Our hair is a mirror of our health. Stress can cause you to pull out your own locks or lose them all together. This study shows that stress causes slower growth, bald spots and thinning in people with full heads of hair!
We all know the feeling: something gets us worked up beyond belief or we lose sleep worrying about a problem until there’s just no use in even trying anymore. But what happens when thoughts like these become too frequent? Like other health conditions such as heart disease and high blood pressure, stress has been linked with increased rates of alopecia (hair loss) . With over 100 million people experiencing symptoms from anxiety disorders every year – including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Although it may not seem like a serious health problem, stress increases the chances of hair loss. The National Health Institute reports that long-term stress can lead to severe physical problems including heart disease and diabetes in addition to mental disorders. In addition to these serious ailments, chronic or prolonged anxiety contributes to something many people do not consider: hair loss.
Studies show that stress can have a visible impact on otherwise healthy hair. High levels of anxiety are correlated with thinning, slower growth, bald spots and pulling out your own hair.
When you’re feeling stressed or anxious, your body can lose hair
This is known as Alopecia Areata and it happens most often in people with an underactive immune system who experience chronic stress because they don’t know how to handle the pressure well enough when it’s happening – but luckily there are ways for us all! For example: exercising regularly helps keep our hormones stable so we feel less prone to anxiety attacks; taking care of yourself by eating healthy foods high up on lists such as fish oils rich sources omega 3 fatty acids which have been shown effective at reducing inflammation among other things. Be sure to read this helpful post: How to Check-In With Yourself and Your Anxiety.
Stress is known to contribute in many ways towards one’s health such as having negative effects on the heart rate or blood pressure level among other things resulting in physical deterioration over time if not dealt with accordingly. Although it has been proven that there exists an association between what we know today as “stress” and its effect upon our general well-being which includes everything else from emotional strain to mental exhaustion; more research seems necessary before drawing any solid conclusions about this relationship just yet seeing how recent studies suggest positive correlations regarding alopecia (hair loss) for reasons still.
When you are stressed, your body switches to a “resting phase” and hair production plummets. This means that over 50% of the hairs on your head can fall out during normal activities like brushing or washing.
The COVID-19 Stress
As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, we are seeing a dramatic uptick in stress-related hair loss. The rise of life events such as worrying about loved ones and job-related stresses paired with feelings of social isolation have led to higher rates of people experiencing baldness than ever before. Preventative measures for combatting these issues can include but may not be limited to proper nutrition, sufficient exercise, and time management strategies which will allow you to better care for yourself while still caring enough about others that this won’t affect your mental health.
Cause of Your Hair Loss
Like many types of hair loss, stress-related can be hard to detect. You may not notice that you’re losing more and more until it becomes a serious issue. In addition to hormonal changes, pregnancy, severe illness, and injury, financial hardships are just some of the events associated with hair loss as well as a diet change or sleep deprivation which all contribute to thinning strands in your head over time.
Time to take action
If the stress you’re experiencing is chronic and severe, consider speaking with a trained mental health professional. If that isn’t possible, try making lifestyle changes like taking daily walks or introducing whole foods into your diet to help decrease your stress levels. Your mind and body (and hair) will thank you!
If all else fails and would rather stick close to home for support during this time of transition in life events- Concord Hair Restoration offers free consultations via phone or video chat which can be scheduled at Concord Hair Restoration