The male midlife crisis lasts between three and ten years, whereas women will only suffer the crisis for two and five years, the study found.
Typical signs include looking up ex-partners on Facebook, taking vitamin pills and taking out a direct debit for a charity.
Not being able to sleep because of work worries, reading obituaries regularly in the newspaper and taking up a new hobby are also indicators of the crisis.
Hair transplant centre Crown Clinic who surveyed 1,000 people also found people in a midlife crisis fret over their hair thinning and dye it to cover grey hairs.
The term mid-life crisis was first coined in 1965 where early analysis suggested that it could happen anywhere between the ages of 40 and 60, but it is now shown to start much earlier.
It is linked to younger people beginning their careers earlier, and statistics show the average age of company chief executives has fallen from 59 to 48 in the last generation.
Surgeon Asim Shahmalak from the Crown Clinic said: “As people get older they worry increasingly about their appearance and want to recapture their youth.
“At Crown Clinic, we have found that people are far less shy about making quite radical changes to their appearance as they get older.
“Men are less embarrassed to seek a transplant to combat baldness.
“They worry about losing their jobs and know that a more youthful appearance will make their more attractive not just to the opposite sex but employers as well.
“It is interesting that David Cameron was 43 when he became Prime Minister – the typical age men’s mid-life crisis starts.
“His hair has thinned noticeably since he came to power and stress is likely to have been a contributing factor.”
The top 40 signs of having a midlife crisis
1 Desiring a simpler life
2 Still going to music festivals like Glastonbury
3 Start looking up old boyfriends or girlfriends on Facebook
4 Realise you will never be able to pay off your mortgage
5 Joining Twitter so your bosses think you ‘get’ digital
6 Excessively reminisce about your childhood
7 Take no pleasure in your friends’ successes
8 Splashing out on an expensive bicycle
9 Sudden desire to play an instrument
10 Fret over thinning hair
11 Take up a new hobby
12 Want to make the world a better place
13 Longingly look at old pictures of yourself
14 Dread calls at unexpected times from your parents (fearing the worst)
15 Go to reunion tours of your favourite bands from the 70s and 80s
16 Switch from Radio 2 to indie stations like 6 Music
17 Revisit holiday destinations you went to as a child
18 Cannot envisage a time when you will be able to afford to retire
19 Read obituaries in the newspapers with far greater interest — and always check how people die
20 Obsessively compare your appearance with others the same age
21 Start dyeing your hair when it goes grey
22 Stop telling people your age
23 Dream about being able to quit work but know that you’ll Just never be able to afford to
24 Start taking vitamin pills
25 Worry about being worse off in your retirement than your parents
26 Want to change your friends but don’t meet anyone new that you like
27 Think about quitting your Job and buying a bed & breakfast or a pub
28 Flirt embarrassingly with people 20 years your Junior
29 Look up your medical symptoms on the internet
30 Start thinking about going to church but never act on it
31 Always note when politicians or business leaders are younger than you
32 Contemplate having a hair transplant or plastic surgery
33 Take out a direct debit for a charity
34 Can’t sleep because of work worries
35 Hangovers get worse and last more than a day on occasions
36 Constantly compare your career success with your friends
37 Worry about a younger person taking your Job
38 Take up triathlons or another extreme sport
39 Find that you are very easily distracted
40 Realise that the only time you read books is when you are on holiday