Can Body Building cause hair loss?
You are making six pack abs, a curved muscular body and working hard with weights. After a couple of months you have shaped your body up quite a lot. Now you have noticed that you are losing your hair and becoming bald day by day. What could be the reason? Does bodybuilding really make your hair fall out?
The hair follicles produce an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. Hair is not the only organ where this enzyme is formed. The main organ that produces 5-alpha reductase is the liver. This enzyme reacts with the hormone testosterone (male sex hormone) and produces Dihydrotestosterone. Now this Dihydrotestosterone (DHT – the acronym) is lethal to the bulb of the hair and can damage it badly. Ultimately the hair dies and falls out.
DHT can lead to ‘Male pattern baldness’ or the temporal regression. It affects the fairer gender also. In men, the process starts with a retreating hairline, general thinning, horseshoe pattern baldness or frank baldness. In women, the scene is not so grave. They notice only the retreating hairline or general thinning.
The testosterone is what enables men to build muscle, levels of testosterone are at a maximum just after the weight training time and last for at least one hour. After that, the level decreases gradually.
Just a quick note, DHT will affect the hair growth even when you are not a bodybuilder as this enzyme is naturally produced in our body, body building does increase your bodies testoerone production and so can increase hairloss.