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For many years now there has been a considerable amount of research into hair loss causes, and while there is still no definitive answer there are some tantalizing clues into just what causes common conditions like receding hairlines and male pattern baldness.

Knowing the leading hair loss causes, of course, is an important foundation to providing a cure for this embarrassing condition. While hair loss may not be a serious disease, it can cause many problems for the men and women who suffer from it, including problems in their personal lives and problems in their careers. Treating hair loss effectively requires a look at what caused the loss, so it is important to pay attention to the latest thinking in hair loss and baldness research.

Three things that are thought to play an important role in causing hair loss are insulin, androgen levels and metabolism. Usually the substance known as sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG, will bind the testosterone in the body and control the amount of the substance floating free in the bloodstream. When SHBG levels decline, there is more testosterone in the blood, and it is more likely to be converted to DHT. It is DHT that is thought to play a role in triggering hair loss.

The amount of SHBG in the body can be reduced by high levels of insulin, and there is often a relationship between high insulin levels and high levels of free testosterone. It is the level of free testosterone in the blood, not the total level of the hormone, that helps to determine the level of DHT present in the scalp.

Statistically speaking, those men who are bald or suffering from thinning hair are more likely to have insulin resistance, and also more likely to suffer from heart disease. There also seems to be a relationship between metabolic syndrome and baldness, and research into this and other hair loss causes is still ongoing.

In addition to these factors, stress and tension are thought to play an important role in the levels of androgen, and therefore stress and anxiety are thought to be possible hair loss causes in themselves. It has long been known that stress can lead to a number of serious medical conditions, and avoiding hair loss is one more reason to keep stress levels to a minimum.

No matter what hair loss causes are implicated in your own hair loss and baldness problems, it is important to treat a hair loss problem as quickly as possible. Starting treatment at the first sign of a problem can allow for a great many more choices when it comes to effective treatments. There are a great many different treatments that can help to arrest a problem with thinning hair or a receding hairline, but waiting until the problem with baldness is more advanced may reduce your choices for treatment and leave you with only serious surgical interventions or hair transplants to regain your full head of hair.