Can work make you go bald?? Study results here.

Most people like their hair. We will spend a long time styling it, making sure it is presentable, and even paying good money to keep it in good trim.

However, a new study has said that working long hours doubles men's chances of going bald. Men who toiled for more than 52 hours a week lost all of their hair twice as fast as those who spent under 40 hours at work.  The researchers think that spending too much time at work, and not long enough relaxing at home, triggers our stress hormones. They then prevent growth patterns of hair follicles on the scalp.  Previous studies have shown that stress can cause the immune system to attack hair follicles.

This latest research, performed by the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, involving 13391 men aged between 20 and 59 over four years, was the first to look at the effect of working hours on hair loss.

It concluded: "the results demonstrate long working hours are significantly associated with increased development of alopecia in male workers. Limitation of working hours in order to prevent alopecia development may be more necessary for younger workers, such as those in their 20s and 30s, at which hair loss symptoms start to appear."

Dr Bessam Farjo - founder of the Farjo Hair Institute in London - said: "the stress caused by working long hours is likely to be a process that gets worse over time. While more research is necessary, it makes sense for their to be a correlation."

The most common type of hair loss is Androgenetic Alopecia (male pattern baldness). It affects about one in three men in their 30s, and nearly half in their 40s. Other causes of hair loss include genetics, stress, infection, an imbalance of androgen hormones, blood circulation disorders, nutritional imbalance, and substance (drug) abuse.