TESTOSTERONE LEVELS AND MAKING MONEY

The characters of the movie Wall Street are the epitome of what comes to most peoples minds when they think of the financial excess of the moneyed elite in the eighties, whether they realize such or not. Even though the majority of people have not seen this amazing film, society as a whole absorbed its message and its perception of those at the top of the financial world. The characters of Wall Street are primarily big money traders on the American and international stock markets.

The men who were the most successful in the film all belonged to a similar template. They were masculine to the core. They were aggressive and they strove to defeat their competition and strike it rich by any means necessary. They were intense alpha dogs with surly character that matched.

Wall Street: The Truth about Assertiveness and Success

Although the characterization of this film played a role in cementing the stereotype of the cut throat yet immensely successful businessman, there are some core truths about the human character and what it takes to get the most out of life that can be understood deeply when watching this epic film. Researchers participating in a study at the University of Cambridge have come to a logical conclusion that most people have understood in their hearts throughout their entire lives:

It isnt money and material wealth that drive the world, its pure Testosterone.

This study has provided significant evidence that the more Testosterone that a stock market trader produces, the more financial success they will derive from their testosterone at least up until a certain threshold.

Testosterone, Biology, and Business

Perhaps not surprisingly, this psychological and physiological study was derived not only by representatives from the fields of psychology or biology, but from an academic representing the social science of business itself. Cambridge Business professor John Coates partnered with Cambridge neuroscience professor and renowned psychological expert Joseph Herbert in order to test their hypothesis about the link between Testosterone and financial success. John Coates has not always been an Oxford Professorhe earned his stripes on the front line of business, earlier in his life he had developed a successful career on Wall Street managing the trade floor for Deutsche Bank.

The Method of Study

The two professors monitored seventeen stock traders who worked for the Bank of London, and they performed blood testing over the course of 8 consecutive days on the market floor. The goal of this study was to monitor the hormone levels of these day-traders to measure for any correlation between hormonal elevation and trader success. The seventeen traders were evaluated by levels of cortisol and testosterone in their blood stream

The Nature of Testosterone and Cortisol

Testosterone has been linked to a number of different character attributes. Men with high testosterone tend to be more assertive than their peers. This doesnt always manifest itself in aggression. Elevated Testosterone simply means that these men are more apt to make strong willed stances and heartfelt decisions than those who have lower levels of Testosterone. Cortisol, on the other hand, is linked to stress. Higher levels of stress, whether that duress is of a physical or mental typology, lead to elevated cortisol levels. These elevated cortisol levels are linked with cautious actions and men who have exceedingly high cortisol levels will be much more likely to avoid risk and confrontation.

The Results: High Testosterone Equals Major Success

When they monitored the men, the two researchers discovered that those who had the highest levels of Testosterone in the AM hours were the most likely to achieve financial success during the trading day. One particularly savvy (or lucky) trader made major gains six days in a row. During this cant-lose period that the man experienced, he made twice as much money than he earned on a normal trading day. It was also discovered that at the same time his financial outlook had improved, his endogenous Testosterone production surged by almost 75%.

The research team also discovered that an opposing mechanism came into play as the fortunes of traders were not so gainful. When earnings became more volatile and there was less stability in the market, the traders blood serum cortisol level raised significantly. The success and the physiological effect of that success seemed to go hand in hand. Failure operates with an opposing mechanism.

The results of this study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Coates hypothesises that a positive loop of feedback exists in which the professional gains of success cause a successful male to receive a boost of testosterone as a result. This testosterone boost encourages the man to take further risk with his investments or other life decisions, and this has the ability to promote a form of aggressive upward mobility.

Testosterone and the Winner Effect

Coates feels that this hormonal process of testosterone is correlated with what many researchers and scientific theorists have labelled the winner effect. In any competition where one male or a group of males is at odds with another group and defeats the opposition, there is a linked Testosterone boost that has been proven to occur in the victor. This has been surveyed in both the animal and the human world and is very established theory.

To provide an example: Male deer are known to compete in a ferocious show of force in order to impress and win the affection of a potential mate. Two bucks wrestle with their antlers in order to earn the right to mate with their chosen love interest. The buck that pressures and intimidates his opponent into submission earns mating rightswhile also receiving a flush of testosterone as a result. In humans, the same effect has been seen in male athletes, from track and field competitors to professional boxers. This boost of Testosterone helps the male, giving them an advantage in aggression and assertive dominance.

As win after win mount up, the resulting boost can be tremendous. This could be likened to the concept of the alpha male. Eventually in a population, one male achieves so much success that he has rendered his competition into total submission. This Oxford study presents evidence that this same Testosterone feedback mechanism is at play in the ecosystem of financial trading.

Testosterone and the Stock Market

The great problem that Coates perceives, however, is that this positive Testosterone feedback can eventually lead to declining or even negative returns. He feels that if the average person perceives that the primary indicator of success in the stock market is testosterone; individuals may start to abuse the drug in an attempt to achieve personal gain. Another potential issue that results from testosterone elevation is that an individual may lose the ability to properly evaluate risk, and they will begin to take illogical chances without taking into account other factors that have led to their success besides assertiveness and fearlessness.

When the stock market goes on long streaks, it results in an excess of testosterone throughout the entire system. Risk-taking reaches levels which create danger and instability within the system. All of this risk eventually has the capacity to cause the system to collapse within itself. If this occurs in a financial market, the characteristics perpetuated by the opposite hormone begin to dominate the market.

Cortisol and the Stock Market

Stock market dives greatly increase stress levels across the board which physiologically leads to high levels of cortisol within the body as a result of all of the stress. Coates says that abnormally high cortisol levels lead to greater levels of anxiety and fearfulness. In addition to this, high levels of cortisol also hinder the judgment of the collective consciousness of the group, hindering the recovery and preventing normally savvy investors from making the most of their investments. He also is led to believe that elevated cortisol levels cause individuals to perceive the world far more dangerous than it actually is. High cortisol leads individuals to pathologically mistake opportunity for unacceptable risk.

This mistaken perception of unacceptable risk causes a form of mental paralysation that prevents the group from being successful. It subverts healthy and normal thinking and prevents the intelligent investor from doing that which is prudent to generate success. The boom created by success promoted by elevated testosterone levels eventually leads to a bust if elevated Testosterone levels are not held in check. The moral of Coates study is that physiological processes Such as High Testosterone mirror and amplify human cultural nature.

Testosterone and the Financial Boom-Bust Cycle

John Coates correlates this phenomenon to the financial bust which proceeded the gigantic and unsustainable tech bubble. Dr. Coates became intensely interested in the negative aspects and possible potential that Testosterone and cortisol attributed to the feeding frenzy that resulted from the boom of speculation that led to the dotcom bubble. Its clear that in situations such as financial speculation that there are factors at play beyond the normal logical processes of intelligent investment.

Excessive Testosterone is like Drug Abuse

The mental symptoms of large financial and speculative booms can be easily likened to a drug addiction. The extreme success caused by positive yet unsustainable market fluctuation blinds stockbrokers from their innate ability to take normal, conscious account of risk. An outside observer can come to these men with sound logic and explain the fundamental flaws inherent in the belief that tech prices or housing prices or stock market prices will increase in perpetuity, but these Testosterone-laden men will look at their past success, feel the rush caused by that success, and ignore the forest fire to see the beautiful foliage.

The All-Male Market

The culture of financial trading is an inherently male profession. There are very few women who make the move to the fast paced market culture, and for this reason it is dominated by Testosterone-laden men who amplify the rollercoaster ride of Wall Street and create immense volatility within the global financial market. Coates is of the belief that many men enter these professions because of the high potential for success combined with a penchant for thrill seeking.

Although in our evolutionary past, this mechanism of Testosterone Elevation promoted the propagation of the species, in a modern world where physical prowess and intimidation are no longer the sole traits which characterise success; there are numerous situations where excess Testosterone actually inhibits self-preserving function. There is obviously a psychological link between the rush of the Hormone Testosterone and the instability of the British, American, and global financial markets.

There are those within the trading community which agree with Dr. Coates. One British stock trader came forth and agreed that the mentality of the highly competitive risk-reward culture of the stock market performed within the doctors philosophical parameters. All people who engage in trading have to be able to accept a relatively high level of risk, but long term success has a tendency to numb professionals to the fear of failure, which contributes greatly to illogical risk-taking.

How to Relieve the Pressure of High Testosterone in the Market

Dr. Coates proposes a novel way to calm the stormy sea of the stock market. He is of the opinion that women should be encouraged to join the market trading profession in order to provide a hormonal counterweight which can temper the testosterone-fuelled cyclical nature of the national and global market scene. Perhaps there is a nugget of truth in Coates proposal. Testosterone is the key to male success, but feminine empathy and risk aversion may be just the remedy that finance needs to achieve greater stabilization

Relevance to the Conscious Evolution Institute:

Testosterone is one of the most influential hormones produced by the male body: perhaps even the most influential in breeding a mentality of strength which precipitates success. Although this article discusses many of the issues that are related to abnormally high levels of Testosterone, it also shows evidence that the opposite issue is also a factor as well. Low Testosterone levels have been proven to have a grossly negative effect on men both physically and mentally.

Testosterone and Mental Health

Patients who have low Testosterone levels are afflicted with a number of different psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, and lack of assertiveness. Healthy testosterone levels help men be more like themselves. It helps them make the most of their lives and maintain vitality and control over their own destiny.

The Dangers of Cortisol

Cortisol levels have been proven to be more dangerous to the male body than high levels of Testosterone. The goal of Testosterone Replacement Therapy is not to produce unnaturally high and unhealthy Testosterone levels. The goal of the treatment is to restore the levels of Testosterone that allow men to emulate their younger, more handsome, and more assertive selves.

Testosterone Replacement Therapy at the Conscious Evolution Institute

If you are interested in Testosterone HRT, you should know that the Conscious Evolution Institute is one of the best Anti-Aging facilities in the United States. We utilize proven treatment methods in order to resolve hormone deficiency o that we can help both men and women live longer and healthier lives. We want to help you make every day the best day of your life. We would love to take your call today!

Yours in Life, Love, and Vitality

The Conscious Evolution Institute