After a certain age, men start treating their hair like a fragile newborn baby.
They gently shampoo their hair in the shower to avoid accidentally pulling strands out, caress their head with leave-in conditioners to soften and nourish their hair, and even rub garlic on their scalp when their hair starts thinning.
OK fine, so no one rubs garlic on their infants, but you get my point; all men have a fear of losing their hair.
Well, it turns out there’s one thing you could do to decelerate or avoid balding altogether: work less.
Study: You Can Go Botak Twice As Fast If You Work More Than 52 Hours Per Week
A study has revealed that men who work more than 52 hours a week lose their hair twice as fast as those who spent less than 40 hours in the office.
This is likely due to stress caused by overworking.
Did you hear that boss? Maybe now I’ll get time off so I won’t go bald in the future?
Boss: LOL
The study
According to the Daily Mail, researchers from the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea examined over 13,000 men aged between 20 and 59 from 2013 to 2017.
The male participants were divided into three groups:
1. Normal – Those who worked 40 hours a week
2. Long – Those who worked 52 hours a week
3. Much Longer – Those who work more than 52 hours a week aka sad people without a social life aka me
They also took other factors like age, marital status, education, smoking, and monthly household income into account.
The results, unsurprisingly, showed that those who worked long hours were more likely to develop alopecia – a disorder that results in hair loss in places where hair normally grows.
These were the recorded incidences of baldness in the three groups:
1. Normal – 2% experienced baldness
2. Long – 3% experienced baldness
3. Much longer – 4% experienced baldness
Thus, this study proved that those who worked much longer hours were more susceptible to hair loss.
But why?
Stress
Yes, it’s that word again – stress.
Stress is the culprit for many different illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease, and, of course, hair loss.
In this instance, stress can damage hair follicles and cause the hair to enter the ‘catagen’ phase – a short transitional stage that signals the end of the active growth of a hair.
And because hair no longer grows in that area, once it falls out, it leaves a bald patch.
Moreover, working too much and not blowing off enough steam can cause the body to produce more hormones which then inhibits the growth of patterns of the hair follicles on your scalp.
Stress can also cause the immune system to attack your hair follicles.
Basically, stress = bad
Researchers behind the study are calling for shorter working hours because many people are being overworked.
Lead author Kyung-Hun Son said, “Preventive interventions to promote appropriate and reasonable working hours are required in our society”.
Society: Yeah, sure we’ll get right on that *sniggers*
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It’s important to have some downtime and take it easy at work. Stress can not only cause hair loss but can have many adverse effects on the body.
Work is important, but your body (hair too) is more important.
