Sleeping Next to Newborns May Sap Men’s Precious Stores of Man Aura
LatestA study of fathers in the Philippines so hot and fresh that if it were a waffle it would burn a hole into the roof of your mouth and melt all your fillings (you really should have flossed) suggests that new dads who sleep in close proximity to their kids experience temporary decreases in testosterone. Though the study is by no means conclusive (nor are researchers entirely sure their work applies to dads outside of the Philippines), it does suggest, according to LiveScience, that our traditional concept of arm-wrestling, water-buffalo-tackling masculinity is in for a thorough evolutionary biology revision.
Researchers found that fathers who slept next to or in the same room as their kids temporarily had lower levels of testosterone than fathers who slept in separate rooms. Further, those testosterone levels returned to normal once fathers woke and their infants could no longer exert their incubus-like, man-energy-sapping powers. Though the four-year study comes with many caveats (including cultural differences between the Philippines, where fathers more commonly sleep with their kids, and the United States), it also suggests that men’s bodies make adjustments just the same as women’s bodies in order to better adapt to child rearing.