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Stress and Hair Loss - Are They Connected?

By Tess Thompson

Stress affects your overall health in more ways than you would normally believe. It has a great impact not only on your physical and mental health, but also on your overall appearance. A frowning face, tense facial muscles and obesity are common manifestations of stress among those who face continuous levels of stress in daily life. It may surprise you, but severe stress can also cause hair loss.

Stress can have an effect on the hair in two ways. Each hair has a typical hair cycle that goes through various phases - growth (anagen), regression (catagen) and resting (telogen). Severe stress due to illness, trauma or surgery inhibits hair growth and inhibits the hair from moving into the telogen phase. Within a matter of a couple of months, hair loss occurs. The only respite to the situation is that the hair can grow back after a gap of six to nine months from the same hair follicle.

Severe anxiety and stress are precipitating factors for a condition known as alopecia areata or patchy baldness. The white blood cells, which are otherwise an integral part of the body’s defense mechanism, start attacking the hair follicle, the small tubular cavity that houses the hair root. From small patches, the hair loss can spread to the entire scalp. Extreme stress and anxiety can therefore lead to loss of body hair, too. Although temporary in nature, the hair loss can be difficult to manage without treatment.

Stress-related hair loss usually occurs long after specific stressful events that may have caused the stress in the first place. This therefore is what leads many people to be amazed at the seemingly unrelated correlation between the two.

A reduced-stress life is possible only if you make a conscious commitment for managing stress. One of the most effective ways to relieve stress is to learn the art of dissociating your mind and body from worries and stressors. The idea sounds difficult since blocking your mind to worries is not something that comes naturally to people, but it is an effective method that should be given a try. Even if you are able to block stressors from your mind for a small period of time initially, you will be able to experience the relaxation that you feel.

Remember that the complete avoidance of stress is not possible in today’s hectic life. Moreover, you need some stress to motivate yourself to perform at full potential. It is only severe or continuous stress that needs to be avoided and managed. Short, stress-free moments can invigorate you all over again to meet life’s challenges head on.

References:

http://stress.about.com/od/otherconditions/a/22707hair_loss.htm