The Natural Hormones website suggests that testosterone supports strong musculoskeletal tissues, promotes healthy skin and may enhance visual and perceptual skills. Testosterone contributes to a woman's libido because it effects arousal, response and orgasm mechanisms. According to the Keratin website, testosterone levels above 50 ng/dl are a little high and 100 ng/dl or more may indicate an overproduction.
Therapeutic Causes
A woman may increase her testosterone levels during therapeutic hormone treatments. A post-menopausal woman may produce 80 percent less testosterone than she did during puberty. Hormone replacement therapy can help restore testosterone and may stimulate high or excessive testosterone levels. Women who undergo female-to-male sex change virilization induce high testosterone levels intentionally. Virilization helps these women develop masculine physical features such as body hair, deeper voice and narrower hips. Performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids may contain testosterone. Athletic women may use anabolic steroids to produce higher testosterone levels.
Natural Causes
Natural conditions and diseases may increase a woman's testosterone production. The Dr. John Lee website suggests that dietary practices that include a lot of simple sugars can raise a woman's testosterone production. Merck Manual Home Edition indicates that adrenal gland enlargement can stimulate higher production of testosterone. Ovarian cysts and tumors may cause high and excessively high testosterone levels that may lead to virilization.
Behavioral Psychology
Women with high testosterone levels may exhibit enhanced social-status seeking behavior and skepticism. "Scientific American" published an article about a study in which women who took placebos made lower bargaining offers that were less fair than offers made by women that received testosterone. The interpretation for this behavior suggests that women with higher testosterone may try to reduce social bargaining conflicts and promote socially efficient behavior. Another study discovered that women with higher testosterone may be more skeptical than women with lower testosterone levels. According to a LiveScience article, testosterone reduced trust ratings that women attributed to photographs of strangers. The interpretation of this behavior suggests that testosterone may counteract the social-bonding and empathic effect of the hormone oxytocin.
Offspring
The Sunday Times reported that women with high levels of testosterone may be more likely to give birth to baby boys. According to the article, Dr. Valerie Grant suggests that dominant behavioral characteristics in a women correspond with higher testosterone levels that make her more likely to bear male children. An article on the T Nation website suggests that women with high testosterone levels give birth to more boys than girls. The article suggests that female trial lawyers tend to have high testosterone levels, and indicates that 58 percent of children born to a sample of female trial lawyers were boys.
Complications
High testosterone levels may coincide with unwanted health complications such as acne that results from oily skin. Women who do not want to have masculine features may suffer from excessive facial and body hair or pattern baldness on the scalp. Testosterone may relate to ovarian cysts and tumors or polycystic ovary syndrome. Infertility can indicate high testosterone levels. High blood sugar levels and hypoglycemia may indicate high testosterone levels.
