Does Testosterone Matter in Competitive Gaming?

Optimisation culture has a simple story about testosterone: more of it means more drive, more confidence and sharper performance, so a competitive player should push it as high as possible. It is an appealing story because it borrows from bodybuilding, where testosterone’s effect on muscle is real and large.

The brain is not a muscle. When the claim is tested directly, it mostly falls apart.

The best test: give testosterone, measure cognition

Resnick et al., 2017

Low relevance to competitive play

Testosterone treatment and cognitive function in older men with low testosterone and age-associated memory impairment

JAMA 317(7):717–727

Sample

n = 493, Men aged 65 and over with low testosterone (below 275 ng/dL)

Design

Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (the Testosterone Trials)

Intervention

Testosterone gel adjusted to reach mid-normal levels for young men, vs placebo gel, for 12 months

Result

No improvement in delayed verbal memory, visual memory, executive function or spatial ability at 6 or 12 months, even though testosterone rose to young-male levels. Achieved hormone levels did not correlate with cognitive change.

Limitations

Older men with low testosterone and memory complaints. Results do not directly cover young men with normal levels.

This is the most rigorous test of the testosterone-cognition idea available, and the result is a clear null. The accompanying JAMA editorial described the findings as unequivocal. If restoring testosterone from low to youthful levels does nothing for cognition in men who have the most to gain, the case for pushing a normal level higher in a healthy young player is weak.

Testosterone responds to competition

The more interesting science runs the other way. Competition changes testosterone more reliably than testosterone changes competition.

A meta-analysis of 60 effect sizes from more than 2,500 participants (Geniole and colleagues, 2017) found that winners show a somewhat larger testosterone rise than losers. The effect was small (d = 0.20) and highly variable. It was strongest in real-world settings such as sports venues and weak in laboratory studies.

Video games make a useful natural laboratory, and they show how fragile the effect is:

• In studies of rigged video game competitions, assigned losers have sometimes shown drops in testosterone after the match.
• Other studies found testosterone and cortisol rising before play regardless of the outcome, consistent with anticipation rather than victory.
• In the closest study to real esports, men playing League of Legends showed no changes in testosterone, cortisol, DHEA or androstenedione from before practice to just after it, regardless of whether they won or lost or whether they played against people or the computer.

Hormonal responses to gaming seem to depend on context: stakes, audience, team identity and whether the match matters. A ranked practice game may not register at all.

The dopamine version of the same mistake

The testosterone story has a twin: the idea that more dopamine means better gaming. Dopamine and noradrenaline do shape motivation, attention and learning, and stimulants work by raising them. But the relationship with performance follows an inverted U. Too little produces sluggish attention. Too much produces impulsivity, poor inhibition and degraded fine control. People who are already in the optimal range have little to gain and something to lose.

This is why prescription stimulants, which raise dopamine sharply, produce only small effects in healthy users on most cognitive measures. Users often feel far more enhanced than they measure.

What actually matters hormonally

The hormones most likely to influence competitive performance are not the ones optimisation culture focuses on:

• Cortisol and the stress response. Acute stress hormones sharpen alertness up to a point, then damage working memory and fine motor control. Managing pressure is a skill.
• Circadian timing. Cortisol and melatonin rhythms decide when a player is biologically alert. Competing at a time that conflicts with a player’s rhythm imposes a real cost. The NeuroFPS sleep investigation covers this in depth.
• Overall health. Clinically low testosterone from illness, chronic sleep loss, obesity or overtraining is a medical problem that affects energy and mood. That is a matter for a doctor, not a reason for healthy players to manipulate their hormones.

Verdict

Claim	Status
Higher testosterone improves cognition	Not supported; the largest trial was null
Winning raises testosterone	Small, inconsistent effect, strongest outside the lab
Esports matches change hormone levels	Not detected in the closest esports study
More dopamine means better performance	False as a linear rule; the relationship is an inverted U
Stress hormones affect performance	Established, in both directions

The bodybuilding comparison breaks down here. Muscle responds roughly in proportion to anabolic signalling. Cognitive performance is tuned to an optimal range. Healthy players are more likely to lose performance by pushing hormonal levers than to gain it.

References

1. Resnick SM, Matsumoto AM, Stephens-Shields AJ, et al. Testosterone treatment and cognitive function in older men with low testosterone and age-associated memory impairment. JAMA. 2017;317(7):717–727. PMC5566841
2. Geniole SN, Bird BM, Ruddick EL, Carré JM. Effects of competition outcome on testosterone concentrations in humans: an updated meta-analysis. Horm Behav. 2017;92:37–50. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.10.002
3. Testing men’s hormone responses to playing League of Legends: no changes in testosterone, cortisol, DHEA or androstenedione but decreases in aldosterone. Comput Human Behav. 2018. sciencedirect.com

NeuroFPS publishes scientific analysis, not medical advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to take any substance or a dosing guide. Responses vary between individuals; speak to a doctor or pharmacist before changing anything you take.