Regular exercise is known to have a positive effect on your health and mental well-being and is certainly beneficial to overall health, maintaining good circulation, which ensures an adequate supply of nutrients to the hair follicles.
However, if you’re currently taking part in heavy weightlifting designed to build bulky muscle and you’re experiencing thinning hair, it may be a good idea to try vigorous aerobic exercise such as running or rowing.
This is down to dihydrotestosterone or DHT.
The Male pattern baldness (androgenic alopecia) is the most common cause of hair loss in men. Male hormones (androgens) attack genetically predisposed hair follicles.
Within these follicles, testosterone is converted into the androgen DHT (dihydrotestosterone) by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. DHT inhibits the growth of new hair cells, causing the follicles to shrink with each growth cycle until eventually no new hair grows.
Short, intense workout regimes designed to raise androgen levels in order to bulk up will raise free testosterone levels. This is what enables men to achieve the bodybuilder look, but unfortunately free testosterone can be converted to DHT, accelerating hairloss in genetically programmed individuals.
Conversely, aerobic exercise can lower DHT levels.
