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Comment by Qem | Hacker News Reader

> Nearly two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are women, but the reasons why women are more vulnerable are still not fully understood. Scientists have long theorized that the loss of estrogen after menopause may reduce the brain’s natural protection against memory loss and neurodegeneration.

The part that makes no sense for me is men ending with smaller rates of dementia, given they had much less estrogen to begin with. Men have less incidence of dementia. Men also have much lager incidence of baldness. Did somebody already study if baldness and dementia are inversely correlated? I don't know, perhaps sunlight exposure in the scalp have neuroprotective effects?

Given the prevalence of baldness, and the downside of the condition for sexual attractiveness of its bearers, I suspect we will still discover some strong unexpected upside to explain why this trait was selected for regardless.

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> baldness, and the downside of the condition for sexual attractiveness of its bearers

Just a guess, and I highly doubt there are any reliable statistics on this, but perhaps balding men are less likely to be tempted to abandon their family unit, thereby making it more likely that their children will thrive and carry on their genes?

I base this theory on my own experience, which is that I went completely bald in my early thirties and haven't had a second look from a woman ever since. Even if I were the sort to want to cheat on my wife, there wouldn't be any takers![0]

[0] I'm not claiming that bald men are necessarily sexually unattractive. I just know that it didn't work for me, looks-wise.

This seems like an odd conclusion to draw. I'm married with a full head of hair and I couldn't tell you whether or not any woman has ever been interested because I'm not paying attention nor am I trying to draw it.

Good for you. I always did notice if there was a spark between me and someone I encountered. I wasn't going to act on it if I was already in a relationship, but I found it nice to feel that I had some physical appeal.

You also got older and probably less fit.

As a bald man my experience has been the main determining factor is how hard am I working on maintaining an athletic physique that year.

Just chiming in for anyone else reading this and worried about their hair thinning, this is a thing men worry about much more than women. Bruce Willis, Patrick Stewart, Michael Jordan, Vin Diesel - there have been plenty of bald sex symbols and plenty of women who enjoy that look (and the look of many average men of various builds and ages)

The factors of attractiveness are by far more related to basic self care (hygine and being fit enough to care for yourself and others), kindness and the ability to share in others' joy, and passionate interest in something, and a lightness or humor in your manner.

I started balding at 18, shaved it all at 22. Its not an issue. Height, hair, etc might get immediate reaction and attention, but hardly matter for real connections.

I just want to add that I wholeheartedly agree with this, and I would hate for anyone who's losing their hair to conclude that it's the end of the road for their love life.

Good grooming, a good sense of humor, and most importantly, generally being a good person, are what really matter.

> I suspect we will still discover some strong unexpected upside to explain why this trait was selected for regardless.

Its not selected for, it merely isn’t selected against

anything that occurs after reproduction starts isn't given the opportunity to be weeded out of the population

in this case, genes are passed into new humans overwhelmingly by men in their teens and twenties and thirties (with some stark outliers)

I think you’d want to reconsider the assumption that there is a big downside to baldness for sexual attractiveness.

Just anedoctal evidence, but I have a group of older coworkers, most in late 40s-early 50s, all divorced, and by their reports on their attempts at getting back at dating, success pretty much track how much hair is left. That made me a bit upset, as I'm slowly getting bald myself.

there is a huge difference between balding and bald

nobody wants to see a guy in denial clinging onto something, lean in fully

and yes it is unfortunate that different people are attracted to the bald variant than the ones you already know, but you gotta show resolve and confidence

> sunlight exposure in the scalp have neuroprotective effects?

Two days late to participate, but thank you for putting this strange idea in my mind.

> The part that makes no sense for me is men ending with smaller rates of dementia, given they had much less estrogen to begin with. Men have less incidence of dementia.

My understanding was that they have lower incidence specifically of Alzheimer's, but greater incidence of other forms of dementia.

Men have significant estrogen:

Men: roughly 10–40 pg/mL Women (not at ovulation): roughly 30–40 pg/mL

At Ovulation, women spike. Hence, libido changes. If you know, you know.

Think you. I didn't know there was such overlap in the levels between both genders. Do men's levels also take a hit with age?

Those numbers are bullshit. The bottom of a grown woman’s cycle is around 100 pg/ml. I have no idea where they’re getting those numbers but I assure you they’re wrong, and even if they were remotely correct about E levels being close to one another at some point in the cycle the majority of the time they’re much farther apart.

This fails to control for the fact that women, on average, live to older ages before dying.

IIRC in other studies where it's controlled for age, a difference still remains.

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