Can Loneliness And Social Isolation Shorten A Person’s Life? Can Hair Transplantation Address This Problem In Some Men?

A recent paper published in “Perspectives on Psychological Science” indicates that people who spend less time alone and are less socially isolated might live longer and this has been found to hold in all ages of people. The study was done at Brigham Young University analyzing 3 million participants from a variety of health groups. The metrics included socioeconomic status, age, gender, and pre-existing health conditions and the study suggests that a lack of social connections presents an added risk. People with relationships had showed greater health.

Specifically, “the mortality risk is increased by 29 per cent for socially isolated individuals and by 26 per cent for lonely people. Individuals living alone have a 32 per cent higher risk of dying prematurely.” When one adds excessive drinking and smoking to the mix, the numbers may be worse. “In essence, the study is saying the more positive psychology we have in our world, the better we’re able to function not just emotionally but physically,” said Tim Smith, co-author of the study.

We see in our hair restoration practice, men who lose their mates. Many feel lost and some seek hair transplants to get their hair back with an anticipation of dating again, We see this with great frequency as men want to look more desirable, and appear certainly younger. Adding hair to a balding head, makes this happen. I distinctly remember three patients; one a 68 years old, who sat with his dying wife for 4 years as she eventually succumbed to breast cancer. He rarely socialized while she was dying. When she died he visited me and told me how difficult life was during those 4 years, but he loved her a great deal and appreciated her though the end. He was missing the hair in the front of his head and got, in just one session, terrific glistening silver hair. Once the hair grew out, he went on a cruise by himself and met a beautiful 29 year old Japanese woman and by the end of the cruise they decided to marry. He came to visit me two years later to introduce her to me. His smile was radiant. He told me that being alone, just was not for him. The second man was 86, and he lost his wife and thought he looked too old, so he got a hair transplant with great results in just one session. It did not take him long to find a new wife. At 86, there were more single, available women than men by a long shot so the hunt did not take long. I think that the women hunted him out. The third patient was 55, his wife left him and he refused to date until he got a hair transplant. After just one session, he came back and told me that dating was great. He met many women on the internet and loved the attention he was getting, but he did not marry again, at least not in the first year that his hair grew out. Maybe he could not find ‘Miss Right’.

In conclusion: Hair makes a man feel more confident, younger and more able to tackle the world of ‘available women’. It also has a major impact on careers. Many Hollywood celebrities that I worked on before they became famous, developed the confidence in themselves that boosted their careers. They often felt my contribution to their ‘look’ was one of the main reasons they made it professionally. From the article referenced above, it appears that maybe hair transplanted patients will live longer, who knows. Life’s value, a man’s confidence and maybe life’s length are related.