Hair Loss in Teenagers and Young Women

It is one thing to lose your hair when you are older but quite upsetting to be in your late teens or twenties and find yourself facing sudden hair loss. The younger we are the more concerned we can be about our appearance as we are still in our 'mating years.' Hair loss can be rehabilitating to the self-esteem of a young woman and significantly impact her emotional well-being.

Normally hair grows about a quarter of an inch per month and continues to grow for six years. Then that hair falls out and another grows in its place. In a young woman the hair can fall out sooner and cause a thin or balding look to the hair. The good news is that most young women this happens to do not suffer either complete loss of hair or permanent hair loss.

In young women sudden hair loss can be caused by emotional strain, anxiety and worry. It can be caused by feelings of being overwhelmed, by taking onto many projects at once and not leaving enough time to recover from fatigue.

Relationship and social problems of all kinds can also cause a young woman to become emotionally unstable and cause a malfunctioning of the metabolism and hormonal systems. The result can be the hair coming out in clumps in the brush or in the hand. Many women discover the hair loss when they take a shower and watch the hair swirl down the drain or they notice that when they part their hair the part seems a lot wider than usual.

Hormonal changes are usually the physical cause behind hair loss in young women. Hormonal changes can cause a young woman to produce too much of the DHT hormone. This hormone clashes with estrogen in the body and can cause the hair to suddenly fall out.

Rather than rush out and buy wigs or get hair transplants younger women are advised to wait the hair loss out. This is mainly because it is usually not permanent. Once the source of the stress disappears, whether it be a life situation, emotional reaction or a health problem causing it, the hair often grows back. Hair will typically grow back in three to six months times.

Foods that a young woman should eat to help remedy the situation are liver, fish, eggs, brewer's yeast, yogurt, liver, eggs, dates, raisins, avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil and fish.

A supplement rich in phytoestrogenic herbs such as black cohosh and nettle might also help restore hair. Phytoestregens stimulate the pituitary and endocrine glands so that the hormones in the body operate more efficiently and stimulate hair growth. However be aware that sometimes taking too many phytoestrogens.

To help the situation young women should be sure to take their vitamins, drink plenty of water and avoid crash dieting. They also need iron supplements and should stop being vegetarian as not eating enough meat can cause baldness as well.

Working Out Prevents Cancer in Moms

If you are like me you want to be around to enjoy your kids and grandkids as long as you can.

Two of the most common cancers in women are breast and endrometrial cancer. These are hormonally caused cancers that are caused by hormones going awry. Exercise can help with these 'female' cancers because physical activity has been shown to regulate and calm the production, metabolism and elimination of these toxins.

Studies have also shown that there is a relationship between being fatter and breast and endometrial cancer. Exercise obviously can help you lose weight so you do not become more susceptible to developing these hormonally based cancers.

This past fall, the American College of Sports Medicine published a study done in Canada that compared the activity patterns of 1,233 women who had breast cancer and 1,237 who did not have the disease. The study compared their exercise patterns over a lifetime as well as looked at how diet, alcohol and tobacco use and hereditary factors may have played into the development of cancer.
The Canadian found that the women who were least likely to develop breast cancer engaged in the moderate exercise of doing daily household or farming chores. Researchers concluded that it was not so much the intensity of the exercise that was helping, but rather the regularity of it.

In 2009 a massive study, based on questionnaires given to 121,701 women over twenty years from the ages 30 to 55 was conducted by the Nurses Health Study at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Boston. This study found that women who worked out between two to four hours a week reduced their chances of getting cancer by twenty percent. A smaller but similar study done in Norway in 1997 found the same thing. Women who exercised four hours a week were about one third less likely to get breast cancer.

In the Brigham study it was noted that the exercise reduces the level of circulating estrogens in a woman's body. The reason that this is negative is because estrogen stimulates the growth of breast cells which could mutate and cause cancer.

Women are actually vulnerable to these types of cancers their entire life. The most important thing is to exercise in moderation because if you exercise to the point that you have minimized your estrogen levels you can increase your risk of bone loss and heart disease.

Menopausal and post-menopausal women are at particular risk for cancer because they are overproducing and under producing hormones. Exercise has protective benefits for hormonal women because it helps to reduce fat and after menopause estrogen is produced in the fat cells instead of the ovaries.
The idea is that the leaner you are, the less natural estrogens you will produce. The less estrogens that are in the body, the less of a welcoming field your changing body will be to developing cancer.

You do not have to work out like a female fitness model. Simple, yet sustained activity is best. Try walking or cycling. As long as you working out consistently and every day you should be giving your body the edge when it comes to preventing breast or ovarian cancer.