How Are Stress and Hair Loss Related

Nov 10, 2019

3 min read

Feelings of stress are a part of typical daily life. Normal anxiety can help you meet daily challenges, motivate you to reach your goals, and help you accomplish tasks more efficiently. Stress also protects us in dangerous situations by being part of the body's early warning signs, producing the fight-or-flight response.

While there are different types of stress, and some are positive, chronic stress is the type that we must pay attention to. Chronic stress is the type that causes a host of physical and mental issues and triggers and exacerbates flare-ups from existing conditions.

What is Chronic Stress?

Normal feelings of stress help us to cope with the challenges of everyday life, but when these feelings become chronic or long-lasting, they can severely impact a person's health. Chronic stress is a response to emotional burdens suffered over a prolonged period, which causes an individual to feel as if they have little or no control.

Chronic stress depresses the immune system, making us more likely to get sick, making it hard to get a good night's sleep, and altering our moods. If ignored for an extended amount of time, the condition may worsen, eventually damaging our professional and personal relationships.

Chronic stress is a growing issue for Americans of all genders, ages, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and is often due to a mix of mental health and physical health conditions. The cause of chronic stress is a combination of socioeconomic, environmental, genetic, physical, and spiritual factors.

Stress and Hair Loss

Unexplained hair loss can be caused by a variety of factors such as a hormone imbalance, vitamin deficiency, genetics, or even stress. Rising stress levels can negatively impact the body in several ways and can cause hair loss.

Chronic stress puts your system in survival mode. The body diverts resources to essential core activities needed for survival and away from functions such as good skin, blood flow, growth, and reproduction. Severe prolonged stress causes hair follicles to enter a phase of arrested growth, which leads to hair loss. Many people notice that hair growth seems to fluctuate in conjunction with high-stress.

There are three specific types of hair loss conditions that are related to chronic stress.

Telogen effluvium

Telogen effluvium is a type of hair loss that usually happens after high-stress levels cause substantial numbers of hair follicles to enter a resting phase. Within a few months, it typically produces hair loss at the top of the scalp, and merely combing or washing your hair can cause affected hairs to fall out suddenly.

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania, also called hair-pulling disorder, is considered a mental disorder characterized by irresistible urges to pull out hair from your scalp and other areas of the body. For some people, trichotillomania is mild and manageable, but for others, the constant urge to pull hair is overwhelming.

Hair pulling can provide a momentary sense of relief from high-stress situations but may also cause additional stress. People with the disorder often feel a sense of tension before pulling out hair, or when they attempt to resist the urge and a feeling of pleasure or relief after the episode. The disorder often leaves people with patchy bald spots, which they then try to disguise, causing an additional source of stress, which can interfere with regular daily activities.

Alopecia areata

Alopecia areata is a common autoimmune disease, which causes the immune system to attack the body's tissues. Alopecia areata causes the immune system to attack the hair follicles, causing hair to stop growing, then break off and fall out. The condition typically causes hair loss in an unpredictable pattern, causing hair on the scalp to fall out in small patches.

Contact New Look Institute

Stress and hair loss doesn't have to be permanent. If you are dealing with hair loss for any reason, New Look Institute has solutions available for you. We use the highest quality products available and the latest technology to create the perfect solution for you. At New Look Institute we offer our clients hair restoration systems, topical hair treatments, wigs, extensions, and a variety of other hair loss solutions designed to meet your needs.