How Chopping Wood Using Axe Boosts Testosterone in Men – Study

A study has shown that chopping wood with an axe can significantly increase testosterone levels in men, potentially more so than competitive sports like soccer.

The study, over a decade after its original publication, has recently gained attention on social media, contrasting various factors contributing to the different levels of testosterone in men.

The original study, conducted on men from a forager-farmer community in Bolivia, found that one hour of chopping wood increased salivary testosterone levels by 46.8%.

The study by UC Santa Barbara, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, focused on the Tsimane, a group of forager-farmers in central Bolivia.

Researchers wanted to understand how non-competitive, but physically intensive, activities would affect male hormone levels. Chopping wood, a vital part of the Tsimane men's daily life for food production, provided the perfect subject.

Chopping Wood vs. Football

To conduct the research, anthropologists Ben Trumble and Michael Gurven collected saliva samples from Tsimane men before and after an hour of chopping wood.

The results were then compared to a previous study that measured testosterone levels after a competitive game of football.

The findings were striking. The men experienced a 46.8% increase in testosterone after chopping wood. This was significantly higher than the 30.1% increase observed after playing football.

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 The study’s authors explained that this acute spike helps the body, as it enhances the muscles’ ability to take in blood sugar, which in turn improves performance and reaction times.

"With chopping, we saw a 46.8 percent increase. It was significantly greater.”

For men in societies like the Tsimane, who rely on physical labour to provide for their families, the ability to produce these testosterone spikes is crucial for maintaining muscle mass and productivity throughout their lives.

This is in contrast to men in industrialized societies, who typically see a decline in testosterone with age.

Age is Just a Number

The study also had a particularly interesting finding related to age. The research included men aged 16 to 80 years old.

The results showed that older men were just as capable of experiencing the same testosterone increases as their younger counterparts. This indicates that the ability to gain this hormonal boost from physical activity is not a youth-exclusive trait.

While the study is not a green light to start swinging an axe in the local park, it provides a fascinating insight into the link between physical labour and male hormones.