themselves with low sex drives, the researchers say.

"It's

a very promising lead," says study co-author Dr. Daniel Kripke, a professor of psychiatry at the University of

California at San Diego. Light therapy is natural and could be a safe and effective way to "accomplish some

important health goals," he says.

Researchers have known for decades that exposure to light affects the way

animals live. Changes in the light from the sun, for example, automatically set off hibernation in some mammals.

Seasonal changes in light also control reproduction in rats and mice so they only mate during warmer months, Kripke

says.

Researchers are still working to understand how exposure to light affects humans. Kripke and colleagues

discovered two decades ago that light therapy -- shining powerful lamps at people's eyes -- affects mood. Light

therapy has become a common treatment for seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression that strikes when days

grow shorter.

In his new study, Kripke enlisted 11 healthy male volunteers, aged 19 to 30, to test whether

light affects the body levels of luteinizing hormone, which is produced by the pituitary gland and assists in the

production of other hormones, such as testosterone, in men. The men woke at 5 a.m. for five days and spent an hour

in front of a light box giving off 1,000 lux, or much more brightness than typical indoor lighting. Later, they

spent five days in front of a light box that only gave out 10 lux.

The findings of the study, supported by

the National Institutes of Health, appear in the April 24 issue of the journal Neuroscience

Letters.

Researchers found the body levels of luteinizing hormone grew by 69.5 percent in the men while they

were exposed to the high levels of light.

The researchers didn't look at women because the rapidly cycling

hormones in their bodies would make it difficult to study the effect of light, Kripke says. However, luteinizing

hormone does affect ovulation, he adds, and "we think light is potentially a very promising treatment for women who

have ovulatory problems or long and irregular menstrual cycles."

Light therapy could also boost testosterone

in men, potentially increasing sexual potency and muscle mass, he says. Researchers, however, didn't monitor

testosterone levels in the men.

The researchers hope to test light therapy on people with low sex drives and

on postmenopausal women.

A hormone expert cautioned that plenty of research is still needed. The newly

released study was relatively small, and it's not clear the changes in the level of the hormone are significant

enough to actually cause changes in the body, says Dr. Ronald Swerdloff, chief of the division of endocrinology at

Harbor UCLA Medical Center, part of the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine.

[ismellgood]

The stuff about light

"affects mood" has to do with light increasing serotonin levels, which decreases sexual drive and function

(anexample being the effect of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor medications).
Light decreases my desire.

[Donovan]

[QUOTE=ismellgood]The stuff

about light "affects mood" has to do with light increasing serotonin levels, which decreases sexual drive and

function.

Light has more of an affect on melatonin, than serotonin. also I doubt if serotonin has much to do

if anything with sexual drive.
Anyway thats not what the artical was about.

A 69.5 % increase in LH is

pretty significant without drugs ...or is it not?

[ismellgood]

Donovan,
Serotonin has a

major inhibitory effect on sexual drive and function. It is also increased by light (sun) exposure.

[Donovan]

Well the researcher say bright

light increases libido. I use a light and I agree with the research report.

[lordcrazyd]

ismellgood, i went tanning

last night, and today i woke up far from sexual dysfunction

[ismellgood]

lordcrazyd,
I have never

tanned in my life, and I have intercourse almost every day. I also suspect that I am much older than you are.