Regular exercising is very beneficial for hair health. With exercise, positive improvement occurs in blood flow. This ensures that hair is nourished better. Therefore, hair of those who do exercise is expected to be healthier. However, despite regular exercises, some athletes may lose their hair. Well, but why? Surprising causes of hair loss in athletes. The most effective ways to prevent this and much more are in our article.
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What Causes Hair Loss in Athletes?
Undoubtedly, doing sport is a part of healthy life. It is a fact accepted by everyone that those who include sports in their lives are healthier than those who stay away.
But have you ever thought that there might be limits to the positive effects of sports?
Yes, if you push yourself too hard while doing sports, you may experience different health problems. Hair loss is among them.
Conducted studies have revealed that people, who overstrain themselves, experience this problem. It has been scientifically proven that athletes who exercise for at least 1 hour a day, every day of the week for 6 months, can experience hair loss.
At this point, it cannot be directly said that the main reason for hair loss is doing sport. Because those who exercise excessively and want to shape their bodies in this way actually push themselves into intense stress without realizing it. Besides this, when unconsciously used steroids and other performance-enhancing supplements are considered, it can be seen that there may be different causes of hair loss.
When all of these mentioned issues here are considered, doing sports cannot be shown directly as the cause of hair loss in athletes. Even, doing sports in moderation have positive effect on hair health.
DHT-Related Hair Loss
Dihydrotestosterone hormone, or shortly DHT, is a hormone found in human body. Although it does not have an important function, it is known that it causes hair loss when it is excessive. DHT can cause hair strands to get thinner and then to fall out. The mentioned condition can be seen in men and women. However, it would not be wrong to say that it is seen much more in men.
When you do sports, your body becomes healthier and a significant improvement is seen in your muscles. However, DHT hormone may increase and this may cause damage to hair follicles. Therefore, as time passes, firstly hair strands become thinner and then they may begin to fall out.
It is known that some people who focus on building their muscles use steroids. However, usage of steroids can cause DHT level to rise. This situation, as you can imagine, can cause hair loss.
Hair loss in athletes may be caused by DHT hormone in general terms.
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The Relationship Between Excessive Sport and Hair Loss
One of the matters that people wonder about hair loss is whether excessive exercises cause hair loss or not. Approximately two-thirds of men experience hair loss until they reach the age of 35 and hair loss can reach serious levels in approximately 80% of them.
There may be many different reasons behind such hair loss. Some of those are genetic factors, medications used, nutritional deficiency and stress related hair loss. Well, is there a relationship between excessive sports and hair loss?
Excessive sports can cause a number of changes in your body. For example, an increase in testosterone levels can occur due to continuous weight training. However, this increase is temporary and therefore it is not likely to cause hair loss.
We have mentioned that increase in DHT hormone level can cause hair loss. Even this situation is not a cause by itself. In order for such a situation to occur, an individual must have predisposition to male type baldness.
* It is stated that excessive vitamin A supplements taken apart from steroids may also cause hair loss in athletes.
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How to Prevent Hair Loss in Athletes?
In order to prevent hair loss that is seen in athletes, applications that cause increase in DHT should be avoided. For this, first of all, attention should be paid to supplement usage such as steroids and vitamin A. However, if hair loss is observed, following drugs may be effective in solving the problem.
- Finasteride
- Dutasteride
- Proscar
- Minoxidil
The medicines which are listed here should not be used without a doctor’s approval. Otherwise, it will not be beneficial and may damage your hair.
Despite all these, if hair loss continues and eventually permanent baldness occurs, hair transplantation option should be considered. Hair transplantation, which is a permanent and effective solution to baldness caused by hair loss in athletes, is successfully applied by expert surgeons in COSMETICIUM clinic. With this process, you will regain your previous look and regain the self-confidence that you lost. You can contact us whenever you want about hair transplantation and take advantage of our FREE online consultation service.