The process of aging is built into our genes and, no matter how hard you try to cover up the signs, the body will follow its programming. So the first and most important rule to follow is never lose your sense of humor. It's going to happen sooner or later so, when it does, you might as well enjoy it. Once you reach around 45, the muscles start to lose their tone and, unless you exercise on a regular basis, you will find yourself unfit. The first signs are an increase in the amount of body fat and your aerobic capacity drops. This means you will get out of breath more quickly and begin to slow down. If you used to be able to play sport or even run to get out of the rain, the strength and stamina of your youth will fade away. Worse, bone density starts to drop. As if all this is not bad enough, you will also find the level of testosterone drops so you will feel less interested in sex. Yes, it's almost unimaginable, but libido also fades. With the drop in testosterone and other hormones, the pace of hair thinning and loss increases. Snow appears on the mountain peaks and, over time, it all fades to that pleasing shade of grey before becoming white.

So, for the major changes, you already have that exercise program in place. You are dieting to reduce the amount of fat in your diet and increasing the protein intake to build muscle mass. Changes in hair color can also be masked with dyes, but the one unchanging and unstoppable trend is hair loss. Every time you shed a hair, it grows back more thinly. This makes your age more obvious and thin hair is more likely to fall out of the roots. All this points to a curious medical discrimination. For years, doctors have been debating with women on whether hormone replacement therapy does more harm than good. Yet no doctor seriously suggests men would be helped by a comparable approach. This is not to say doctors don't prescribe testosterone to men. There are some conditions where this is considered effective. But there's no suggestion men's general health will be improved or the aging process slowed if male hormone levels are topped up.

So, coming back to hair loss through aging, this is inevitable and you just have to learn to love it as the years roll by. However, if you are younger and the doctor confirms you have the first signs of male pattern baldness, Propecia is the answer. This emphasizes the need for a clear diagnosis before you start on the treatment. It takes from three to six months before you will see any results from Propecia so, if you do not have male pattern baldness, you will be wasting your time and money on a drug that will do nothing to cure your problem. Do not risk self-diagnosis. Always have a doctor examine your scalp to exclude the other possible causes of hair loss. Then assuming the diagnosis is confirmed, remember the drug is only effective for so long as you take it. Once you stop, the hair loss will resume and accelerate.