keenan: would pete hegseth approve of your testosterone level?
4 minute read
u..s secretary of defense pete hegseth wants to create a fighting force with high testosterone levels. he has not considered the side effects of that. andrew harnik / pool / afp
andrew harnik
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pool/afp via getty images
u.s. secretary of defence pete hegseth recently announced that u.s. military personnel aged 30 and older will undergo testing for testosterone (t) deficiency as part of their annual health screenings. if warranted, they will qualify for testosterone replacement therapy (trt). hegseth has said that he aspires to become the leader of “the high-t department of war.”
trying to chemically alter soldiers’ warfighting ability is nothing new. it goes back at least to homer’s time. in book 10 of the odyssey, the evil witch circe gives odysseus’ men kykeon, a mixture of goat’s milk, cheese and barley meal. sounds yummy. she adds a potion of what homer calls “baneful drugs,” which ultimately turns the men into pigs. in a diabolic twist, they retain their human minds, so they are aware of their plight.
that’s probably not what secretary hegseth is hoping for, but he might look to the nazis who jacked up their soldiers with pervitin, pure methamphetamine marketed as a performance-enhancing “miracle drug.” japanese kamikaze pilots were given philipon, basically pure meth labelled as “military spirit boosting medicine.”
i happened to be with some senior u.k. military officials when they quietly announced they were changing their physical standards for recruits. they basically admitted that an obese, junk food-eating kid with great reflexes and superb hacker knowledge might be more valuable than a guy who can run 20 kilometres wearing a heavy pack. many of the tasks in modern warfare, like co-ordinating drone strikes, require coolness under pressure, not raw masculine aggression.
what about the rest of us? should we worry about our testosterone levels? do we even know our testosterone levels?
in alberta, routine blood work associated with a physical exam does not typically include a testosterone test. your doctor can check the box on the requisition but might have to provide some additional justification. reviewing the alberta precision laboratories (apl) guidelines for this test reveals a range of reasons to justify it, from loss of muscle mass to unexplained fatigue and, of course, erectile dysfunction. it doesn’t include “pete hegseth told me so,” but most men can probably get their testosterone level checked by apl, at least once.
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hegseth, who, of course, is not a medical doctor, seems to imply the soldiers with low testosterone levels should be put on testosterone replacement therapy (trt). this can be administered by injection, transdermal patches, and even nasal gels. he seems unaware of the potential side effects of trt, which range from lowering sperm count to infertility and testicular atrophy. others include blood clots, acne and tender breasts. now there’s an image.
hegseth also failed to mention that there are lifestyle changes that can raise t levels without drugs. these include getting sufficient quality sleep, losing visceral body fat and weightlifting. and, mr. secretary, guys who want to boost their t levels are advised to limit alcohol intake and control stress and anger.
urologists i have talked with say the vast majority of men do not require trt and indeed may be harming their bodies with it. however, it’s worth noting that low testosterone can be an early warning sign for other health problems. these include cardiovascular issues which can lead to heart attack and stroke, as well as impending diabetes, obesity and depression.
one interesting military sidelight here is the so-called “operator syndrome.” it affects the most elite military personnel, the special forces. they often suffer from “a unique constellation of medical and behavioural health-care needs of military special operation forces.”
in an article bearing that title, researchers led by b. christoper freuh of the university of hawaii found “a consistent pattern of health-care difficulties within the special operation forces community.” these included a distressing laundry list of ailments: “traumatic brain injury effects; endocrine dysfunction; sleep disturbance; obstructive sleep apnea; chronic joint/back pain, orthopedic problems, and headaches; substance abuse; depression and suicide; anger; worry, rumination, and stress reactivity; marital, family, and community dysfunction; problems with sexual health and intimacy; being ‘on guard’ or hypervigilant; memory, concentration, and cognitive impairments; vestibular and vision impairments; challenges of the transition from military to civilian life; and common existential issues.”
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they researched this syndrome by interviewing “over 50 special operation forces operators (and many spouses or girlfriends)” and concluded that this syndrome was the result of “the accumulation of physiological, neural and neuroendocrine responses resulting from the prolonged chronic stress.”
whatever secretary hegseth and his admittedly trt-using buddy hhs secretary robert f. kennedy, jr. tell you. i’d suggest that better advice might come from a little twist on a song that waylon jennings and willie nelson took to the top of the charts in 1978.
mammas, don’t let your babies grow up to be special forces operators.
tom keenan is an award-winning journalist, public speaker, professor in the school of architecture, planning and landscape at the university of calgary, and author of the best-selling book technocreep: the surrender of privacy and the capitalization of intimacy.
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