Fashion Blogs

Are you experiencing hair loss? We examine whether cardio is good for your hair, and how exercise can increase hair growth and minimise hair fall.

It is universally acknowledged that regular exercise is essential for overall physical and mental health and wellbeing. Exercise can help to minimise the severity of incidences of depression and anxiety, is a core element for long term heart health, and has also been shown to reduce your risk of developing certain types of cancer, most specifically breast cancer in young women.

But is there a correlation between regular exercise, specifically cardio exercise, and hair growth? Are there cardio exercises for hair growth that you can try and what relationship, if any, is there between hair loss and exercise?

The Benefits of Exercise for Hair Health

Regular exercise will encourage good circulation, and this is important for helping to ensure that an adequate supply of nutrients is received at the hair follicle. Stimulating the follicle in this way will promote hair growth. At the highest possible level therefore, any exercise should be better for hair than no exercise at all.

The best kind of exercise to stimulate the follicles and promote hair is vigorous aerobic exercise. Increasing your heart weight through an intensive cardio workout will reduce the levels of the protein DHT in your blood stream, helping to promote hair growth and minimise the likelihood of hair loss. Conversely, building muscle mass quickly as a result of excess weight lifting will increase your testosterone levels which in turn will accelerate rates of hair loss.

If you have noticed that your hair growth is slowing, or even that you are losing hair, then it is important to increase your cardio exercise whilst decreasing your testosterone heavy weight lifting routine. Once the DHT protein has begun to negative impact on the quality of your hair this process cannot be reversed, however any subsequent hair loss can be dramatically slowed or even stopped.

Hair loss has been linked to low self-esteem and a recent survey of British men found that more than half of British men would rather have a full head of hair than a supermodel wife or a promotion at work. Therefore if you are predisposed towards balding (or have a strong family history of the condition) and work out hard with weights then you should consider switching the kind of exercise you if you don’t wish to lose your hair prematurely.

Choosing the Right Cardio Exercises for Hair Growth

When choosing the right cardio exercises to promote hair growth, you are spoilt for choice. Some of the best options, and the easiest options to incorporate into your everyday life include:

• Brisk walking and power walking

• Running and jogging (either outside or on a treadmill)

• Aerobics classes such as step or Zumba

• Cycling either on road or on a stationary bike

• Team sports, such as football, tennis, squash or badminton

• Yoga

Certain yogic poses are considered to be beneficial to heart health because they increase blood flow to your hair and scalp, helping to stimulate growth. If you are a keen yogi, or considering taking up the practice then try popular poses such as the downward facing dog stretch Big Toe Pose, forward stretch, and sun salutation to drive as much blood flow and nutrients to your hair as possible.

The Risk Posed by Protein Shakes

The most common cause of hair loss in men is androgenic alopecia, most commonly known as male pattern baldness. The likelihood that you will develop this condition cannot be determined by how frequently you exercise (and no correlation between the two has been found), and many men either develop the condition as a result of hereditary predisposition or seemingly at random.

However, if you are already experiencing hair loss then activities commonly associated with exercising excessively could actually accelerate the rate of your hair loss, rather than prevent it. A good example of this is regularly consuming protein shakes, which has been shown to accelerate hair loss in men already struggling with the issue. As consuming protein shakes to replace lost energy is common amongst individuals who lift weights, this is another reason to avoid this kind of testosterone inducing exercise.

Many protein shakes contain growth hormones such as Creatine and DHEA, which increase levels of testosterone and DHT when consumed regularly. Both of these have been shown to contribute to hair loss, particularly DHT which causes the hair to fall out when the follicle is exposed to it in high levels. Unfortunately, many men will be away of the damage they are doing to their hair until they begin to notice the hair loss, at which point it is often too late. If you are currently consuming protein shakes and noticing that your hair is beginning to thin, then giving up your shake habit may help you to delay the process.

Enjoy a Nutritionally Rich Diet

As well as exercising regularly, if you want to encourage faster and stronger hair growth then it is important that you feed your hair a nutritionally rich diet full of essential vitamins. The vitamins most essential to ensuring fast hair growth include:

• Vitamin A – Found in beef, eggs, sweet potato and carrots. Protects hair from oxidative stress, which can weaken the hair follicles and prevent healthy hair growth.

• Vitamin B – The B vitamin family is essential for building cell metabolism, and it is vitamin B that gives your hair both structure and strength. You’ll find vitamin B in fish, cheese and bananas, but most people don’t get enough vitamin B in their diet.

• Vitamin C - Vitamin C is the vitamin most well-known for promoting strong hair. Vitamin C helps with collagen production, which increases the texture and strength of the hair. You’ll find this essential vitamin in citrus fruits, tomatoes and spinach.

• Vitamin D – A deficiency of vitamin D has been shown to be directly related to hair loss, so it’s important to ensure you receive enough vitamin D. You’ll find vitamin D in dairy and eggs, cereal, and through exposure to sunlight.

The role of the essential amino acid, l-lysine in preventing hair loss is also important, so if you are not getting enough of this and other vitamins in your daily diet then you should begin to take a daily hair-boosting vitamin supplement to encourage regular hair growth.

Understanding Your Own Hair Loss Journey

There are many different causes of hair loss, and if you are experiencing the condition it is important to understand why. Two of the most common causes of hair loss are male pattern baldness and hereditary baldness. Certain medications can also contribute to thinning hair and hair loss: individuals with autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis may find that the medications they take to control their systems has a negative impact on their hair. Other causes of hair loss include telogen effluvium which is alopecia caused by stress and by the impact of short term and long term illness, and anagen effluvium , which is the temporary hair loss caused by chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.

By understanding the root cause of your own hair loss, you will be better placed to determine whether making changes to your exercise routine will actually be beneficial, or whether they are other aspects of your overall health and wellbeing that you should focus on.