Small Testicles – What Are Some Common Causes?

Testicles produce a significant amount of testosterone from midnight to 5AM. Which means it is normal for men to have their testicles grow in size in the morning hours.  Pituitary gland also contributes to this mechanism by secreting growth hormone. Together, these hormones recharge the testicles during night time.

If however, the size of the testicles remain small before and after waking up then it might be due to improper circadian rhythms which also leads to disturbed sleep cycle.

It is very essential to have undisturbed sleep every day.

How Circadian Rhythms Are Associated With Small Testicles?

Circadian rhythms serve as body’s very own clock that is responsible for synchronizing the day-night cycle. With the rhythms being in normal balance, people experience the state of near coma each night and various body systems slow down to let the body do repairing and recharging. As a result, anabolic hormones are secreted that produce sperm and make up for the damaged tissues.

Therefore, testicles play a vital part in this resting mechanism as 95% of testosterone and 100% of sperm is released by testicles.  So, with undisturbed sleep cycle, everything goes normal for a healthy man. But sleep deprivation can be dangerous for men.

There are some factors that negatively influence this recharging process. Certain habits that are often very common, can adversely affect the sleep pattern such as:

• Being exposed to artificial light right before sleep: since circadian rhythms synchronize the light and dark cycle, so artificial light may produce the false signal of sunlight for the body. This in turn causes an imbalance in the rhythms which leads to delayed or restless sleep.
• Coffee before bed, stress and worry does pretty much the same. All these factors directly contribute to sleep deprivation subsequently leading to poor functioning testicles.

There are healthier approaches to keep things under control. These include:

• Avoiding coffee at night time should be the number 1 priority; the last cup should be restricted to noon.
• It is essential to throw away the worries and concerns out of the mind and to keep the mental state relaxed and stress-free.
• Exercising during the daytime helps a great deal in burning off the extra energy and also assists in maintaining a normal sleep cycle.
• Turning off the devices like TV, computer, bright lights, that are the source of light, 2 hours before bed time can be very helpful.
• Using white noise can assist in blocking the unnecessary sounds which often disturb at night.

As circadian rhythms are greatly affected by the influence of sunlight so it is a healthy habit to spend at least a minimum time of 15 minutes in the natural daylight regularly.

Sleep deprivation can lead to numerous medical problems, small testicles is one of them. By developing healthy habits, it not only becomes easier to fall into a coma-like sleep but it also helps in repair and recharge mechanism of the body.

References

• Wittert, G. (2014). The relationship between sleep disorders and testosterone. Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity, 21(3), 239-243.
• Jensen, T. K., Andersson, A. M., Skakkebæk, N. E., Joensen, U. N., Jensen, M. B., Lassen, T. H., … & Jørgensen, N. (2013). Association of sleep disturbances with reduced semen quality: a cross-sectional study among 953 healthy young Danish men. American journal of epidemiology, 177(10), 1027-1037.
• Hummer, D. L., & Lee, T. M. (2016). Daily timing of the adolescent sleep phase: Insights from a cross-species comparison. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 70, 171-181.