Thursday, August 5, 2010

Does weight lifting or body building increase the chance of premature hair loss?

Weight lifting can cause an elevation in testosterone levels. Most body builders know that increasing testosterone levels helps improve power, strength and endurance. This is actually how steroids work. Increasing testosterone has a positive effect on training performance but it can have a negative effect on hair growth.

Testosterone is a male hormone but it is also present (in lesser amounts) in women. Generally speaking the more testosterone in the body, the more extreme the male characteristics will be. If you look at a bull and a cow, the bull is far more muscular and far more aggressive. Both bulls and cows have the same diet. The difference is the bull has far higher testosterone levels.

DHT: a by-product of testosterone

It’s clear that men tend to experience hair loss more so than women. That is because men tend to have more testosterone in their body’s. DHT is a by-product of testosterone. In general, as we age, more DHT is produced from testosterone. DHT seems to cause hair loss and also body hair growth.

Some people’s hair is more susceptible to the effects of DHT than others. Some people’s body’s tend to produce more testosterone than others. Some people will experience more of an elevation in testosterone as a result of starting a weight lifting/body building routine, while others will not experience much of a change. And some people seem to produce more DHT from testosterone than others.

So in answer to your question:

Yes, weight lifting or body building may cause an increased rate in hair loss, IF you are one of the people who is both susceptible to the negative effects of DHT and your weight lifting/body building routine results in an increase in testosterone levels.

From what I know about body building, most people who work-out hard will experience an increase in testosterone but not a massive one. In fact there are many things that cause elevated testosterone levels.

For example, a study discovered that men whose football team won a match had more elevated testosterone levels after the game than the supporters of the losing team. This study shows that the mind is a key controller of hormonal balance and this is one of the key parts of my hair loss eBook.

It shows that it is possible to control your hormonal balance if you are able to take greater control of your mind and your feelings.

In conclusion

It’s my opinion that you don’t need to worry about the effects of body building on your hair, unless you are taking supplements that are designed to increase your testosterone levels. I don’t even need to say that you shouldn’t be taking steroids if you want to be healthy.

If you’re taking steroids and you are one of the millions of people whose scalp is sensitive to DHT you will probably notice an increase in hair loss. Just don’t take them.

However if you’re not taking steroids and you’re working out pretty hard you should be OK, providing you’re following the instructions in my eBook

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