Strength Training for Hair Thinning During Perimenopause: Building Resilience From the Inside Out
Hair thinning during perimenopause has hormonal and metabolic roots. Learn how strength training supports hair health by improving hormonal balance and circulation.
Hair Thinning in Perimenopause: The Underlying Causes
Many women in perimenopause are surprised to find that hair thinning joins the list of symptoms they need to manage. It typically begins subtly, with slightly more hair in the brush or a widening parting, and progresses over months to a noticeable reduction in overall volume and density. The primary driver is the shift in sex hormone balance. As oestrogen falls, its protective effect on hair follicles diminishes. Oestrogen promotes the anagen, or growth, phase of the hair cycle. With less of it, more follicles shift into telogen, the resting and shedding phase, earlier than they otherwise would. The relative increase in androgen influence that often accompanies oestrogen decline can also miniaturise follicles at the crown and temples, in a pattern similar to androgenic alopecia. Compounding these hormonal factors, elevated cortisol from chronic stress and disrupted sleep drives telogen effluvium, a diffuse shedding condition. Metabolic factors including insulin resistance, which worsens in perimenopause, may also impair follicle nutrition.
How Strength Training Supports Hair Health
Strength training addresses several of the non-hormonal drivers of perimenopausal hair thinning. Its most significant contribution is improving insulin sensitivity. Insulin resistance, increasingly common as oestrogen falls, disrupts the hormonal environment in which hair follicles operate and is associated with increased androgens through mechanisms involving sex hormone-binding globulin. Regular resistance exercise substantially improves insulin sensitivity, reducing both the excess androgen exposure and the inflammatory signals that worsen follicle miniaturisation. Strength training also improves body composition, reducing excess adipose tissue that contributes to androgen excess and systemic inflammation. Over time, consistent resistance exercise lowers resting cortisol, directly reducing the stress-driven shedding component. Finally, the cardiovascular adaptations produced by regular strength training improve peripheral circulation, including scalp microcirculation, supporting better follicle nutrition over months of consistent effort.
What to Include in a Hair-Supportive Strength Routine
For hair health specifically, compound resistance exercises that engage large muscle groups produce the most significant insulin sensitivity and body composition benefits. A programme built around squats, hip hinges, pulling movements such as rows and lat pulldowns, and pressing movements such as overhead and chest press covers all the major muscle groups effectively. Two to three sessions per week is the minimum for meaningful metabolic adaptation. Each session should last 30 to 45 minutes and include a mix of moderate to moderately heavy loads, typically working in the eight to twelve repetition range. Avoid extremely low-calorie diets while strength training, as severe caloric restriction is itself a significant trigger of telogen effluvium. Prioritise dietary protein alongside your training, aiming for at least 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight daily, as hair is made from keratin protein and follicles require consistent amino acid availability to sustain growth.
Research on Exercise, Hormones, and Hair
The direct evidence base for strength training as a hair thinning intervention is modest, but the mechanistic case is well supported. Studies on resistance exercise and insulin sensitivity consistently show significant improvements over eight to twelve weeks of training, with the strongest effects in women who were previously sedentary or insulin resistant. Given the established link between insulin resistance and androgenic hair thinning, these improvements are directly relevant. Research on exercise and cortisol demonstrates that regular moderate-to-vigorous exercise reduces resting cortisol and attenuates the cortisol stress response over time, addressing the telogen effluvium component. Iron status, a frequently cited factor in perimenopausal hair loss, is also supported by exercise-related improvements in red blood cell function, though women with low ferritin should work with a GP to address this through dietary and supplemental means as well.
Combining Strength Training With Other Hair Health Strategies
Strength training is most powerful for perimenopausal hair thinning when combined with other evidence-supported approaches. Ask your GP to check ferritin levels. Low ferritin, even within the technical normal range, is one of the most common reversible causes of hair shedding in perimenopausal women, and many clinicians recommend a target ferritin above 70 micrograms per litre for optimal hair retention. Ensure your dietary protein intake is adequate. Consider a discussion with your GP or a dermatologist about topical minoxidil, which has a growing evidence base in women. If oestrogen levels are significantly low, hormone therapy may address the root hormonal cause more directly than any lifestyle intervention can. Strength training fits into this plan as a tool that simultaneously supports metabolic health, mood, bone density, and the hair-relevant factors of cortisol and insulin sensitivity.
Tracking Your Symptoms and Progress Over Months
Hair changes in perimenopause are slow to develop and slow to reverse, which makes consistent tracking essential. Without a record, it is easy to feel that nothing is working when slow but real progress is occurring. The PeriPlan app lets you log your strength training sessions and track symptoms including hair thinning over time. Making a brief note of your observations about shedding or density each week, combined with your workout log, builds a multi-month picture that reveals whether your exercise and lifestyle changes are influencing the pattern. It also provides a concrete timeline to share with a GP or dermatologist, which makes conversations about further investigation or treatment far more productive than relying on approximate memory of when symptoms began or how they have evolved.
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