Best Time to Inject Testosterone Morning or Night

best time inject testosterone morning night

Many men new to testosterone therapy may be curious about the differences between injecting in the morning, or later at night before bed. 

Is there a best time to inject testosterone between morning and night? Are there any differences or benefits to choosing one over the other?

Of course, when you inject may depend on your personal dosage, concentration, and prescribed schedule if you’ve consulted with an endocrinologist. 

wake up inject test

Generally, there aren’t any noteworthy differences indicated between injecting in the morning or later at night. The optimal choice is going to be the one that ensures the highest rate of compliance

Whether you choose to inject first thing in the morning, or before bed – you need to maintain a proper schedule. This could mean every Monday morning and every Thursday evening for those injecting every 3.5 days, twice a week. 

We’ll get into the importance of maintaining dosages, why the time you inject does not matter, and the timeline of exogenous testosterone inside your body once injected.

Testosterone Levels and Timing Your Injections

While the specific ‘time’ of day doesn’t matter regarding testosterone injection, when you inject can depend upon the current levels of testosterone within your body. Your injections should be geared around this, as pre-determined by a healthcare professional.

What do we mean by this? 

Ester Forms of Testosterone and Half-Life 

It is first important to understand the testosterone half-life of the form (suspension) you’re using, and how long it remains active in the body. 

If you’re on an Ester testosterone with a longer half-life like Cypionate, you don’t need to factor this in, and can simply choose your injection time based on what works best for you. 

Most people on TRT will likely be using cypionate as it is a slower acting, injectable form. 

Following intramuscular injections of testosterone cypionate, you get a sustained release in the bloodstream for a period of about 2 weeks. The half-life is around 8 days or a week. Usually, on a regimen like this, you’ll be injecting every week or every other week. 

Some people choose to break their weekly dosage up (say, 150 mg) into divided doses. 

trt injection time of day man

The time of day does not matter, but you want to aim for consistency with respect to keeping the same timeframe. 

Conversely, testosterone propionate is a much faster-acting form, with a half-life of around 2 days. 

You do not get the same sort of sustained release with propionate that you do with cypionate. Typically, it is injected every third or fourth day – but this will also depend on your dosage regimen. Some people do ED (every day) or EOD (every other day). 

Some individuals may also use a form like an enanthate – at an example of 120mg a week. 

This could be split into multiple doses (2 x 60mg a week on two separate days) to provide a more consistent stream and less of the highs/lows (troughs) people can experience when T levels plummet back down towards the end of an injection. 

This would also mean on a schedule of 3.5 days, you inject Monday morning, and then Thursday night. 

Taking in a lot of testosterone all at once can be overwhelming for the system, so many people break up the weekly dosage into multiple doses spread out over the course of a couple of days during the week. 

injecting testosterone night

The belief is that taking it on a more regular basis compared to once a week or once every two weeks provides a lower risk of increased estrogen. We know that peak levels of testosterone are around 24 hours (up to 48-72 hours) after injection. They then return to baseline at the 10-14 day mark. 

Another example of this could look like 120mg a week of testosterone cypionate, done as 40mg on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

For most people, twice a week should be sufficient, as long as it isn’t a low weekly dose (100mg) or you’re a bigger guy. In either of those cases, three times a week may serve you better in terms of SHBG, balanced T, and estrogen levels. 

While injecting more often provides more stability, it is also not ideal to be pinning on a daily basis as this can also increase the risks of side effects.

Your next dose should always be based on when you took your prior dosage.    

Things to Consider When Deciding When to Inject Testosterone 

Many people who inject later at night (particularly if it is a larger dose) find that the anxiety or adrenaline that comes from pinning can keep them awake. 

They, therefore, choose to inject in the early mornings. This of course depends entirely on you and what you’re comfortable with. 

Given the period of time it takes for T to actually peak after injection, most of the “energy” people feel from injecting is likely the adrenaline from pinning itself, rather than the function of testosterone levels increasing after injecting. 

morning testosterone

The disadvantages that come with injecting earlier in the morning are typically schedule related.

Those with an early office job or manual labor job may need to get up extra early to prep, which can disrupt sleeping schedules or interfere with work. 

Injecting in the evening or night can help alleviate any stress or worry over doing it at work or before work, and seems to help lessen the soreness of the injection site – this is likely from the reduced level of mobility at night compared to during the day. 

You might also want to consider SubQ (subcutaneous injections) as an alternative to intramuscular.

Subcutaneous is often preferred to intramuscular for more consistent dosing – it offers a slower release, and is generally much easier to self-administer when compared to intramuscular injections. 

Anyone experiencing red lumps from Sub-Q injections is not injecting deep enough with the pin. You’ll want to go in at 45 degrees on your belly fat while sitting down, and not pinch off your skin. 

We’ve discussed some of the differences between the two methods here

Different individuals will have different bodily responses to testosterone injections. 

This means that the best time of day to inject testosterone is an individual question – it will depend on the time of day that ultimately works best for you and your work/sleep schedule. 

We always recommend consulting with your endocrinologist or health care professional if you haven’t already devised a proper dosing regimen as this may help determine when is best to inject (between morning and night). 

Cody Yurk
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Cody Yurk

After several near-death surgeries and a heart attack at 29, I decided to get serious about my health and went from 278lbs to 181lbs in only six months. How? I built an entire team, including a personal trainer, nutritionist, psychologist, physical therapist, and sports masseuse. Having the same team as Hollywood stars allowed me to reach my goals fast and produce insane results.

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