Vively Data Show Stable Total but Lower Free Testosterone After 60

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Hormones & Vitality

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Vively, an Australian health company, published an analysis of its male members’ blood-test results on October 21, 2026. The company reported little change in median total testosterone across age groups but lower median free testosterone among members aged 60 and over.

Inside the Analysis

Vively examined members’ first blood-test results collected from January 2024 to October 2026. Its broader review covered about 2,300 men and included blood-test findings alongside wearable sleep data.

The testosterone analysis used a smaller set of records. Vively reports 62 to 251 men per age group for those results. The age comparisons included men in their 20s and men aged 60 and over.

Researchers used each member’s first available result rather than a series of tests from the same person. This was an observational analysis of existing records, not a treatment trial. The relevant duration is therefore the collection window rather than time spent receiving an intervention.

That design matters when reading the headline cohort figure. About 2,300 men contributed to the broader review, but that is not the number behind each testosterone age-group comparison. The hormone findings need to be read using their own sample sizes.

The Hormone Findings

Vively reported four main findings from its testosterone results:

Total testosterone changed little. Median total-testosterone results were relatively stable across the company’s age groups. This was the main contrast with its free-testosterone findings.
Free testosterone was lower in the oldest group. Vively reported a median of 397 pmol/L among members in their 20s and 292 pmol/L among members aged 60 and over. The company described the older group’s median as about a quarter lower.
SHBG was higher in older members. Median sex hormone-binding globulin, or SHBG, was 31 nmol/L among men in their 20s. It was 40 nmol/L among men aged 60 and over.
Below-range results were more common from midlife. Vively reported that 7% of the youngest group had free testosterone below their own laboratory’s range. The proportion was 11% to 12% from age 50 onward.

The distinction between total and free testosterone is the central finding. A stable total-testosterone median did not mean that the free-testosterone median was also stable. Treating the two measures as interchangeable would miss what the company reported.

Vively points to SHBG when explaining that difference. SHBG binds testosterone, and the company presents its higher level in older members as relevant to interpreting the two hormone measures.

For readers working through the terminology, this guide to different testosterone measures provides a companion explanation. The useful starting point is to identify which result a report or headline is discussing rather than treating every testosterone figure as the same measurement.

For men after 45, that is a more useful message than a broad claim that testosterone simply falls with age. In this dataset, the pattern depended on the measure being examined.

Where Caution Applies

Several features limit how far these findings can be taken:

The members do not represent all men. This was a company-authored analysis of Vively members. The article explicitly cautions that their results do not represent all Australian men, so the findings are not a national population estimate.
Age groups are not personal trajectories. Comparing different members cannot show how one man’s testosterone changed over time. The analysis also cannot establish that aging caused the differences between groups.
Laboratory ranges were not standardized. The “below range” proportions came from each man’s own laboratory report. Vively notes that reference ranges differ, so those proportions do not describe a single shared diagnostic threshold.
SHBG is not a proven sole cause. Higher SHBG appeared alongside lower free testosterone in the older group. That association does not establish that rising SHBG alone produced the difference.
Other influences were not quantified. Vively identifies sleep and stress as factors that can affect testosterone results. It also lists alcohol and weight alongside training load and medicines, but it does not measure each factor’s contribution to the age-group pattern.

The sleep findings need their own boundary. Vively reported that 44% of wearable-data users in their 40s and 44% in their 50s averaged less than seven hours of sleep. The company did not link individual sleep duration with individual testosterone results.

That means the report does not demonstrate that shorter sleep explained the hormone findings. Sleep and stress remain relevant subjects for a clinical discussion, but this dataset does not assign either a share of the observed difference. The same applies to the other factors the company lists.

The Clinical Context

Independent clinical guidance helps place the company’s findings in perspective. The European Association of Urology, or EAU, guideline cites European Male Ageing Study estimates of average annual declines of 0.4% in total testosterone and 1.3% in free testosterone.

Those estimates describe a gradual average decline in total testosterone and a larger average decline in free testosterone. They provide context for why the distinction between the two measures matters. They do not require total testosterone to fall sharply with age.

The figures also describe a different kind of comparison from Vively’s results. The EAU-cited estimates are annual rates, while Vively reports medians from selected age groups. The company’s age-group gap should not be converted into an individual annual rate of decline.

The EAU guideline recommends morning, fasting measurement of total testosterone and confirmatory testing after a pathologically low result. It also recommends measuring SHBG and calculating free testosterone when indicated. These are clinical evaluation recommendations rather than a reason to interpret an age-group median as a personal diagnosis.

Vively’s advice is consistent with the need for confirmation: it says a low result should be repeated on another morning before action is taken. For an individual reader, decisions about testing and interpretation belong with a qualified clinician.

A useful clinical discussion can focus on which testosterone measure was reported and whether the testing conditions matched guideline recommendations. It can also address whether confirmation or SHBG assessment is indicated. That keeps the conversation tied to an individual result rather than an expectation about what a man’s age should mean.

Readers concerned by an unexpected finding can also use this explanation of how low-testosterone results are evaluated for background. The purpose is to understand the evaluation process, not to choose a diagnosis from a comparison with younger members.

What this changes: Vively’s report reinforces existing clinical practice around careful interpretation and confirmatory testing rather than establishing a new approach to testosterone care.

How Everfitguys helps

The day-to-day burden of poor sleep and slower recovery rests with men and their care teams; Everfitguys brings a research-led perspective to the hormone questions that follow. Its reporting helps readers distinguish measured results from proposed explanations while keeping energy and physical capability at the center of the discussion.

Read the research